Article 2016-06 - Missions Suffer Under Sin
Chapter 21: Missions Suffer Under Sin
Introduction
Failure to eradicate small sins causes growth of giant sins later. Similarly, small unfinished jobs can become insurmountable barriers later. It is costly when believers leave God to lead their own life. Yet, when all their hopes have vanished, God still carries out His plans. He always keeps His eyes on all nations, whether we notice or not. Throughout history He secured the Messianic family line, even using gentile channels. From the book of Judges we learn that increased periods of sin lead to increased bondage to sin. God judges His people for their sins, like He judges the nations for theirs.
Scripture reference
… when the Gibeonites heard what Joshua had done to Jericho … they resorted to a ruse … ‘We have come from a distant country; make a treaty with us.’ … The men of Israel … did not enquire of the Lord … after they made the treaty with the Gibeonites, the Israelites heard that they were neighbors … (Josh. 9:3,4,6,14,16)
The story
Before we depart from Joshua’s story we must look at some things that are often not told. Moses made an important mistake through which he missed the Promised Land. Joshua also made a mistake. Because he failed to consult the Lord when a group of people came to him, claiming to have come from far, and therefore not forming a threat to Israel, Joshua made a covenant with them. The truth was, that these people had come from close by and were to be liquidated. By this ruse they saved their and their people’s lives. Now Joshua could not exterminate them anymore. He made them woodcutters and water-carriers instead. Now an idolatrous people remained in Israel’s midst legally. That set an example, so that other peoples that should have, were not driven out or killed either.
Here are four examples from Bible history, of how omissions in the execution of God’s assignment caused trouble to later generations. First, we read that ‘no Anakites (that is giant men) were left, only in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod. That some of them were left in these Philistine cities explains why 350 years later David had to fight Goliath.
Secondly, we see that the Israelites ‘did not drive out the people of Geshur completely’. One of these left-over Geshurites later became the bride, king David should never have married. From that woman prince Absalom was born, who later killed his brother Amnon and rebelled against his father, causing much trouble for his family and for Israel.Thirdly, Joshua’s people failed to extinguish the Sidonians. That is why centuries later princess Jezebel could marry Israel’s King Ahab, luring Israel into gross idolatry. Fourthly, the Israelites failed to dislodge the Jebusites, people of the city that would later be called Jerusalem. Because Joshua’s troops failed, David had to finish the job later.
Scripture reference
No Anakites were left in Israelite territory; only in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod did any survive (Josh. 11:22)
… there are still very large areas of land to be taken … this is the land that remains: all the regions of the … Geshurites … of the Sidonians … (Josh. 13:1,2,4)
Judah could not dislodge the Jebusites who were living in Jerusalem (Josh. 15:63)
The story, continued
Too often we hear Joshua’s generation complain in their new country that they could not dislodge the original inhabitants, that they were unable, had difficulty and that the enemy possessed iron chariots. Joshua refuted such ideas with statements of faith, but apparently that did not help his army to change its mind.
The spiritual weeds that were left over in Joshua’s era caused endless trouble for Israel in later centuries and would eventually cause its downfall and exile. God however, sent many missionaries to try and bring His people back on track.
The spiritual condition of Israel deteriorated. Shortly after Joshua’s death the land was hit by a famine; often a way in which God warned His people about their sins. In the book of Ruth we read about an average Israelite family that was typical for the backsliders of their time. When we understand them, we understand the condition of the nation. We see how God brought one backslider home and restored her inheritance.
Elimelech, Naomi and their sons Mahlon and Chilion lived in Bethlehem. During a famine they emigrated to Moab, where food was plentiful. In doing so, they not only left God’s people, but in a way left God Himself. Much grief came from this sad act of unbelief.
Then Elimelech died and Naomi was left with her two sons. Survival was hard and the young men had to work hard for a living. After a while both of them married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. Neither of them got children. Then both men died. Naomi’s grief overwhelmed her and what little faith had been left in her almost vanished. Bitterness developed in her soul. She decided to return to Israel, where there was enough food now. Ruth went with her, Orpah after a while, went back. Ruth said: ‘Your people will be my people and your God will be my God!’ When people in Bethlehem recognized Naomi and greeted her by name, she told them to forget about Naomi and call her Mara, bitterness, instead. She said God had sent her away full, but now she returned empty. But God had still other plans for Naomi’s life.
Naomi and Ruth settled in Bethlehem. From now on the ‘coincidences’ behind which God so often hides His goodness became frequent. First there ‘happened to be’ a relative of Elimelech’s who ‘happened to be rich’ enough to buy Elimelech’s fields back for Naomi. Then, Ruth started to glean barley from a man’s field who ‘happened to be’ that rich relative. Like in a fairy-tale that rich man behaved friendly towards Ruth and made sure she was well protected and provided for. The man’s name was Boaz.
Scripture reference
‘That man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsman-redeemers’ … Then Boaz announced to the elders, … ‘Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech … I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife’ … (Ruth 2:20; 4:9,10)
The story, continued
When Ruth told Naomi her story, all these ‘coincidences’ hit the old woman and she recognized that God was blessing her again. Ruth continued to glean barley from Boaz’ fields and a plan developed in Naomi’s heart – God’s plan, that is. She explained to the girl that Boaz was their next of kin and instructed her to ask him to redeem Elimelech’s fields to them. She was also to remind him of his duty to beget posterity to her late husband, a God-given rule, to prevent that families would be left without descendants. Ruth did as she was told and found that Boaz was willing to do all that for them. Naomi cried, this time for gratitude. The Lord now turned her life around for the better.
Soon Boaz acted. He availed himself to purchase the fields that had belonged to Elimelech and married Ruth. He had no problem to marry a foreigner; his own mother, Rahab, had been a foreigner too, when his father Salmon had married her about thirty-five years earlier, after the conquest of Jericho. Besides, Ruth had fully embraced the people of Israel and its God. Great was the joy in Bethlehem that day, and even greater was it when a son, Obed, was born to them a year later.
In the story of Naomi and Ruth we learned that the spiritual quality of the ‘state under God’ Israel was in decline, not long after Joshua’s death. In the next three hundred years it became worse. Some of the tribes failed to drive out the Canaanites. Intermarriage between Israelites and Canaanites took place, which resulted in the Jews engaging in Canaanite idolatry. God undertook corrective action in the form of famines, foreign invasions and the like. When things became very bad, Israel repented and cried out to God for redemption. This He provided by sending judges that defeated the enemies and led the people back to God. This process happened so often, that God needed to send twelve judges to restore His people. People did not repent because they had hurt God, but because of the consequences of sin that pressed them hard. This attitude showed their spiritual immaturity. True repentance is rarely seen in this period.
Scripture reference
Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. They forsook the Lord … They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them … In his anger against Israel the Lord handed them over to raiders who plundered them. He sold them to their enemies all around … (Judg. 2:11,12,14)
Then the Lord raised up judges who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshipped them (Judg. 2:16,17)
The story, continued
Had the book of Judges been a song, the chorus would have sounded like ‘The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord’. Then the national troubles started, and the second chorus became ‘they cried out to the Lord’. It is significant that the periods of trouble increased gradually from eight years in the beginning to forty years in the end. Similarly, the periods of peace that followed on such trouble periods became gradually shorter, from forty to eighty years in the beginning to six to eight years in the end.
God’s disappointment with Israel was that, whereas He had meant the nation to be an example of godliness for the surrounding nations, Israel instead adopted the godless behavior of those nations. With that they lost their original function and vocation. God judged Israel for certain sins just as severely as He had judged the surrounding nations for the same sins.
Strong, unifying leadership lacked in Israel since Joshua, but that was about to change. A new missionary was about to be called, but not until his sad, barren mother had cried out to the Lord for that man to be born.
Comment
Proper execution of God-given missions suffers under lack of obedience and holiness among its executors. Not only the nations have a sin problem, God’s people do too. Where sin is tolerated it causes the demise of the great commission’s execution.
From Joshua we learn that when we have been successful in ministry, it is tempting to work on our routine and forget to ask God’s guidance for decisions. Let’s not make the same mistake!
The sins that happened in Israel centuries ago happen in the Church today as well. Therefore we see insurmountable problems on our way to evangelize all nations. Some problems are rooted in the past, others still exist because we failed to deal with them.
Israel failed to become God’s example to the nations. Rather, the surrounding nations’ idolatry became bad examples to Israel. Similarly, instead of being an example of Christian behavior to the world, part of the Church secularized by following the world’s examples. Should we fail to cleanse and purify ourselves, we will, like Israel, miss our purpose of being an example to the nations and establish God’s Kingdom among them.
God is still the same. He is utterly just and merciful. Yet, He cannot and will not tolerate sin any more than He tolerated it in the people of Israel. Let us be warned by the stern lessons from Joshua and the Judges. Without holiness world missions fails.
Scripture reference
It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has gone out against me! … ‘Look,’ said Naomi, ‘your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.’ But Ruth replied … ‘Your people will be my people and your God my God’ (Ruth 1:13,15,16)
Comment, continued
Naomi struggled with human suffering. She felt God hadn’t treated her fairly and reacted with bitterness, hardening her heart against Him. She ‘anti-evangelized’ by blaming God for her losses, forgetting that they themselves had chosen to leave their country and their God. They had decided that it didn’t matter whether you belonged to God’s people, as long as you had food to eat. Many today do the same: they lead their own lives and blame God when things go wrong.
Remarkably, God does not speak in the book of Ruth, but acted in its history. He turned the sad events in Naomi’s and Ruth’s lives into something beautiful. He never abandoned His runaway children, neither did He forsake His plans with them, in spite of Naomi’s backsliding and bitterness. The price for leaving her country had been heavy, but God’s reward for her return was generous beyond imagination.
Naomi is like some Christians who use that name without living it, losing their fire because they lack spiritual insight and because God did not meet their expectations. Naomi is like part of today’s church that has lost all missionary zeal, a church that fossilized because it refused to evangelize. Only God-sent revival can save such a church, like God saved Naomi by bestowing new blessings on her life.
The outcome of this beautiful story serves a much deeper goal than the seeming appearance of a fairytale. What did God do behind the scenes, working out His salvation plan? What missionary values do we learn from the book of Ruth?
We see for the first time that a Gentile lady understood so much about Israel’s God that she left her gods behind to join Israel and its God. By beautifully confessing her faith and such a magnificent attitude she brought Naomi back to the faith as well.
Boaz, the redeemer and the lord of the harvest, married a Gentile bride and so became a picture of Christ the Redeemer and Lord of the Harvest, Who is also obtaining a Bride from Gentile nations. Boaz became the great-grandfather of King David, and Jesus was born centuries later from this Davidic line.
Naomi said that she had ‘gone away full and returned empty’; gone from life to death. That was true after she and her family had left Israel and God. Now that she had returned, God made her full again in sustenance through a rich son-in-law and through a grandchild she never thought she would have; come back to life from death. In mere months God had turned ten years of suffering into huge blessings.
It is interesting to compare the books of Ruth (where God does not speak) and Esther (in which He is not even mentioned). In Ruth we see this lady of Gentile descent, together with Boaz, establish a link in the midst of the Jewish people into what was to become the Messianic family line. In the book of Esther we see this Queen of Jewish descent in the midst of the Gentiles secure and save the progression of this family line, about nine centuries later. This family line was of utmost importance because in His name the nations will put their hope.
The book of Judges teaches that God expects of His people for to be an example of righteousness and holiness for the world around that does not know Him. If His people abandons that vocation and becomes contaminated with the sins of the world, it loses its capacity for local evangelism and foreign missions.
Each time, a deeper level of repentance was required before liberation took place. Continued sin is addictive: the longer one continues, the heavier its bondage becomes and the sooner one falls in it again.
Discussion & dialogue
- Discuss: without what ingredient will world missions fail?
- Explain the idea of ‘anti-evangelism’ from Naomi’s life
- Explain how the theme of ‘the nations’ occurs in both the books of Ruth and Esther
- Show how themes seven and eight feature in the stories of the Judges
