Main Teaching Point: How important is the faith of my family and what am I doing to strengthen and perpetuate it?
Secondary Teaching Point: Don't get stuck looking at scripture the same way. Be open to different applications possible from time to time in your life.
Primary Scripture: Judges 11
Simple lesson tonight. How important is the faith of my family. Regardless of how you interpret Judges 11, Jephthah teaches us valuable lessons about the faith of our family.
Jephthah was a judge appointed to deliver the people from the Ammonites. He came from a rough start. His half brothers (same dad obviously in ancient Hebrew culture) ran him off because his mother was, according to scripture, a harlot. She was probably also not a Hebrew either. He was abandoned to fend for himself. Back then you either depended on the mercy and handouts of the people or church or you went and took and fought for your own. And Jephthah was a very successful and influential warrior leader who provided plenty for himself and also for the men who found their way into his company.
Eventually he became a pretty famous warrior with an impressive reputation for taking care of business on the battlefield. The Gileadites came back to him to ask him back as their leader, the next judge. He locks them into an agreement to be their leader. Then goes to prepare his soldiers and others for battle. He also goes to see if there is a diplomatic way to end the oppression. Jephthah reveals an understanding and education in the history of the Israelites and writings of the Torah. After he is faced with no other choice but ending the conflict through force, he makes a vow to God.
If God will deliver the Ammonites into his hands in victory, then he will offer the first thing that leaves his home to greet him in victory over to God. Unfortunately his only child, a daughter, is the first one out to greet him. He is gob-smacked and his heart is broken. He explains his grief to his daughter and she too is grieved. But breaking the vow was never an option for them.
We are not ever going to make such a rash vow to God. And even if we did, I doubt we would keep it. The reason I say that fairly confidently is that we don't keep weaker vows. But how important is it to me to help my family keep their vows to God. How important is it to my family to help me keep mine?
Now, you may be wondering what vows we make these days? It is 2013 and we are not considering a monastic lifestyle. Sure there are vows of chastity, poverty, silence and isolation. But what "vow" do I make? Well we make a vow in salvation. If I trust my life to Christ, then He will save me and extend to me abundant and eternal life. We make a vow in baptism. If Christ will save me, then I will make that decision public through the act of baptism. We make marital vows. We make vows to serve. Vows to give. Vows to help. Vows to lead. Vows to minister. We make vows. If that word throws you, maybe it is time to work it back into your religious vocabulary. It isn't just a commitment. It is a vow - an arrangement or an agreement. An if/then proposition.
Are you helping your family make and keep vows?
Also there is a deep love between Jephthah and his daughter. If this was a Hollywood script for a movie or tv movie (and it could be - they surely are working on a sequel to the History Channel's The Bible miniseries) then they would add a little montage showing how close the judge was to his daughter. Regardless of the creative license you add, there is a strong love binding them together. How strong is the love you have for your family? Will you waver in helping them? Is my love for my family stronger than my love for myself?
And there is a deep level of commitment, total surrender and sacrificial giving. Jephthah has no other children and he is willing to sacrifice his future family, his lineage (crucial to the paternal head of any Hebrew family) to keep his vow. And his daughter makes an extreme sacrifice for her father as well. What am I willing to sacrifice for the faith of my family?
How seriously do I and my family take the vows we make to God?
How do I show my love for my family?
What am I willing to do to help my family's faith grow?
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