Learning War

 Judges 3:1-11

Prayer: Father, we are so easily exhausted and discouraged by the challenges and difficulties you put in our lives. But we know that you are a faithful Father who only assigns those things that we actually need to grow in wisdom and holiness and virtue. So give us Your Spirit so that we might learn to fight evil, in Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Introduction

Despite human rebellion, God is determined to raise up a warrior people – nations trained for battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. In Christ, God has raised up the Great Judge of all the earth, who fights for us, and gives us His Spirit so that we may learn to fight evil like Him. 

The Text: “Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known the wars of Canaan; only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof…” (Judges 3:1-11).

Summary of the Text

The Lord left certain nations in the land of Canaan in order to teach the generations of Israel the art of war and to test whether they would listen to God’s commands or not (Judges 3:1-4). And for the most part, they did not learn war or obey God’s commands; instead, they intermarried with the pagans around them and served their gods (Judges 3:5-7). Therefore, God was angry with Israel and gave them over to the king of Mesopotamia (Cushan Rishathaim is probably a mocking nick-name since it means “Ethiopian of double evil” from Mesopotamia which means “Aram of the double rivers”) who enslaved them for eight years (Judges 3:8). When Israel cried out to the Lord, He raised up Othniel, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon Him, and He judged Israel and went to war and gave rest to Israel for forty years (Judges 3:9-11). 

The Christian Life is War

Beginning in the Garden, God declared a great war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). But even in a perfect world, God allowed a serpent into the Garden, that Adam was supposed to fight. God wants His people to be a people who are constantly on guard, prepared for battle, trained for war. In the gospels, Jesus is often telling the disciples to stay awake, to be vigilant.

And the point is clear: this is God’s way of testing whether His people trust Him or not (Judges 3:4). Notice that the “commandments of the Lord” go together with “teach them war” (Judges 3:2). Do you think like that? Do you think that reading your Bible is learning war? The Bible is teaching you how to fight evil.

This is exactly what the New Testament teaches: the sword of the Spirit is the word of God (Eph. 6:17). Frequently we over-spiritualize this, but the word is really a sword because obedience will bring you into conflict with the world. The world says well everybody gets angry and loses their temper sometimes; but the Bible says in your anger do not sin and an angry word can put you in danger of Hell. So Christians fight sinful anger by constantly confessing it. 

The world says, everybody lies a little bit, but the Bible says that lies are forms of hatred and violence. So Christians refuse to lie even when everyone at work wants them to (or all their friends), and if they tell a lie, they confess it and tell the truth. And that makes trouble. Obedience brings you in conflict with the world.

Or maybe it’s complaining or sexual immorality or the shows you watch or the music you listen to…

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ…” (2 Cor. 10:5).

This is how God tests our battle-readiness: do you resist when the world tries to press you into its mold? The world is trying to press you into its mold: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:2). Whether it’s fashion or entertainment or politics or finances, obedience is war. And obedience to God is defiance of all tyranny.

“Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me” (Ps. 119:133).

The Siren Song of Christian Community

Sometimes it’s people in the church who are trying to get you to stop fighting.

Some Christians will say that they know that sometimes it’s necessary to defend the truth, but they prefer to emphasize community and beauty and a positive vision of the Christian life. Can’t we just focus on what we’re for and less on what we’re against? But this text teaches that Christian peace is only possible through constant vigilance and battle-readiness (Judges 3:11). 

Some folks will move to Moscow and will say something like, I really love the community but I wish there wasn’t so much fighting – maybe referring to Psalm-sing protests or hard-hitting ads or online skirmishes or doctrinal distinctions. And it’s certainly true that it’s possible to fight or divide over silly or trivial things, but many people do not understand that the glory of this community has been hard-fought for. To plead with ministers to put their swords down is to plead for the end of the community. You should be praying that your elders will never put their swords down.

When the tribes of Israel heard that Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh had built an altar on the other side of the Jordan, they didn’t shrug and assume the best, they gathered themselves for war and confronted them (Josh. 22:11-20). And they were easily entreated (Js. 3:17).

But does this means we are at war with everything in the world? 

“What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?”

In the third century, one of the early church fathers named Tertullian, penned the now famous question, “What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?” To which he answered something along the lines of “nothing.” What he meant was that Christianity had no need for Greek philosophy. He was concerned that too many pagan elements were being imbibed by the Church. 

Augustine came along later and said that there were some true elements in Plato and Aristotle that had prepared him for Christianity. He argued that the task of Christians was to “plunder the Egyptians.” Christians can take “gold” from pagans, but they must make sure to build tabernacles and not golden calves. The problem is that many Christians are just like the ancient Israelites and say they are plundering the Egyptians, and five minutes later their dancing naked around a golden calf. 

Another analogy Christians have sometime pointed to is the law of the war bride, where a man might take a wife from a pagan tribe (that had been conquered), but she had to have her head shaved, nails trimmed, be given new clothing, and allowed to mourn for at least a month before marriage (Dt. 21). Christians said that is a picture of the kind of critical care we ought to have with pagan culture. 

An example would be the names of the days of the week… so the task is to “take every thought captive” and then carefully strip every vestige of sin and evil from it. 

Applications: Christianity vs. Paganism

The temptation in the days of the judges was intermarriage and idolatry, and the temptation in our day is still the same: we are tempted to be overly friendly with the world, which is spiritual adultery and idolatry. 

So here are three areas of antithesis that we need to keep front and center:

Creation vs. Evolution: Either everything has meaning and value because it was created and is upheld by God’s personal, intelligent Word (Jesus Christ) or else it is random debris in a careening cosmos. Marriage, parenting, art, entertainment, education, and politics are meaningful because they are part of God’s good creation. Attempts to soften this through theistic evolution only serve to water down the doctrine of creation. If order can “evolve,” out of chaos, why can’t we cut corners? Don’t say anything in your life “doesn’t matter.” 

Free-Markets vs. Marxism: The doctrine of creation establishes two fundamental economic glories: the source of all value (God and His creation) and the image of God. In the beginning, Adam had no money in any bank account, but he had two hands, two feet, a brain, and a wife, and the world full of raw resources. You don’t need a handout or a leg up; you just need to get busy. Banish every envious complaint. You live on a treasure planet. 

Christian Education vs. Secular Propaganda: Christian education is fundamentally about discovering and remembering reality as it has been given. But if you don’t believe in God or creation, there is no inherent order or meaning to reality, and therefore everything is reduced to “usefulness” or else manipulation. This is why Christian education matters: everything in all of creation coheres and holds together in Christ (Col. 1:16-17). Make sure your kids are being taught every day that everything has meaning because of Jesus Christ. And as you do that, you’ll find yourself at war. 

Prayer: Father, we know that Jesus Christ appeared to destroy the works of the devil, and we know that His death and resurrection has struck the great blow to the power of the kingdom of darkness. But you are still determined to raise a great army that follows in His train. So stir us up by His Spirit. Grant us courage and joy to fight sin and evil all our days, thought Jesus Christ…