-- Wednesday, 8/11/10 -- GOD'S AMAZING GRACE -- Judges 11:1-3; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11a
J.R. & Bonnie Ricks
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GOD'S AMAZING GRACE -- Judges 11:1-3; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11a
Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute. Gilead's wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. "You are not going to get any inheritance in our family," they said, "because you are the son of another woman." So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a group of adventurers gathered around him and followed him. Judges 11:1-3 NIV
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11a NIV
Jephthah was in trouble before he ever got started. He was the illegitimate son of a prostitute and a worthless no-good. He grew up in a home filled with jealousy, strife, and probably a lot of child abuse. His half-brothers hated him. While he was just a teenager, they threw him out. He took off and landed in Tob, a place nearby. Pretty soon, he had a gang of followers - a group that probably would have felt right at home in a number of places today. You know the group they'd feel at home with... long, greasy hair, more skin covered with tattoos than not covered, sleeveless vests, lots of body piercing, motorcycle boots – with a marked propensity towards drinking, drugs, violence and generally gross behavior. Get the picture? And Jephthah was their leader. They hung around Tob, creating quite a bit of mayhem. Nice guy, Jephthah. Not someone you'd want to take home to meet Mother. However, when Israel got in trouble, they needed a warlord, a leader to help them defeat the Ammonites. Who did they call on? The biggest, baddest man on the block – Jephthah So Jephthah came to the rescue, won the battle and ended up judging Israel for six years.
Obviously, this man was not the kind of person you or I would have picked to lead a nation, right? But neither would we choose a younger son over an older one for inheritance and leadership, as God did in the case of Jacob and Esau. Nor would we choose an uneducated fisherman (Peter) to be one of the leaders of the church. Nor would we choose the greatest enemy of the church (Saul/Paul) to be the man who one day would convey God's Word through nearly half of the books in the New Testament.
But through God's grace, each of these people achieved what God wanted of him. Neither their former positions in life nor their attitude nor their sins kept God's purpose from being accomplished. And through God's grace, a multitude of other people have also served the Lord and accomplished tremendous tasks in His name.
Think about this fact next time you wonder how God could use you for anything at all. And think about it, too, the next time you wonder the same thing about your neighbor.
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God - that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 NIV
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