How Well Do You Know Him?
Scripture Reading: Judges 17
1 Now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. 2 And he said to
his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, and on which you put a
curse, even saying it in my ears—here is the silver with me; I took it.”
And his mother said, “May you be blessed by the LORD, my son!” 3 So when he had returned the
eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, “I had wholly dedicated the silver
from my hand to the LORD for my son, to make a carved image and a molded image; now
therefore, I will return it to you.” 4 Thus he returned the silver to his mother. Then his mother took
two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to the silversmith, and he made it into a carved image
and a molded image; and they were in the house of Micah.
5 The man Micah had a shrine, and made an ephod and household idols; and he consecrated one
of his sons, who became his priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what
was right in his own eyes.
7 Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah; he was a Levite,
and was staying there. 8 The man departed from the city of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he
could find a place. Then he came to the mountains of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he
journeyed. 9 And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?”
So he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am on my way to find a place to
stay.”
10 Micah said to him, “Dwell with me, and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten
shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance.” So the Levite went in. 11 Then the
Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man became like one of his sons to him.
12 So Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and lived in the house
of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since I have a Levite
as priest!”
That’s probably not what you were expecting, huh? No, you won’t hear much
preaching on this passage, but it’s just perfect for us today. First, in the passage
Micah tells his mother that, oh by the way, remember that eleven hundred shekels
that got stolen that you ended up cursing? Well, that was me, I stole it from you and
here it is. Now, that’s strange enough but his mom’s response is even stranger. May
Yahweh bless you, now let’s take a couple hundred shekels and go make a god.
Now, hopefully, we can all hear how odd that sounds. She’s asking Yahweh to bless
him and then doing something that God clearly tells us not to do in the same breath,
so to speak. Unfortunately, though it may sound strange, it’s happening a whole lot in
our time. In verse 6 it says that everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Doesn’t
that sound very familiar? A lot of people are worshipping God and worshipping false
gods at the exact same time, not even knowing it. In fact, when we were at Six Flags
the last time for AtlantaFest, we went to something called the prayer labyrinth. We
had seen it hyped for a couple of years, we were at a Christian festival; it had
something to do with prayer so we decided to do it. They gave us a set of
headphones and a little cassette player and told us to put in on and had us start one
at a time at station one. So, we’d go to the first station and they would have do things
like pick up a smooth rock out of a jar of water, take off our shoes and put our feet in
sand, stuff like that while this hypnotic voice told us what to do. We had a great time!
When we were done we felt like we had really experienced something special,
something spiritual. We recommended it to everyone. About a year later, a few
months ago, I found out that the term labyrinth has to do with mythology and
mysticism. The Labyrinth is where the Minotaur was held captive. Labyrinths are
used in Eastern Mysticism to get you in touch with nature. I realized as I heard the
speaker talk about it I realized that I hadn’t really had an experience with God, I’d had
an experience with nature.
So how could we have been so deceived? Each one of us would not consciously
attempt to worship in a way that God would not approve, yet all four of us had done it
unawares. How? Because we didn’t know the LORD the way should have. It is pretty
easy know someone in a way that means knowing of them. Most people know
George Bush and Oprah Winfrey; we know famous actors and musicians, sports
stars, politicians. But do we really ‘know’ them? Do we know how they like their
steak? How about how they take their coffee? Do they like watching comedy movies
or do they like action adventures more? Do they prefer curling up with a good book
or listening to CDs? The fact is that we really don’t know them at all, do we? Knowing
of someone is very different from really knowing someone, isn’t it? Unfortunately,
many who call themselves Christians know of God but don’t really know Him. In order
to know someone, you need to spend time with them. You need to have a genuine
desire to know what’s important to them. I can remember when I was in New York at
college. I had been dating Jeff for about six months or so. I would spend hours on
the phone with him. Sometimes we weren’t even talking, we’d just be listening to each
other breathe. We have to desire to know God like that. We can not be satisfied to
just know of him like Micah and his mother.
Micah had his spiritual house set up. He felt that God would definitely bless him
because he was so spiritual. He had all these spiritual things like the ephod from the
tabernacle that the Levite priests would wear. He even had his own Levite priests
now. Everything felt right now. Yet everything was really so wrong because he was
not doing the things that God would have him do, he was doing what felt right; what
seemed right in his own eyes, like so many are doing today. Ironically, in the next
chapter, all his gods get stolen and the priest gets a better offer from the people
stealing the gods so he goes with them. Micah really didn’t know God very well, did
he? Listen to this verse from 1 Samuel 2:12, Now the sons of Eli were corrupt; they
did not know the LORD. Eli, the priests, sons were corrupt BECAUSE they didn’t
know the LORD. Listen to this passage from Jeremiah and see how much it sounds
like Jeremiah was living in our time.
Jeremiah 9:3-6
3"They bend their tongue like their bow; Lies and not truth prevail in the land;For they proceed from
evil to evil, And they do not know Me," declares the LORD. 4"Let everyone be on guard against his
neighbor, And do not trust any brother; Because every brother deals craftily, And every neighbor
goes about as a slanderer. 5"Everyone deceives his neighbor And does not speak the truth, They
have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves committing iniquity. 6"Your
dwelling is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me," declares the LORD.
I can remember a time, not so long ago, when I would tell my young daughter to tell
people that called that I was not there. Not only was I a liar, but I was teaching my
child to lie. It seems like such a little thing to us because like the people Jeremiah
was writing about, our society has taught their tongues to lie. It has become to most
people so natural they don’t even think about it. At the new job I just started, the
people lie dozens of times a day about something so trivial it doesn’t need to be lied
about. The first day I started training and the woman said, you just say such and
such, in my mind, I was like no I won’t. So, as I watched and listened, the LORD gave
me a way to get the same thing accomplished and not tell a lie at all. So, why have
people come to be complete liars? Is say it twice in the passage I just read, they
refuse to know ME, says the LORD.
So, what has me focused on knowing God today? Is this supposed to make us feel
bad because we don’t know God as well as we’d like to? Absolutely not! Ironically,
what moving this direction is a very positive thing. As most of you know, Friday began
the Feast of Tabernacles, which is the last feast of the LORD mentioned in Leviticus
23. For the past five years or so, our family has put off the non-biblical traditions of
our past to celebrate Hanukah and Passover. That came from kind of a defensive
position when we started to realize the origins of the holidays we had been observing
then saw that we had a biblical alternative. So, while reading Leviticus 23 we just
came to the conclusion that when God said His people should celebrate these feasts
forever, I think He meant forever. So, this year is the first year that we have been
able to celebrate all of the LORD’s feasts. I was talking to my mom the other day and
I was like, wow, I have learned so much about God through His feasts this year.
Some people think that these things are burdensome but it’s really the opposite.
These feasts have been such a blessing to me. Not only has God given us these
feasts to remember the past, and as a foreshadowing of Messiah, but also as a
picture of our individual relationship with the Father. These fall feast are a perfect
picture for us to recognize. The first fall feast was about two weeks ago, the feast of
trumpets which is a perfect symbol of the clarion call; us hearing the gospel of Jesus
Christ. When we heard and recognized that we were sinners in need of a way to pay
our debt so we could be in right standing with God. The next fall feast was the Day of
Atonement (Yom Kippur). This is a picture of our acceptance of the sacrifice Jesus
made for us to pay that debt we could not pay. When we accepted the blood of
Messiah, all our sin was atoned for, once for all. This last fall feast, the Feast of
Tabernacles (Shavuot), is a picture of us making a place for Jesus to dwell in our
hearts. That is what the tabernacle was, a place for God to dwell with man. Now, the
tabernacle is within us and as you’ve probably heard Jesus is knocking on the door of
our hearts. It’s up to us to make a place for Him.
I feel like I know my Lord so much more than I ever have before. I feel like this is why
He told us to celebrate these things forever. It’s why He didn’t tell us as His people to
celebrate until Messiah came, but forever. He knew that many would forget the
important things like Micah and His mother did. But as His people celebrate His feasts
year after year, He knew that we would come closer to Him if we celebrated in spirit
and in truth. There are many who celebrate these feasts as Jewish holidays in the
spirit of tradition, not in the spirit of truth. For them, they may be a burden. For them,
they don’t bring them closer to the Father. That’s like when I used to celebrate
Christmas with no concern of Christ. I know that this house church looks very
different than what many are used to, but don’t judge us compared to anything but
the word of God. The Word needs to be our final authority in all things.
Luke 13:22-28
22 And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23
Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” And He said to them, 24 “Strive to enter
through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When
once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and
knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not
know you, where you are from,’ 26 then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence,
and You taught in our streets.’ 27 But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from.
Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’
Let’s not be one of those who will not be know because they refused to know the
LORD. Let us be content to enter by the narrow gate that few will find. God has not
cast those that are His away forever.
Hosea 6:1-3
1 Come, and let us return to the LORD;
For He has torn, but He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will bind us up.
2 After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.
3 Let us know,
Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD.
His going forth is established as the morning;
He will come to us like the rain,
Like the latter and former rain to the earth.
If you’ve never read the book of Hosea, take the time to do so. The righteous
prophet whose wife was a prostitute that left him and her three children to go back to
her trade. Hosea went back to get her and bought her back from those who she had
sold herself to. Hosea’s love for his unfaithful wife is a picture of God’s great love for
us. Let’s recognize the great love God has for us and love Him back with the same
passion.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: October 8, 2006
Scripture Reading: Judges 17
1 Now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. 2 And he said to
his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, and on which you put a
curse, even saying it in my ears—here is the silver with me; I took it.”
And his mother said, “May you be blessed by the LORD, my son!” 3 So when he had returned the
eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, “I had wholly dedicated the silver
from my hand to the LORD for my son, to make a carved image and a molded image; now
therefore, I will return it to you.” 4 Thus he returned the silver to his mother. Then his mother took
two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to the silversmith, and he made it into a carved image
and a molded image; and they were in the house of Micah.
5 The man Micah had a shrine, and made an ephod and household idols; and he consecrated one
of his sons, who became his priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what
was right in his own eyes.
7 Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah; he was a Levite,
and was staying there. 8 The man departed from the city of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he
could find a place. Then he came to the mountains of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he
journeyed. 9 And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?”
So he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am on my way to find a place to
stay.”
10 Micah said to him, “Dwell with me, and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten
shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance.” So the Levite went in. 11 Then the
Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man became like one of his sons to him.
12 So Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and lived in the house
of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since I have a Levite
as priest!”
That’s probably not what you were expecting, huh? No, you won’t hear much
preaching on this passage, but it’s just perfect for us today. First, in the passage
Micah tells his mother that, oh by the way, remember that eleven hundred shekels
that got stolen that you ended up cursing? Well, that was me, I stole it from you and
here it is. Now, that’s strange enough but his mom’s response is even stranger. May
Yahweh bless you, now let’s take a couple hundred shekels and go make a god.
Now, hopefully, we can all hear how odd that sounds. She’s asking Yahweh to bless
him and then doing something that God clearly tells us not to do in the same breath,
so to speak. Unfortunately, though it may sound strange, it’s happening a whole lot in
our time. In verse 6 it says that everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Doesn’t
that sound very familiar? A lot of people are worshipping God and worshipping false
gods at the exact same time, not even knowing it. In fact, when we were at Six Flags
the last time for AtlantaFest, we went to something called the prayer labyrinth. We
had seen it hyped for a couple of years, we were at a Christian festival; it had
something to do with prayer so we decided to do it. They gave us a set of
headphones and a little cassette player and told us to put in on and had us start one
at a time at station one. So, we’d go to the first station and they would have do things
like pick up a smooth rock out of a jar of water, take off our shoes and put our feet in
sand, stuff like that while this hypnotic voice told us what to do. We had a great time!
When we were done we felt like we had really experienced something special,
something spiritual. We recommended it to everyone. About a year later, a few
months ago, I found out that the term labyrinth has to do with mythology and
mysticism. The Labyrinth is where the Minotaur was held captive. Labyrinths are
used in Eastern Mysticism to get you in touch with nature. I realized as I heard the
speaker talk about it I realized that I hadn’t really had an experience with God, I’d had
an experience with nature.
So how could we have been so deceived? Each one of us would not consciously
attempt to worship in a way that God would not approve, yet all four of us had done it
unawares. How? Because we didn’t know the LORD the way should have. It is pretty
easy know someone in a way that means knowing of them. Most people know
George Bush and Oprah Winfrey; we know famous actors and musicians, sports
stars, politicians. But do we really ‘know’ them? Do we know how they like their
steak? How about how they take their coffee? Do they like watching comedy movies
or do they like action adventures more? Do they prefer curling up with a good book
or listening to CDs? The fact is that we really don’t know them at all, do we? Knowing
of someone is very different from really knowing someone, isn’t it? Unfortunately,
many who call themselves Christians know of God but don’t really know Him. In order
to know someone, you need to spend time with them. You need to have a genuine
desire to know what’s important to them. I can remember when I was in New York at
college. I had been dating Jeff for about six months or so. I would spend hours on
the phone with him. Sometimes we weren’t even talking, we’d just be listening to each
other breathe. We have to desire to know God like that. We can not be satisfied to
just know of him like Micah and his mother.
Micah had his spiritual house set up. He felt that God would definitely bless him
because he was so spiritual. He had all these spiritual things like the ephod from the
tabernacle that the Levite priests would wear. He even had his own Levite priests
now. Everything felt right now. Yet everything was really so wrong because he was
not doing the things that God would have him do, he was doing what felt right; what
seemed right in his own eyes, like so many are doing today. Ironically, in the next
chapter, all his gods get stolen and the priest gets a better offer from the people
stealing the gods so he goes with them. Micah really didn’t know God very well, did
he? Listen to this verse from 1 Samuel 2:12, Now the sons of Eli were corrupt; they
did not know the LORD. Eli, the priests, sons were corrupt BECAUSE they didn’t
know the LORD. Listen to this passage from Jeremiah and see how much it sounds
like Jeremiah was living in our time.
Jeremiah 9:3-6
3"They bend their tongue like their bow; Lies and not truth prevail in the land;For they proceed from
evil to evil, And they do not know Me," declares the LORD. 4"Let everyone be on guard against his
neighbor, And do not trust any brother; Because every brother deals craftily, And every neighbor
goes about as a slanderer. 5"Everyone deceives his neighbor And does not speak the truth, They
have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves committing iniquity. 6"Your
dwelling is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me," declares the LORD.
I can remember a time, not so long ago, when I would tell my young daughter to tell
people that called that I was not there. Not only was I a liar, but I was teaching my
child to lie. It seems like such a little thing to us because like the people Jeremiah
was writing about, our society has taught their tongues to lie. It has become to most
people so natural they don’t even think about it. At the new job I just started, the
people lie dozens of times a day about something so trivial it doesn’t need to be lied
about. The first day I started training and the woman said, you just say such and
such, in my mind, I was like no I won’t. So, as I watched and listened, the LORD gave
me a way to get the same thing accomplished and not tell a lie at all. So, why have
people come to be complete liars? Is say it twice in the passage I just read, they
refuse to know ME, says the LORD.
So, what has me focused on knowing God today? Is this supposed to make us feel
bad because we don’t know God as well as we’d like to? Absolutely not! Ironically,
what moving this direction is a very positive thing. As most of you know, Friday began
the Feast of Tabernacles, which is the last feast of the LORD mentioned in Leviticus
23. For the past five years or so, our family has put off the non-biblical traditions of
our past to celebrate Hanukah and Passover. That came from kind of a defensive
position when we started to realize the origins of the holidays we had been observing
then saw that we had a biblical alternative. So, while reading Leviticus 23 we just
came to the conclusion that when God said His people should celebrate these feasts
forever, I think He meant forever. So, this year is the first year that we have been
able to celebrate all of the LORD’s feasts. I was talking to my mom the other day and
I was like, wow, I have learned so much about God through His feasts this year.
Some people think that these things are burdensome but it’s really the opposite.
These feasts have been such a blessing to me. Not only has God given us these
feasts to remember the past, and as a foreshadowing of Messiah, but also as a
picture of our individual relationship with the Father. These fall feast are a perfect
picture for us to recognize. The first fall feast was about two weeks ago, the feast of
trumpets which is a perfect symbol of the clarion call; us hearing the gospel of Jesus
Christ. When we heard and recognized that we were sinners in need of a way to pay
our debt so we could be in right standing with God. The next fall feast was the Day of
Atonement (Yom Kippur). This is a picture of our acceptance of the sacrifice Jesus
made for us to pay that debt we could not pay. When we accepted the blood of
Messiah, all our sin was atoned for, once for all. This last fall feast, the Feast of
Tabernacles (Shavuot), is a picture of us making a place for Jesus to dwell in our
hearts. That is what the tabernacle was, a place for God to dwell with man. Now, the
tabernacle is within us and as you’ve probably heard Jesus is knocking on the door of
our hearts. It’s up to us to make a place for Him.
I feel like I know my Lord so much more than I ever have before. I feel like this is why
He told us to celebrate these things forever. It’s why He didn’t tell us as His people to
celebrate until Messiah came, but forever. He knew that many would forget the
important things like Micah and His mother did. But as His people celebrate His feasts
year after year, He knew that we would come closer to Him if we celebrated in spirit
and in truth. There are many who celebrate these feasts as Jewish holidays in the
spirit of tradition, not in the spirit of truth. For them, they may be a burden. For them,
they don’t bring them closer to the Father. That’s like when I used to celebrate
Christmas with no concern of Christ. I know that this house church looks very
different than what many are used to, but don’t judge us compared to anything but
the word of God. The Word needs to be our final authority in all things.
Luke 13:22-28
22 And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23
Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” And He said to them, 24 “Strive to enter
through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When
once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and
knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not
know you, where you are from,’ 26 then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence,
and You taught in our streets.’ 27 But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from.
Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’
Let’s not be one of those who will not be know because they refused to know the
LORD. Let us be content to enter by the narrow gate that few will find. God has not
cast those that are His away forever.
Hosea 6:1-3
1 Come, and let us return to the LORD;
For He has torn, but He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will bind us up.
2 After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.
3 Let us know,
Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD.
His going forth is established as the morning;
He will come to us like the rain,
Like the latter and former rain to the earth.
If you’ve never read the book of Hosea, take the time to do so. The righteous
prophet whose wife was a prostitute that left him and her three children to go back to
her trade. Hosea went back to get her and bought her back from those who she had
sold herself to. Hosea’s love for his unfaithful wife is a picture of God’s great love for
us. Let’s recognize the great love God has for us and love Him back with the same
passion.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: October 8, 2006
