Over the past 15 or so weeks our Community Group has been working through the book of Judges. There are many lessons to learn throughout the book such as leadership, compromise, cycles of sin, cries for deliverance, and God’s grace. One of the most important lessons to learn is how quickly the Israelites became Cannanized by the nations they should have expelled from the land. Judges should not be viewed as a prescriptive book on how things should be done, nor should it be held in high esteem in view of heroic valor. Rather it is a description of the spiritual rot of God’s people.
This evening in reviewing the overall book I came across an older article (1999?) by Dr. Daniel I. Block. I was introduced to Dr. Block when he visited Bryan College in the 2000s by Dr. Ken Turner who did his doctorial studies under Dr. Block. To meet Dr. Block is to meet a humble man who is gracious, kind, and a highly esteemed biblical scholar. The title of the article is “Unspeakable Crimes: The Abuse of Women in the Book of Judges.” Take some time to read it. The title, topic, and content could not be more pertinent in wake of the release of the SBC Sex Abuse Task Force Full Report. The church in America has paralleled what we find in the book of Judges. We have not become Cannanized but secularized. Secularization is a belief system that denies or ignores God and sees this world as ultimate. Sadly, we likely could remove the names of judges and replace them with many recent Evangelical and Southern Baptist leaders.
The following are three thoughts to ponder. I have gathered them from reading a review of the book “The Art of Prophesying: And the Calling of the Ministry” by William Perkins (1592).
- “It is a general rule that as it goes with the pulpit so it goes with the people.” (p. xiii) A true minister must be faithful to his calling and his duties while leading his people by his example of personal holiness. There is no higher calling and no weightier responsibility than that of a minister of the gospel.
- A minister must be humble before the majesty of God. He must be aware of his own uncleanness as well as that of his people, and take great care in living a holy life and admonishing his people to do the same, encouraging them and rebuking them when necessary. Those entering the ministry must be aware of the great responsibility and the tendencies to become conceited that accompany it. Ungodly men in the pulpit do far more damage to the body of Christ than good.
- “No man’s predicament will be more miserable than a careless minister’s.” (p. 148)