LISTEN

This sermon was preached by Marina Pease at the Fallowfield site of Christ Church Manchester on Sunday 29th April 2018.

SERIES

This message was part of the ‘Judges’ series, preached at Christ Church Manchester’s church in Fallowfield in early 2018. The full series included the following sermons:

BIBLE VERSES

This sermon was based on Judges 9.

Abimelech’s Conspiracy

7 When it was told to Jotham, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim and cried aloud and said to them, “Listen to me, you leaders of Shechem, that God may listen to you. 8 The trees once went out to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’ 9 But the olive tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my abundance, by which gods and men are honored, and go hold sway over the trees?’ 10 And the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us.’ 11 But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go hold sway over the trees?’ 12 And the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.’ 13 But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I leave my wine that cheers God and men and go hold sway over the trees?’ 14 Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us.’ 15 And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade, but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’

16 “Now therefore, if you acted in good faith and integrity when you made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house and have done to him as his deeds deserved— 17 for my father fought for you and risked his life and delivered you from the hand of Midian, 18 and you have risen up against my father’s house this day and have killed his sons, seventy men on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his female servant, king over the leaders of Shechem, because he is your relative— 19 if you then have acted in good faith and integrity with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you. 20 But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and devour the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo; and let fire come out from the leaders of Shechem and from Beth-millo and devour Abimelech.” 21 And Jotham ran away and fled and went to Beer and lived there, because of Abimelech his brother.

KEY POINTS

Why did the trees look for a King?

They wanted something to hope in. They themselves were not able to king as there are too many sacrifices.
Things that we idolise are usually good things: the love in relationships, the desire for a family, the pleasure of stretching and improving your intelligence. But these things are not made to be worshipped or be where our hopes are.

Striving for the wrong things

Abimelech wants to be accepted by people and when he doesn’t get it, he is filled with rage until he kills the people he wanted to impress. Even when he is dying, he is looking to protect his reputation and his pride.
Putting our hope in other people’s opinions will eventually destroy us and the relationship. We follow a God who became a baby in a stable and grew up facing persecution and being an outsider. Let God into your lives and transform you for His glory.

Baal vs God

Baal was the king of fertility and war – he was worshipped by the Israelites. They sought things that you can see: spouses, sons and sheep. But faith is confidence in things we do not see. It’s harder to believe in what we don’t see. But in situations when we need faith, we know that God is working.
God is active in justice and active in mercy. God is our source of hope and life. Jesus died so that we would be saved. Putting hope in anything other than Jesus equals death. Hoping in Jesus is hard, in Him is such freedom. God doesn’t want death and disaster to be the end – he really wants us to put our hope in Him.

MORE SERMONS

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Abimelech the Judge