You can find the video here: https://www.facebook.com/RichlandNaz/videos/196006845182836
Judges 17:1-6
We are getting to the end of the book of Judges. And like I said – it’s not getting better, it seems as if it’s only getting worse. And just when you think you’ve hit bottom, well – the hole is deeper and deeper…
Judges 17:1-6 (NIV) Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse—I have that silver with me; I took it.” Then his mother said, “The Lord bless you, my son!” When he returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, “I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord for my son to make an image overlaid with silver. I will give it back to you.” So after he returned the silver to his mother, she took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who used them to make the idol. And it was put in Micah’s house. Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household gods and installed one of his sons as his priest. In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.
When we look at this story it starts out with a man named Micah. He wants his mother’s money so he steals it. Right at the beginning, he has broken two of the Ten Commandments. It seems likely that she initially asked him if he knew what happened to the money, and he lied because when she utters a curse on the person who stole the money, this frightens Micah and to avoid being cursed, he confesses and returns the money to her. He doesn’t do this because it’s the right thing to do, he does it to save his skin. He doesn’t want to be on the receiving end of that curse.
You have to look at what is happening here today in the United States of America. You have a society that has turned away from God, away from what is truth, and towards making up their own gods – and making up their own truth. We call that relativism.
The common motive in a society ruled by relativism is self-interest. You don’t believe me, turn on the news today. Truth in America as we once knew it simply is gone – relativism rules.
Let’s get back to our Scripture. Micah’s mom responds by saying she’ll give it all, 1100 shekels of silver, to the Lord. But she isn’t telling the truth either. She only gives two hundred pieces of silver. Worse still, she uses her offering to have an image carved and an idol cast which she then places in her son’s house. This is a total and complete disregard for what God has ordained.
Now, no matter what one person does, we all have a choice to live rightly and follow God’s truth. And what does Micah do? He gladly accepts the gift of the idol she had made, then he gets some more idols. Has an ephod made (a priestly garment), and commissions one of his sons as his own personal priest for all of these gods.
Everything in these five verses is an intentional violation of God’s law. The disrespect of a parent, theft, the graven image, the idol worship, the ephod, even turning the home into a place of worship was a violation of God’s law.
But Pastor Dan in our world today this sounds fine—doesn’t it? So what if he wants to worship God, at home in his own way, putting up other idols and ordaining his own pastor/priest to do so? Who are we to judge what’s right or wrong? The problem isn’t us judging what’s right or wrong. The issue is measuring what we do against Scripture – because Scripture is our source of God’s truth. In some cases, while we may not go somewhere and have an idol cast or carved, we have still created idols. And not just in our homes but also in our churches.
The problem is that in this case God’s law was no longer truth. When you remove truth, however, you end up with people treating other people as less than human. That’s where again this story ends up. And that’s where we have come to be as a people – as a society – as a nation. You ever wonder what it would be like if we were to all turn back to God, and listen and live His truth once again…?