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Jun 15, 2014

When Sweet Revenge Turns Sour | Part 3

Passage: Judges 15:1-20

Preacher: Tim Badal

Series:Samson

Detail:

Let’s turn to the Book of Judges. For the past few weeks we’ve been investing our time looking at the Book of Judges and probably the most visible leader during that time in the history of Israel: Samson. While the Book of Judges contains many leaders—both men and women—who served the nation of Israel well, Samson gets the most press of them all. Four chapters of this book are dedicated to the life and times of Samson who was endowed by God with great might and strength to vanquish the neighboring enemies the Philistines.

Over these four chapters we are going to learn that while God has gifted Samson with great strength, power and might, his greatest enemy is not the neighboring Philistines. What is true for Samson is what many of us learn in life: our greatest enemy is ourselves. Our own passions, our own desires and the things we so readily keep unchecked in our lives are the very things that bring us down.

We’ve already learned that Samson has many chinks in his armor. He has many areas of weakness—not because of an external foe but because he’s unwilling to deal with the sin, failures and flaws in his own life. So it would seem that God has picked a broken man and because of picking this broken man God can’t get His job done.

We’re going to see repeatedly that even through Samson’s disobedience, wrong decisions, selfish lusts and desires, God’s will is still accomplished. God uses Samson in spite of himself. That’s a good reminder for us that God uses us even amongst our failures, flaws, dysfunction and even downright disobedience. We may think, “If I’ve blown it then God has blown it because He chooses to use me.” But we need to know that God’s plans cannot be thwarted. Neither the devil nor our disobedience can thwart the plans and purposes of God.

We also learn in Samson’s life that while God may use our flaws, failures and sinful decisions to accomplish His will and purposes, that doesn’t mean all is going to go well with us. The story of Samson is tragedy upon tragedy, heartbreak upon heartbreak with broken lives as a result. It could have been so different for Samson if he had done things God’s way instead of pursuing his own agenda and his own plans.

As we look at Judges 15, there will be one word that kind of summarizes the chapter: revenge. I want to center our attention on that word today because we’re going to see that revenge often starts so sweet but ends incredibly sour. We need to be careful about this issue of revenge and keep it out of our lives so that it doesn’t eat us up as it did Samson.

So let’s go ahead and read God’s Word. Judges 15 says:

1 After some days, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat. And he said, “I will go in to my wife in the chamber.” But her father would not allow him to go in. 2 And her father said, “I really thought that you utterly hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.” 3 And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines, when I do them harm.” 4 So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. 5 And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stacked grain and the standing grain, as well as the olive orchards. 6 Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” And the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire. 7 And Samson said to them, “If this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you, and after that I will quit.” 8 And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam. 9 Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi. 10 And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us.” 11 Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so have I done to them.” 12 And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.” 13 They said to him, “No; we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. 14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands. 15 And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men. 16 And Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men.” 17 As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi. 18And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the Lord and said, “You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore; it is at Lehi to this day. 20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

Let’s pray.

Father God, as we open Your Word I pray that You would teach and train us in Your righteousness. This is an incredible passage of Scripture with much bloodshed. What can we gain from such a sad story? We know that all Scripture is God breathed, useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). So I pray that You would allow by Your Spirit for that to take place in the lives of Your people. We thank You for Your Word. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

As we look at this passage of Scripture I’m going to give you a running commentary on what is happening. But again I want to remind you that this passage points to one word that you’re going to see repeatedly. Samson says, “I am doing to them what they have done to me.” That one word is revenge.

When I was a young boy my family would gather around a record player—yes I said record player, I’m that old—and we would listen to old comedy records from Bill Cosby. Long before his TV show made him a household name, Bill Cosby was known in the stand-up world for his comedic stories. One of those stories that I will never forget from my childhood is the story titled “Revenge.” Bill tells this story about when he was growing up in Philadelphia. One January he and his friend Harold—Harold is always a part of the stories—were having a snowball fight. There’s nothing better to do in snow than have a snowball fight with a buddy. They were having a great time, laughing, joking and hitting each other with nice, soft snowballs.

Then all of a sudden out of nowhere someone hit Bill in the face not with a fluffy snowball, but with an ice ball. The cardinal rule of all snowball fights has been broken. Bill got smacked right on the side of the face and it stung. It burned. He tried to hold in the tears. I mean this thing really hurt. And then Bill heard, “Ha, ha, ha! I got you real good, Cosby! I got you real good!” It wasn’t Harold; it was his archenemy Junior Barnes. Junior Barnes had broken the rules. He threw an ice ball, hit Bill in the face and made Bill cry. Bill says in his story, “All I could think about was, ‘Revenge!’”

Bill could have picked up an ice ball and thrown it back at Junior Barnes but that’s not how revenge works, right? So what did Bill do? With all the premeditation in the world he began to think, “How can I get even? I’m going to give it back to him just as he gave it to me.” So he formed the most beautiful, tightly wound and packed snowball. But he didn’t throw it at Junior in January; he waited until July. On the hottest day in Philadelphia when temperatures were well over 100 degrees, he was ready. He even befriended his old enemy, Junior Barnes, just to keep him close enough for that time when he would get revenge and smack him in the face. Bill has dreamed of the slushy goodness hitting Junior’s face and making the boy cry.

So on that hottest day in July Bill went to the freezer where he put this perfect snowball only to find out that his mom had thrown it away. So now what was he going to do? He had nothing left. So he went out and spit on his buddy to get back at him.

Now I know that I could never do what Cosby did but it’s a reminder that revenge is inherent within each of us. Think about the last time someone did something to you. Your first thought isn’t, “I better forgive.” If it is then I want to spend some time talking with you. I know what happens within my human heart. I say, “I’m going to get even. If they take a pound of flesh out of me then I’m going to get a couple of pounds of flesh out of them.”

In the movie The Untouchables they say, “You put our man in the hospital, we’ll put your man in the morgue,” and “You come to me with a knife, we’ll come to you with a gun.” That is the idea of this emotion called revenge. If someone hurts us we’re going to hurt them. It’s tit-for-tat and we’re going to keep going in this conflict with each other because we will not sit idly by and allow someone to wrong us without an opportunity for revenge.

This is the gist of the passage in Judges 15. Samson has been wronged. Now he’s going to even the score by going to his enemies and wronging them. It creates this cycle that I think is unbecoming for the life of the Christian and I’m going to explain why.

So let’s look at three points regarding revenge:

We Must Face the Unexpected Ramifications of Our Choices
We Must Refuse to Take Revenge Against Others
We Must Be Ready for the Retaliation by the Offended

1. We Must Face the Unexpected Ramifications of Our Choices

We need to understand from Judges 15 that we have to face the unexpected ramifications of our choices. I want you to know that nobody is demanding for Samson to do what he’s doing. Let’s go back to Judges 14 and look at what’s already happened. It was a happy time. Samson picked his wife. She was right in his eyes; she was beautiful so he wanted to marry her. He brought his family and they had the marriage celebration. He was given 30 groomsmen to be part of his wedding ceremony. During the celebration Samson put a riddle before these Philistine groomsmen. He said, “If you can get this riddle right then I will give each of you a new suit. If you don’t get it right, then each of you will give me a new suit.” That’s a good deal. The riddle has to do with what happened because of his sin in a vineyard during his time as a Nazirite when he was supposed to be apart from any fruit bearing vines. While he was there he killed a lion. After some time had passed a swarm of honeybees built a honeycomb in the lion’s carcass. Samson told the men, “Can you figure out my riddle?”

They couldn’t figure it out. For days they couldn’t figure it out and Samson’s was about to get himself 30 new suits. He was excited about it. He loved telling riddles. He loved this opportunity to stick it to the Philistines. But here’s the problem: the groomsmen started getting to his wife. So she started getting upset. She said, “Why don’t you love me? Why are you making my people look so stupid? These are my friends. These are my family members and you have brought disgrace and dishonor to them.” So she started nagging him and being persistent with him, “Tell me the answer to the riddle! Tell me! Tell me!” Finally—because of her nagging—Samson relented and told her the answer. So she went and told the groomsmen and Samson lost the bet.

Notice what happened next: Samson had a choice to make. We all have choices to make. One of the things we learn from Samson’s life is that we need to think through not only the choices that we make in the present but also the ramifications of those choices in the future. If he had thought through the ramifications of what was about to transpire I don’t believe Samson would have gone that way because it would have been apparent that he was heading into disaster. Some of us are making decisions in our lives right now that seem good but are only going to lead to destruction in the future. We’re not thinking through the ramifications. We’re not mature enough to take the long view of things so we make whatever decision feels right at the time with little thought of what it will do two or 20 years from now.

Samson was about to make a decision that was going to have a ripple effect on his life for years to come. Sadly some of us have made decisions like this that have impacted our marriage, our finances, our relationships and our walk with God because it felt good in the moment but we didn’t think about the ramifications that were going to come. Remember this: your choices matter. Your decisions have ramifications. Samson’s life would have been better off if he had known the ramifications of his decision. Had we known the ramifications of some of our own decisions our lives would be better off in many ways as well.

So what happens? Samson lost the bet and Judges 14:19 tells us that, “[He] gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father's house.” What did he do? He went and got 30 garments of clothes for his companions. Where did he get the clothes? Look back at the beginning of the verse. He left, went to a nearby village, killed 30 innocent men, stole their clothes, brought them back to the wedding feast and offered them to the men. So he’s a man of his word. He had to give them each a suit so he went to find some suits. Then he killed 30 men who hadn’t done anything and weren’t part of the riddle. He killed them to give their suits to his companions.

Look at what happened next: he made a decision in hot anger. Instead of going back to his wife he went to his father’s house. Commentators say he did this because he was pouting. He didn’t get his way. He lost some of his pride so he went back to his father’s house. Now remember this: Samson is supposed to be on his honeymoon. This is Samson’s time to enjoy the blessings of a new wife but now he’s at his father’s home pouting.

At the beginning of chapter 15 Samson—who had lost that loving feeling—got that loving feeling back. Judges 15:1 says, “After some days”—we don’t know how many days—“at the time of the wheat harvest”—which is important later on—“Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat.” Ladies, what says love better than a young goat? When you see your dude carrying a young goat that’s romantic. In that day it was like a bountiful bouquet of flowers. It said, “You’re really special to me.”

A Broken Heart

Here we see the first unexpected ramification of the choice he made to leave his wedding. Samson has to endure a broken heart. In verse one it says that when he goes to visit his wife his father-in-law meets him and says, “I cannot let you go in.”

Samson says, “Wait a minute. She’s my wife! It’s my honeymoon! I should be able to go in.”

The father-in-law says, “No, you can’t. That woman whom you said was right in your eyes, whom you told your parents you could not live without, whom you demanded be brought to you, you can’t have her anymore.”

The Betrayal of Trust

A betrayal takes place. Why can’t he have his wife? Here’s the problem: in his anger Samson left his wedding before it was fully complete. We learned in the Sermon on the Mount that in Old Testament times a man could divorce his wife during the seven-day festival known as the wedding ceremony. During those seven days if there was anything the groom saw as unbecoming in his wife he could divorce her and leave. Samson’s father-in-law says, “I thought you hated her. I thought you didn’t like her and that’s why you left.” Was that the reason why Samson left? Did he suddenly feel differently about his wife? His feelings about his wife were not even involved. Samson got angry that he lost the bet and his enemies had an opportunity to laugh at him. So he left and went on a rampage killing people.

Samson loses his wife because of a decision he made. What a reminder for some of us who struggle with unbridled passion in the area of anger. Last time we talked about unbridled passion of lust. Now we’re moving to the issue of anger. Some of you are losing relationships, opportunities and a better outcome in the future because you cannot be stopped in your anger. When someone makes you angry the only thing you can think about is how you are going to express your anger, not the ripple effect of what that anger will do. Samson had little thought of what would happen to his relationships. He was too busy being angry.

Now who has betrayed Samson? Is it his father-in-law? His father-in-law has given Samson’s wife to the best man. Is the father-in-law to be questioned that he changed the marriage? No. Notice the father-in-law says in verse two, “Here’s my younger daughter. You can have her.” So he’s okay with the marriage. The betrayal is not by the father-in-law.

Maybe it’s the best man. Was he in cahoots with the woman and they had something going on the side? It doesn’t seem as if that’s the case at all. The writer seems to say that the best man is given an opportunity to fulfill the right of a divorced woman to be taken into marriage by someone else. So he takes her into marriage. The betrayal is not by the best man.

The betrayal is by Samson himself. Samson’s unchecked passions and unbridled anger are what cause him to lose that which he loves. Samson wants to look for anybody else to put the blame but there’s no one to blame but himself.

Some of us this morning are involved in situations where our life has completely come undone. We want to look at everybody else and say, “You’re the problem. You’re the one who messed this up.” Some of you need to look in the mirror and point to yourself. You need to be mad at yourself, not anyone else. Samson had blown it and was looking for someone else to blame.

Bargaining for a Compromise

There are two types of bargaining happening. The father bargains with Samson in verse two, “Hey Samson, I don’t want any trouble so here’s my younger daughter.” Now there’s a bit of an insult here. He says, “Let me describe my younger daughter for you. She’s better looking than the older one.” How would you have felt if you were the older sister sitting there at that point? The father says, “I’ve got another daughter and if you thought the older one was a fox let me show you this one. Man this one blows her out of the water.”

So the father-in-law is bargaining with Samson. I want you to notice something about the bargaining. The father-in-law speaks to Samson where Samson lives. He doesn’t talk about his daughter’s social graces, intellect, ability to relate with others or etiquette. He only talks about that which speaks to Samson: her beauty. Samson’s father-in-law knows that the only thing that appeals to Samson is the lust of his heart.

You may think that you’re hiding what’s going on in your heart but people who are around you long enough will be able to know with an uncanny ability what’s going on inside of you. Samson’s father-in-law knows what makes Samson tick. He knows what Samson’s private and personal hunger is that maybe not many other people knew. Samson’s father-in-law knew it exactly and says, “I know what gets you going. You’re looking for beauty and she’s beautiful. You don’t care about anything else so I’m going to advertise what I know you like.” We need to be careful because we think our sins are private and personal. We don’t think anybody else knows them. But if you spend enough time around people then they will see it.

Notice there’s a second bargain in our passage and it is seen in a compromise that Samson makes. Samson says in verse three, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines, when I do them harm.” That’s an all-out lie. Samson is bargaining. He’s compromising by saying, “I’m angry. I’m really upset about what’s happened and I need to find someone to blame.” Do you know who he’s going to blame? It’s the Philistines. It’s their fault.

Let’s stop for a moment and review what’s happened. Samson made a decision to intermarry with the Philistines. They didn’t force him to do it; he did it. He chose a Philistine wife. Then he had 30 Philistine companions. He chose to give them a riddle that made sport of his sin and loose living. He chose to wager 30 suits of clothing. He chose to tell his wife the answer to the riddle. Then she told the groomsmen. He didn’t have to tell her the answer but he chose to do so. After losing the bet he chose to go and kill 30 innocent men. He chose all of these things. Now he’s angry that his wife has been given to someone else. Who’s to blame? He says the Philistines are.

After studying this for the last couple of weeks it is apparent that the only one to blame is Samson himself. He has made moronic decision after moronic decision and now the chickens are coming home to roost. The unexpected ramifications and consequences of bad decisions are finally starting to hit Samson right where he lives. And he says, “I have reason to be angry and I know at whom I’m going to be mad.”

Maybe we don’t do it as badly as Samson did but I can tell you I did it this week. I had a bad day at work. Some things didn’t turn out the way that I wanted. Some decisions I made came back and bit me and I was frustrated and angry. I remember being extra frustrated on my way home that day. I had just gotten a bad phone call on the way home to make things worse. When I got home I was raring for a fight. My youngest son had left a truck in the middle of the garage that almost made me break my leg so I walked into the house and let that kid have it. So my wife said, “What did he do?”

I said, “This is why I’m frustrated and angry. It’s this kind of stuff!”

My wife responded, “It has nothing to do with that. Perhaps something happened during the day? Don’t blame your six-year-old kid for your bad day.”

Yet we do that all the time in small ways and in large ways. We don’t like how our life is going so we look for others to blame.

2. We Must Refuse to Take Revenge Against Others

As we look at this issue of revenge we have to ask the question, “Is this becoming of a Christian?” The Bible makes it abundantly clear that we need to refuse to take revenge against others. We have to be careful of this. Was God going to use Samson’s revenge? Yes, He was going to use it. Was it the best way? Probably not. I want you to notice why not. There are three very valuable lessons about the issue of revenge that I want us to see.

Revenge Becomes All Encompassing

When you try to get even with an enemy it becomes all encompassing. That’s what revenge does. Remember Bill Cosby’s story. He dreamed about revenge. He thought about it. He conspired about it. He invested his time and energy in it. What does Samson do now? Samson’s angry. He wants to get back at the Philistines for what they have done or not done. So what is he going to do? Look at verse 4, “So Samson went and caught 300 foxes [jackals is probably a better rendering] and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails.”

Revenge has a way of eating into our lives so that the only thing we can think about is getting even with the one who’s wronged us. Where is Samson supposed to be right now? He’s supposed to be on his honeymoon. Where is Samson? Because of revenge, bitterness and resentfulness he’s catching foxes, tying their tails together and putting torches in between. It sounds like a great honeymoon, doesn’t it? Let me ask you men, would you rather be on your honeymoon or catching foxes? I’m going to assume that you’d rather be on your honeymoon.

So what is Samson doing? His jealousy, anger and wrath have filled him up to a point that he’s by himself instead of being with the woman he loves. Why? Because he can’t get beyond it. Right now some of you are so filled with bitterness, rage and anger over someone’s wrong against you that you can’t think about anything else but that one thing. You can’t get beyond it. You can’t be filled with joy or peace because of that one thing they have done to you. It’s all encompassing.

Revenge Becomes Expensive

It’s also incredibly expensive. Why does Samson do this odd thing? He knows exactly why he’s doing it. He’s going to release these foxes into the harvest fields. Remember from verse one that it’s time for the wheat harvest. So the Philistines and the Israelites are living side by side. These farmers have invested their entire year growing their crop and it is the time of harvest. They’re ready to reap their harvest and they’re saying, “Here’s our nest egg for the coming winter.” Then it all starts to burn. All across the countryside the place goes up in smoke. It’s all being burned to a crisp. Think about the amount of money that would be wasted because of that!

Revenge Always Leads to Further Escalation

So when we pour out revenge on others it’s all-encompassing, it’s going to cost people things and it also causes further escalation. If you have some time later here’s some homework. Do some research on the feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys. Notice how it starts and the number of people who are harmed in that modern day feud. Notice also the cost that comes as a result. Four times in our text we see the idea, “Just as he (or they) has done to me, so I will do to them.”

Here’s the cycle: Samson does something to the Philistines, the Philistines react and do something to Samson, Samson reacts and responds to them and they react and respond to Samson. When you’re involved in revenge you are on a merry-go-round of bitterness, un-forgiveness, resentfulness and revenge. It’s a crazy cycle because it never ends and it only escalates.

So how does it escalate? It involves a whole bunch of people. This issue between Samson and the Philistines started out with Samson and his companions at a wedding. He was unhappy that they won the riddle. So he left and killed 30 innocent men to give their suits to his companions. He’s already escalated it. Now it’s going to escalate again because the Philistines are going to respond against Samson.

Why shouldn’t we pursue revenge? Because it encompasses all of our life, it’s going to cost us and it’s going to lead to further development of greater issues of revenge and struggle.

3. We Must Be Ready for the Retaliation of the Offended

Let’s say you decide, “Okay, it’s worth it. Revenge is worth it. Someone has really wronged me and I can’t let it go.” Here’s the third point that I want you to see. If you’re going to choose revenge you better be ready for the retaliation of the offended. Samson said, “I’m going to come at them and they’re going to get it. They’re going to know that they shouldn’t mess with Samson.”

This Retaliation Can Hurt Our Family and Friends

Be careful when you choose revenge as your lifestyle because it’s going to hurt your family and friends. What do the Philistines do in response to Samson’s actions? After the crops of the Philistines are burned they go out and retaliate. They burn Samson’s crop—not an agricultural crop. They burn his wife and father-in-law. Commentators say that they killed the whole household. So the woman whom Samson wanted to spend his life with and the family that Samson had felt so closely connected to is now gone. The retaliation of the offended hurt those individuals. When we choose revenge and choose to allow our anger or bitterness to eat us up it doesn’t just affect us but it affects those closest to us.

I recently had a conversation with a friend who has ruined his life because of anger issues. I asked him, “Where did these anger issues come from?”

He said, “It’s the only way I saw my father respond. It’s all I know.”

I see my friend whom I love making bad decision upon bad decision and he learned it from watching his dad. Some of us are showing our kids and grandkids that the way to get ahead in this world is by walking over those who have wronged you. That’s not Christ-likeness; that’s selfishness. That’s bitterness. That’s anger that does not produce the righteousness of God that you’re teaching your children.

Some of you may continue to preach a sermon at work that goes like this, “If you cross me then you better watch out because you’ve got another thing coming. You don’t mess with me.” Because of your unbridled anger some of you have allowed your Christian testimony to be “you don’t step on my toes because if you do I’ll break your leg.” You cannot teach Christ and be full of revenge, bitterness and anger. You just can’t do it.

This Retaliation Can Produce Fear in Others

When you live that way it will produce fear in others. In Judges 15:7-8 we see Samson camping out in a cleft of a rock. Time and time again we find Samson completely alone. He is always by himself. The Philistines come looking for him and as part of their retaliation they raid a city. They’re angry. They want justice. Their actions produce fear in all the cities around. The Israelites think, “Are the Philistines going to come and raid our city, killing more people?” So they go to Samson and say, “You have to stop doing this!”

Now there is a sense of compromise on the part of the Israelites because they’re okay with the Philistines as their leaders. I have to be honest with you, when I wrote the small group material and study guides for this lesson I put a lot of blame on the Israelites. But the more I study it the more I blame Samson. Samson was called to be set apart so that he could lead the people of Israel to vanquish his enemies. But all he has done is show that you don’t mess with Samson or his property.

When the Philistines ask why this has been done they find out in verse six it is because his wife was taken from him and given to his companion. So the Israelites realize, “This is a personal vendetta. This isn’t a national thing. Why should we involve ourselves in this personal thing when it doesn’t involve us?”

This Retaliation Can Result in Foolish Choices

This fear causes foolish choices. What do the Israelites do? They do the most unthinkable thing. They give their enemies their best soldier. They bind him up. They say, “We’re not going to kill you but we’re going to bind you up with ropes and hand you over to the Philistines. We’re going to force you to surrender.” So he does.

When we live lives of revenge, bitterness and anger it will cause people around us to do stupid things. Because we who are around you have no idea what to do when it’s all about you. The observers around Samson are trying to figure out, “What do we do with this Samson? He’s reckless. He makes decisions that he shouldn’t.” They don’t want anything to do with him so they hand him over to the Philistines. They hand him over to the enemy.

You would think amidst all of this unbridled anger that God couldn’t use Samson. But notice in verse 14 that the Spirit of the Lord rushes upon him. What a great reminder of God’s grace! Even though we mess up and fail, God still gives us power to accomplish His purposes and plans even when we go on detour after detour around it. God gives Samson the grace to rip apart his bindings. After killing 30 men and even an insurgent group of people, he now cuts down the hundreds of men around him one by one. He is doing what God wanted him to do: vanquish the Philistines.

This Retaliation Can Cause Us to Fight the Right Battles the Wrong Ways

When revenge is your priority you will fight the right battles but in the wrong ways. Samson is fighting the right enemy. He was supposed to take care of the Philistines.

Look at verse 15, “And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men.” You might say, “That’s kind of odd: the jawbone of a donkey. I don’t know how it works. I’ve never used it before but obviously it’s a pretty impressive tool or weapon.”

So what’s the problem? Samson is a Nazirite. What is Samson not supposed to touch? Dead animals. He grabs something that defiles him to win the battle.

When you choose revenge God may use it for His good. God’s purposes will come to pass because no one can thwart them. But every time you use revenge as a way to accomplish God’s purposes a part of you dies with every enemy that you kill. As Samson kills his enemies one after another, God’s Spirit—unbeknownst to Samson—is beginning to leave him little by little. Little by little he’s about to lose his strength because of the road of compromise he continues to follow. Instead of fighting the battle God’s way he chooses to fight it his own way.

Some of us think we’re fighting God’s battle but we’re fighting it the wrong way. The Bible says we wrestle not against flesh and blood. We don’t have to wage war against the people of this world to be known as right. We wrestle against principalities.

We need to take a step back and ask, “Am I at war with the spiritual forces in the world or am I at war with people?” The Bible says that we’re not supposed to be at war with people but with the ways of this world, the devil and his demons. So why do we take it out on people—some who are closest to us and some that we don’t even know? Why is revenge such an important part of our lives? If you’re seeking to defeat your enemy because of revenge you may accomplish it but in the end you’ll lose your soul.

So what do we do with the bloodbath and carnage in Judges 15? I want you to recognize three points of action:

Place Your Enemies in God’s Hands

Don’t choose revenge but place your enemies in God’s hands. I don’t know who your enemies are. I know they’re out there. I have some enemies in my life, some people who I really don’t like because they have wronged me in some real and tangible ways. But let me remind you of what Proverbs 20:22 says, “Do not say, ‘I will repay evil’; wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.”

Some of us want to get a pound of flesh and that’s not for us to have. Marcus Aurelius once said, “The best revenge is to be unlike him who has performed the injury against you.”

The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12:17-21 that we cannot repay evil with evil but we must repay evil with good.

Here’s why: do you remember in the Sermon on the Mount when we talked about having to forgive and love our enemies? I said that you cannot share the gospel of Jesus Christ with someone while you’re trying to attack them. You cannot offer the free gift of grace in Christ Jesus with an open hand when you’re shaking your other hand in a fist at your enemy.

So you have a choice to make. If you choose to go at your enemy with your first you lose every opportunity to ever share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. It better be worth it.

Pray Continuously

You need to pray continuously. In verse 18 after the battle is done—Samson has just struck down 1,000 men—he becomes thirsty and it says, “And he called upon the Lord.” This is the first time in three chapters that Samson has prayed. Samson is supposed to be a man filled with the Spirit and set apart for God, yet this is the first recording we have of him even making mention of God. Even in this passage his prayer is a selfish prayer. It’s a childish prayer. But at least he prays.

Would Samson have run into all of this heartache and trouble if he had prayed? Let me turn it on us. Would you and I experience the hardships and troubles that we’re dealing with today if we had prayed? Would you have fallen prey to that bad decision? Would you have fallen prey to the revenge that cost you more than you know if you had stopped and prayed?

Praying reminds us that we are not to gratify the appetites of flesh but to be filled with the Spirit and live out the fruit of the Spirit. Prayer reminds us that the Beatitudes are the way we ought to live—not a pound for a pound, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Prayer reminds us that we are to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. Prayer reminds us that we are to respond as Christ did not as we want. Even though He suffered unjustly He did not revile or fight back but He left it to God Who judges justly. How often are you praying? When we pray there’s a greater chance that we will not fall prey to our own earthly appetites.

Put God’s Agenda Ahead of Yours

What didn’t Samson do? He didn’t do what we learned in the Sermon on the Mount. He didn’t seek first God and His kingdom. Did God accomplish His work and His kingdom in Samson’s life? Yes, but Samson missed the boat. Right now some of us are seeing God fulfill His kingdom work in us but we’re missing it. We’re wondering why there’s no joy and there’s so much heartache. We wonder why there’s such a lack of power in our lives. It’s because we’re putting our agenda ahead of God’s. God is still accomplishing His work but He’s doing it in spite of us.

So we need to stop. We need to start praying, “Lord, instead of my enemy being number one You’re going to be number one. Instead of me thinking about him I’m going to think about You. Instead of investing time in him I’m going to invest time with You.” And then we will accomplish the plans and purposes of God in our lives and we’ll be blessed.

Samson missed it. Did he accomplish God’s work? Yes. He will now lead the people of Israel for twenty years but it will cost him dearly.

So we need to ask ourselves, “Is getting an enemy back with revenge more important than fulfilling God’s plans and purposes?” The answer will be found when you go back to work, to your neighborhoods or you become a part of something where someone has wronged you. Are you going to avenge it or are you going to give it back to God and stay true to what God has called you to do?

The choice is up to you but if you choose the way of revenge your life will not go very well. You will endure very terrible hardships and struggles because that’s the way it goes when we give ourselves to the flesh.

Instead let’s go the way of God’s calling in our life and experience the blessing and benefits of what it means to live a submitted life to Christ. What are you going to do?

In light of what I’ve read I know what my heart’s desire is. I don’t want to go the way of Samson. I want to follow the ways of our Savior and endure hardship like a good soldier. I want to let God deal with my enemies because He’s called me to love them and pursue Him instead of my own personal agenda.

Let’s pray.

Father God, this is a tough passage that makes us think. I know there are many in our midst who have endured incredible difficulties at the hands of others. We’ve been wronged and they’re legitimate hurts. But it seems from this example of Scripture that revenge may not be the best option. When you call us to respond with a hand of justice I pray that we’ll rise up and perform our duty without question. But I don’t see those things happen as often as we think they do. Usually it’s just that I’m angry because I’ve been wronged. It’s because someone has done something to me that makes me mad. So I pray in those moments when justice isn’t the issue but forgiveness, mercy and compassion are that we would do those things. I pray that I could forgive those who have wronged me and that I would protect my family, those closest to me and myself from an ongoing fight of revenge and struggle.

Lord, we want to honor You so we give our lives to You. Fill us by Your Spirit so that we can fight the right battles the right way. Let us honor You whether at peace or in times of war. I pray that our actions would bring You glory. Now we are going into a world of hurt and pain where people are going to wrong us. We’re going to need to apply this text right away to our lives. Let us apply it well so it will go well with us. Let us honor the God Who has saved us and called us to something better. Send us forth from this place now that we have gotten to know You better through Your Word. I now close out our service in the name of Jesus Christ, Your One and only Son. To Him be the glory and honor in Your church and throughout the world. In His name we pray. Amen.

 

Village Bible Church | 847 North State Route 47, Sugar Grove, IL 60554 | (630) 466-7198 | http://www.villagebible.org/sugar-grove/resources/sermons

All Scriptures quoted directly from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted.

Note: This transcription has been provided by Sermon Transcribers (www.sermontranscribers.net).