SERMON: Judges 20:1-25, Selective Outrage
…This story applies no less to Israel than it does now to the church. We live in calamitous days. And Christians often show the same selective outrage as of Israel. Tampons in the boy’s bathroom in a public, secular, worldly school? Outrage.
A lukewarm, worldly, apathetic church, brethren suffering around the world, entire peoples without the gospel, families more serious about sports and careers than Christ, secret sins flourishing. Meh. “What can ya do?”
The point isn’t to let depravity slide but rather to direct the same intensity of outrage shown by Israel towards that perversion of righteousness, to the Kingdom of God in all its aspects. The author is not telling Israel to leave the men of Benjamin unpunished, but compelling Israel to give that same sort of attention to all the matters of the covenant. Which, if they had shown this same level of effort when they went into the land, this event would not have happened. But Israel showed too much apathy toward the Lord and his covenant for too long. Eventually, wickedness became the standard rather than the exception…
