A broken family
“Now there was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. He said to his mother, ‘The eleven hundred pieces of silver which were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me; I took it." And his mother said, "Blessed be my son by the LORD.’ … They said to him, ‘Be silent, put your hand over your mouth and come with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?’” (Judges 17:1-2, 18:19).
In a broken family, there is no bond or unity in the family. Especially in the broken, there is no order, and each family member lives in their own way. The broken family is a complicated family. There is fragmentation and disruption in the broken family and each family behaves freely, and there is no morality of order or courtesy.
The age of Judges was a broken age. The reason was because in the days of Judges there was no king in Israel, and every man did what was right in his own eyes (Jdgs. 17:6, 21:25). In these days of Judges, the broken family, the family of Micah of Judges 17, comes out and in Judges 18, the broken tribe, the tribe of Dan, comes out (and from Judges 19 and on, the broken country Israel comes out). When I think about the broken family of Micah and the broken tribe of Dan, I remembered the broken family, who believes in Jesus, and the broken church in our days. I would like to consider some similarities between them. In doing so, I want to be taught how the Christian family who believe in Jesus and the Lord-centered church should be.
First, I would like to think about the similarities between the broken family, Micah’s family, and the broken Christian family of our days. In short, in the broken family of Micah, Micah’s mother did what was right in her own eyes, that is, she wanted her son Micah to be blessed by the Lord (17:2) and her son Micah wanted to be blessed by the Lord (v. 13). It is dumbfounded that when Micah, the son of the broken family, who stole his mother’s 1,100 pieces of silver and then returned to her because out of fear of being cursed by his mother, his mother said to Micah as follow: “"Blessed be my son by the LORD” (v. 2). How could the mother bless her son who stole her money? Shouldn’t she rebuke him? I can’t understand Micah’s mother. What is more difficult to understand is that the Micah's mother, who dedicated the silver that she received her son to the Lord for Micah, took 200 pieces of silver, gave them to the silversmith who made them into a graven image and a molten image, and then gave them to her son Micah (vv. 3-4). Does it make sense to you? How could the Micah’s mother do that? How could she, who blessed her son Micah, make an idol and give that to him?
I think there is not much difference between the Micah's mother and some Christian mothers in our days. Although those Christian mothers say they love God with their lips and are praying for God’s blessing upon their children, they are making an idol for their children. What is that idol? The idol is money they love in their hearts even though with their lips they say they love God. That’s why their children are confused. The reason is because their parents believe in Jesus and go to church every Sunday to worship and serve God but their lives in the house seek and demand worldly success and earn a lot of money from them for their own sake. Whenever they hear their parents say ‘Go to a good university and get a good job and earn a lot of money, meet a good woman/man and live a stable life’, the children are confused because they have thought that their parents will definitely teach them to commit their lives for the Lord and sacrificed for the Lord. The children are confused because their parents put emphasis on the blessings and successes of the material of this world even though they seem to be devoted Christian in the church. So what would happen to those children who grow up under that kind of parents? Don’t you think the children will be like Micah?
Micah placed the graven and molten image that he received from her mother in his house (v. 4). The surprise is that Micah, who was blessed by her mother, "Blessed be my son by the Lord" (v. 2) even had a shrine or house of gods (v. 5). He even made an ephod and household idols (v. 5). He also consecrated one of his sons, that he might become his priest (v. 5). He did what was right in his own eyes (v. 6). When a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, who was a Levite, came to Micah’s house (vv. 7-8), Micah said to him, “Dwell with me and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a suit of clothes, and your maintenance” (v. 10). Then since the Levite became his priest he said, “Now I know that the LORD will prosper me” (v.13). What do you think of this Micah who believed that God would prosper him for what he did that was right in his own eyes? It seems that Micah is like his mother. As his mother wanted her son to be blessed by God and gave him the idol, Micah, who had the shrine, also made the ephod and household idols and consecrated one of his sons to be his priest and expected the Lord to make him prosper. Isn’t his the broken family?
Nevertheless, it is not surprising that our children, who grow up in the Christian family, are no different from Micah. Our children, who grew up looking at us, saw that we are serving God and money together, so our children are also serving money with God. Although Jesus clearly said that we cannot two masters, God and Money (Mt. 6:24), we are disobeying His command and are serving God and Money together. As a result, our children are doing the same thing. What will happen to our children who see us asking God to bless us but actually seeking money through church and Christian life? Can we pray and expect our children to be like Joseph, Moses, Samuel and David? Don’t you think that our children will become like Micah? It is the broken family.
I think today’s church is where these broken families gathered. That’s why even the church is broken. Although we say ‘Lord, Lord’ with our lips, we don’t receive Jesus as the Lord of the church in our hearts. That’s why we say and do whatever it seems right to us. So how can the church keep the unity in the Spirit? What is a church with quarrels, fights, envy, jealousy and division? What is the church without morals and ethics, a church without order and peace, a pastor, an elder, or an ordained deacon and others who are robbing offerings to God? Isn’t this broken church? Why did the church of God come to this point? What is the problem? I think the biggest problem is the hired hand pastors (cf. Jn. 10:12-13). Instead of loving the sheep that God has entrusted to us, we love ourselves and money. That’s why church is like this now. Instead of being led by the Lord’s calling and mission, we are led by salary. So if we are delighted to go to the bigger church that pays more money. That’s why the church became broken now. Look at the young Levite priest whom Micah set as his priest. He was hired by Micah (18:4). When Micah said “I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a suit of clothes, and your maintenance” (17:10), the Levite agreed to live with Micah (v. 11). Then when the Danites sent five men who came to Laish, saw how people were living in the land (18:7) and returned to Zorah and Eshtaol (v. 8), went back and came to Micha’s house (vv. 13, 15) with 600 Danites who were armed for battle (v. 16). The five men who had spied out the land went inside and took the carved image, the ephod, the other household gods and the cast idols (v. 17) and asked the young Levite priest, “Come with us, and be our father and priest. Isn't it better that you serve a tribe and clan in Israel as priest rather than just one man's household?” (v. 19) “Then the priest was glad. He took the ephod, the other household gods and the carved image and went along with the people” (v. 20). He is the hired hand priest. When I think of this Levite priest who was hired by Micah and then hired by the Danites, I cannot help but think about us, the pastors, in our days. Where are the tears of thanksgiving and emotion of God’s grace and love when God called us? What happened to the tears of the hot devotion that we had shed when we experienced God's first love? Where is our heart that was burning toward God's given calling and mission to us? Does it make sense that we, the pastors, are praying and looking for the place to minister that is like Laish, where the church is secure, lacks nothing whatever and prosperous (vv. 7, 10) because it’s hard to live as a pastor? But why do we keep on saying to our church members ‘It’s is God’s will for me to move’? Why don’t we frankly say, ‘I want to go to a bigger church and do bigger ministry because I am greedy’? Why don’t we reveal our arrogance by honestly saying, 'I have the ability to minister to such a big church, so I move my ministry to a big church'? Why are we keep on giving excuses instead of confessing ‘I want to move to the bigger church because I need more money to live with my family’? Because of us, the hired pastors, who are not drawn by God's calling and mission, the church became the broken church. What truth can the congregation members expect from such pastors? How can their sermons that are proclaimed in the Lord's Day be grace to the believers when we are living our lives that are not consistent with the proclaimed truth? When the five spies of the tribe of Dan came to Micah's house and said to Levite, the priest of Micah, “Please inquire of God to learn whether our journey will be successful” (v. 5), this is what the Levite priest said: “Go in peace; your way in which you are going has the Lord’s approval” (v. 6). How could they expect the word of God's truth to the hired priest? But the fearful and frightening thing was, as the Levite the priest of Micah said to the five spies of the Dan (v. 6), the Dan tribe occupied the land of Laish and the Danities rebuilt the city and settle there just as it seemed like the Lord approved the Dan tribe who were worshiping idols (vv. 27-29). What is truly astonishing and frightening is that when the hired pastors preach the message of blessing, the church members receive grace (?) and see that blessing in their lives. Thus, they say "Hallelujah!" and give thanks to God in praise and worship even though it is an absolute blessing. The more fearful and trembling thing is that God and idols are in the church of God's house now, as “they set up for themselves Micah's graven image which he had made, all the time that the house of God was at Shiloh” (v. 31). We are now serving God with idols. What is this? Isn’t this the broken church?
What should we do? What should we do with our home and our church? We must repent. We the parents must repent and our children must repent. All our family members must come before the holy God and repent of our sins by relying on the merit of the cross of Jesus and the power of the blood of Jesus. We must return to the Lord, who is the Lord of our family and our church. And we must listen to Him and obey the His truth. In particular, we must live a life of satisfaction and gratitude, remembering all the spiritual blessings God has already given us in Jesus Christ. We must humbly and faithfully join the Lord's ministry in building the Lord-centered family. In addition, our church should take our Lord Jesus as the head of the church and obey Him. Thinking of the true Shepherd Jesus who sacrificed on the cross for the flock, we, the pastors, must first repent. We must be broken and thoroughly cleansed our hired tendency and become pastors who have the heart of Jesus Christ. The church is hopeless if we don’t first be on fire for God's calling and mission again. But I believe. I believe that the Lord, who is the head of the church, is faithful even though we are unfaithful. Since the Lord loves the souls whom He has forgiven and redeemed the most, He will be merciful to us when we repent and return to Him. We should no longer be the hired pastors. We should no longer love money or other things than God. We must put down all our greed, ambition, and arrogance before His cross. In doing so, our Lord will forgive us and accept us. Then the message we proclaim from the pulpit will be different. The power of God in the gospel that leads to salvation will be manifested. Then our family and church will no longer be broken, but will become the Lord-centered family and church. Then our family and church will be able to shine the light of Jesus Christ in this dark and broken world. Victory!