"They Took Their Daughters...And...Served Their gods"

"Thus the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites,..and the Jebusites.  And they took their daughters to be their wives..; and they served their gods."  (From Judges 3:5, 6)

Inevitable, isn't is?  When we take, "their daughters," we will, sooner or later, "...serve their gods."

Later in the Book we read that there was no king in Israel and apparently there was no reading of the Torah; therefore, again, the inevitable rebellion stated in chapter 17, "everyone did what was right in his own eyes.  The problem today is that we have King Jesus; we have His Words; we have His Church; we have His Kingdom.  Yet there is so much in Christendom of, "dwelt among the Canaanites...and... served their gods."  The real malady is that we read Jesus' Words, teach Jesus' Words, and still do, "....what [is] right in his own eyes."

It seems to me that this is where the concept of authority comes in, viz., the Bible, the Church's Five-Fold Ministries, and as Ephesians tells us, "submitting to one another in the fear of God."  Dunn was right when he penned, "No man is an island entire of itself; every man is...a part of the main....Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind."  This must be the attitude of the Church among ourselves.  In the Church there is no place for, "everyone did what was right in his own eyes." 

The Church can only live "in victory" in a hostile, Canaanite Culture, by each of us giving up, "in his own eyes."  There must be "corporate eyes."  The Church of Jesus is under the Authority of our Head, Jesus, and the King of The Kingdom, Jesus.  Our service to one another is to really live, "submitting to one another in the fear of God", but a "submission" only to those who continually encourage, yes, demand that we live, "looking unto Jesus," and walking in obedience to Jesus' Words.

Father, in Jesus' Name, I thank You for Your Authority manifested in Your Church.  I pray for grace to not be as, "the Canaanites," but serve the Canaanites with You and Your Words. Amen.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2