The Curse of Meroz
There are three types of people in the world—those that wonder what happen, those that watch things happen, and those that make things happen. Thus it is with the Church of God today. There is a rich mixture of the three classes here mentioned. There is nothing wrong with any of these classes; they seemed to be involved in some type of activity. However if we analyze the activities that the wondering person, watchful person, and the working person are engaged, we will discover that the most productive is the working person. Nonetheless, if you were to really look at the three categories of individuality, you will soon find that each has a character flaw.
The wondering person is that “thinker” or “dreamer” to busy contemplating and in awestruck over the things that he could possibly do and not really at thought at the potential he could exploit of his/her self. The watchful person is that “spectator” or “couch potato” and is usually the one who asks the question “Did you see that?” That spectator is missing out on the opportunities that would be accessible to him if he weren’t so busy watching others take the advantage. Then there is the working person that “busy bee;” yes, he has a flaw too. He is so busy working and carrying on that he isn’t aware of what’s going on neither does he have time to reflect on anything that he just may have accomplished.
I noticed that if they were somehow connected and amalgamated, they would form a total package, a complete individual. For if you take the person who wonders what happens, who watch what happens, and make things happen and could somehow throw them in a huge human mixing bowl, you will come out with a person who wonders at what he has watched happen so that he may be able to know how to make things happen.
[INTRODUCE TOPIC & PRAY]
Paul, in so many words, illustrates this point when he talks about the body of Christ. In I Corinthians 12:13-27 [READ]. We are parts of the body of Christ. You and I. We have been placed here by God. It would be highly embarrassing if the feet of Christ were to travel to an evangelistic outing and when they got there the mouth wouldn’t say anything. The eyes aren’t the only organs of the body that rejoice in what is being watched. The body of Christ is a single unit composed of many components that come together to perform a singular goal.
Today, it is evident that the coagulation of the body is broken. Not broken in so much that each body part is doing something separate from the body but that when the body has asserted itself and has placed itself in a position to do something, it may find itself suffering from atrophy which is caused by some uselessness of certain faculty parts. Atrophy sets in because that body part is not connected to the Head, which is the center of control the nerve endings cease to function in that body part. So the body part sits there useless and inoperable ready to wither and become deformed.
In the days of the Judges of the children of Israel, we find that when it came time to perform the children of Israel experienced some atrophy in the body. In Judges 5:23, we find this vindictive statement:
Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.
This curse came in the middle of a beautiful song of deliverance and praise sang by Deborah, a prophetess and judge of Israel. There is a certain deliberation going on in the mind of this fearless leader, which causes her to pause in the height of celebration over a decisive victory and prophetically recalls the angel of the Lord cursing Meroz and its inhabitants.
Deborah and Barak had gained a great victory in the Plain of Esdraelon and along the skirts of the mountain of Little Herman. Their enemy Sisera, captain of the Canaanite host, had fled away completely routed and this fierce strong leader of a woman who “judged Israel in those days,” and captain of the Israelite army, Barak, sang a splendid, proud song of the triumph. In it they recount the tribes who had come up to their duty, who had shared the labor and the glory of the war. And then, in the midst of the torrent of song, there comes this other strain of fiery indignation. One town, or village, Meroz, had hung back. Hidden away in some safe valley, it had heard the call, which summoned every patriot, but it knew it was in no danger. It had felt the shock of battle on the other side of the hills, and nestled and hid itself only the more snuggly. “Curse ye, Meroz, saith the angel of the Lord; curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.” It is a fierce vindictive strain. It bursts from the lips of an exalted furious woman. But it declares one of the most natural indignations of the human heart.
Meroz is gone. No record of it except this verse remains. The most ingenious archaeologists have been unable to unearth this small Naphtalian City because they don’t know where to dig. But the curse remains. The violent outburst of the contempt and anger which men feel who have fought, suffered, and agonized, and then see others who have the same interest in the result which they have, come out cool, unwounded, and unscathed from their safe hiding places to take a part of the victory which they have done nothing to secure. Meroz stands for that. The word Meroz comes from an uncertain derivative. There is no meaning in the word itself. It sometimes happens that a man or a town passes completely away from the face of the earth and from the memory of men, and only leaves a name which stands as a sort of symbol or synonym of some quality, some virtue or perhaps a vice, forever. “Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.” (Psalm 44:14) You know how we do it. “Man look at that Benedict Arnold!”
So Meroz stands for that shirker for him who is willing to see other people fight the battles of life, while he simply comes in to take the spoils. No wonder Deborah and Barak were indignant! Their wounds were still aching; their people were dead and dying all around, and here was Meroz, idle and comfortable, and yet, because she was part of the same country, part of the same body of Christ assured them benefits of the great victory as much as any.
This cowardly and idle town had not come “to the help of the Lord.” The horror of the thought of what would have been the consequences if the children of Naphtali and Zebulon had lost. And here sat this village, whose weight perhaps might have furnished just what was needed to turn the doubtful scale; here it sat through the critical and dreadful day, looking on and doing nothing. The Spirit of God moved upon Deborah and caused her to recount the prophetic denunciation by the angel of the Lord on Meroz. In the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, volume 2, page 336, we read these comments:
No other verse in the book of Judges [5:23] constitutes so severe a warning to the members of the church today as the one here curses those who refuse to help in time of crisis. In the face of a crying need of laborers, many professed Christians are content to follow there leisurely, selfish course, refusing to render any assistance to the Church of God as it engages in battle with Satan. They say that the work of the church is to be performed by the ministers, and accept no responsibility for themselves. The curse of Meroz rests upon these unfaithful Christians unless they turn from their listless non-cooperation.
Many people in the community and in the world are what Meroz was in Palestine. There is an everlasting struggle going on against wickedness and wretchedness. It never ceases. It never changes. It shifts from one place to another. It dies out in one form only to be resurrected in some other shape. Evil appears only to tire, and the enemy gives way, but it and he never stops its struggle with the good in the world and the cause of God. The sadness of it all, is how few people engage in the struggle for right, how many who stand apart and wish it well but never expose themselves for it nor do anything to help it.
I truly believe that Faith Community has enough potential to add more souls to the kingdom of God and fill this place to its capacity. But it is going to take some effort. The sin of Meroz for which it was curse is pure inaction. Theirs was not a sin of commission but a sin of omission. I believe it was James who said “to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin.” (James 4:17) They merely did nothing. We hear so much about the danger of wrong thinking and the danger of wrongdoing. There is the other danger of doing nothing at all. Christ illustrates this in Matthew 25:41-46 [READ]. Do you know what righteousness is? Right doing! You can’t escape that definition. You can come in here and say “Jesus, Jesus” all you want to, but if you are not allowing the Holy Ghost to do some right doing in you, you are just an idle person. You’re a nominal Christian, only in name. Righteousness means to do right. The goats were sentenced to everlasting damnation not because they did the wrong thing but because they failed to do the right thing.
It is hard for people to feel that there is danger in that but it is the worst of harm and danger. The trouble comes, from the low condition of spiritual vitality from the lack of emphasis, and lack of vigor in the whole conception of this life. When this happens what can revive him? What can put strength and vigor into ones life? The profound verse of I John 5:12, says this:
He that has the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not Life.
This simply states that if a person has Christ, that is to say loves and serves Jesus because He has redeemed him into the family or body of Christ, he really lives, vigor and vitality come into him, and responsibility lays hold upon him. The work for the world becomes his work. God’s tasks become his tasks. The enemies of God become his enemies. This along with another passage of scripture says:
The thief [the Devil] cometh not, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)
When Jesus has redeemed a person, and that person knows his redemption and wants to serve Jesus in gratitude, the individualism, atrophy, and uselessness of the soul is gone. Jesus lives all through and through the man, and wherever Christ needs him he is ready to go; and wherever there is good work to be done, he does it.
The great majority of Faith Community is useless to Jesus in the work of the church, and surprisingly most are perfectly contented in their uselessness. The gardener came and said to the dresser “…cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?” (Luke 13:7) “It is just taking up space. I could have grown another tree there.” God’s justice is still telling the dresser to cut it down; why cumbereth it the pew. Oh thank God for Jesus and his love and longsuffering because he responds “Father, my blood!” And the curse is stayed another 3 years.
Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he would turn from his ways, and live…Yet saith the House of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal? Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn from all your transgressions [even the sin of doing nothing]; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. (Ezekiel 18:23, 29-32)
“He that hath the Son hath life and he that does not have the Son does not have life!” Plain! What a loving and merciful God we serve!
Too many Switzerland’s in the Christian world. People with the attitude I don’t have to say or do anything. Christ has done it all and the preachers are doing it all for me. I’ll just sit and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Totally useless! Christ in Matthew 12:30 stated that there are no spiritual Switzerland’s in the warfare of good and evil, but “he that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.”
Many cannot remember one useful thing they have ever done, but they can tell you a lot about what somebody else has done. Many have never stood for a good cause, but hide behind the cause of others. Many have never remonstrated against an evil but stand in the background yelling “that’s right.” Many have never helped a bad man get better but have been so influential in the fall of a good man. A merely useless person, and contented. It has been said that the only persons who have committed the perfect crime are Christians, because we leave no evidence behind of our being on the scene.
The curse of Meroz is alive and well and living in the Church of God today. Theologically we term it the spiritual era of Laodicea. Cowardice, false humility, and indolence characterize the curse. These traits do not necessarily make us bad people, just useless people. We will quickly take a look at the three characteristics of the curse of Meroz.
First cowardice, the most reprehensible of them all. Most would indignantly resent anyone calling us a coward, but as one writer put it, “This vice is wonderfully common.” We need moral courage, the antithesis of cowardice, to do just what we know we ought to do, without being the least hindered or distorted by the presence of persons who we know will either, hate or despise or ridicule us for what we are doing, this is rare indeed. It’s lacking in the Church. Shun cowardice because just as sure as you begin to allow the Spirit of God to work on you the devil will make sure he puts someone in the way to discourage you from doing what you are suppose to be doing. Face it. This is a war, and the enemy is not just going to allow you to walk into his territory and take his treasure. The curse of Meroz does not effect him he’s using it to effect us.
Paul told Timothy that he should not cower to the members of the church because he is young. (I Timothy 4:12) “Make full proof of thy ministry…Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with longsuffering and doctrine… do the work of an evangelist.” Timothy wasn’t an evangelist but Paul told him to do the work of an evangelist. You may not be eloquent in speech, or hold mass degrees, but God is able to take you, and give you the moral courage to try. When Barak saw Sisera’s 900 chariots of iron and beheld his 10,000-foot soldiers, he doubted the ability of his hosts, but he had the moral courage to fight, and God sent Deborah to insure him of his victory. Let’s go there! Judges 4:6-9 You may not be able to preach or sing, but how hard is it to go and tell somebody that Jesus loves, died, and is coming back to claim his own. You don’t need Deborah hold your hand for you to do that. You don’t need me to go with you to do that. Go get Sisera!!
Cowardice is the product of fear. It is healthy to be afraid, but fear cripples one with inactivity. Yeah, it’s okay to have stage fright. Just like myself, I’m sure the butterflies never stop flying around in the Elders’ stomachs when they stand up to speak to the congregation. You will get butterflies when you knock on that first door or whatever evangelistic outreach you are engaged, but after that first knock, you’ll see there is nothing to it. Some saints have “doorphobia,” a fear of knocking on doors. You must not succumb to that fear. The Bible says:
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore shamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; (II Timothy 1:7,8)
So when the call is made to go out in the battlefield please don’t allow your excuse to be that you were afraid.
Stand up! Stand up for Jesus! Stand in his strength alone;
The arm of flesh will fail you; Ye dare not trust your own.
Put on the gospel armor, And, Watching unto prayer,
Where duty calls, or danger, Be never wanting there.
Don’t allow your excuse to be that I was afraid, “I haven’t ever knocked on somebody’s door, what if they slam the door in my face.” [TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES AND CLICK ‘EM] Shake the dust from your feet, pray for them and be own your way. Allow God to exhibit that moral courage through you and shun cowardice. Tell the devil he is a liar and that there is someone out there who wants to hear this message.
The second characteristic of the curse is false humility. Humility is good when it stimulates; it is bad when it paralyzes the active powers of a person. It may do either. Perhaps Meroz’s problem was not fear or cowardice. Perhaps Meroz was driven by a conscious weakness causing them to not participate. Meroz may have looked at itself, its little self, its poor self, its insignificant self. It heard the summons of the trumpet, but asked these questions, “Who are we? What can we do? What strength can we add to the host of Israel? What terror can we strike in the foe?” So Meroz let the battle go through without her help.
The same spirit echoes today in Faith Community. Some are hiding behind a perception of assessed feebleness; you believe that that you can do so little, therefore you content yourself with doing nothing. You have convinced yourself that why should we give anything at all when all we have is so little. Our word carries so little weight, so I won’t say anything at all. First, you do not know the power of God or what He is able to do through your littleness. He created the world in six days and rested on the Seventh, and he did that absolutely from nothing.
Barak forfeited his blessing for having defeated a mighty foe in Sisera to a woman. Judges 4:9,17-22 [READ] Jael allowed humility to stimulate her into action instead of paralyzing her into uselessness. She being a very insignificant woman of her day used that to entreat and slay Sisera in her tent. She went out of her way to be helpful to Sisera, and when Sisera was sleep she went out of her way to help the God and the host of Israel. She could have waited until Barak arrived but the moment was then and she would not risk him getting away so she fastened him to the floor of the tent. Not only did Barak miss his blessing but the citizens of Meroz had the opportunity to receive the honor of slaying Sisera but because they felt they were to little they did nothing at all.
The inhabitants of Meroz, on path of the retreating hosts of Sisera, refused to render assistance in any form. With the aid of these men the pursuing Israelites could probably have prevented any of the Canaanites, perhaps even Sisera, from escaping the field of battle. Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, volume 2, page 336
Jael did what Meroz could have done and what Barak and Deborah could not do in battle. Yes, Faith Temple, City Temple, and Grace Temple are large and have a lot of resources. And yes their membership equals ten Faith Community’s, but the same God that works in those churches works in this one. City Temple may be the hand on the body of Christ, and Faith and Grace Temple may be fingers on the hand of the body of Christ, but even fingers have fingernails, so what if Faith Community only measures up to a fingernail on the body of Christ at least you aren’t nubs on the fingers of the Devil. And besides, you can’t peel fruit with fingers but you can do some hurting with those nails. Do the work of an evangelist you fingernails of Christ!
Many judge by the size of things, but God judges by the fitness of a thing. We call it presumption and prideful for a person to think that there is a high position that he only and no one else can fill. Is it not even more of a presumption to think you can do nothing. The first supposes that God exhausted himself when he made you. The second supposes that God made a hopeless blunder when he made you. I’ve got news for you “God don’t make no junk.” As a matter of fact my Bible says that when he created us he said that “was good,” not just good, but Genesis 1:31 says, that it was “very good.” So come out of that mousy shell and stand up for Jesus. You are somebody in Jesus.
That third trait of the curse is indolence. You better term it as laziness. I need not spend a lot of time here not that it isn’t important but it’s so simple. It is mere indolence, mere laziness. Enjoy the spoils but not the battle. I want to go to heaven but I don’t want to knock on doors. The story is told of a church where everybody thought somebody would go and work in the Lord’s vineyard but nobody went. And you know what’s so unusual about this church? The most popular member was nobody because he is the one who did everything.
Laziness is characterized by sleep. We are so sleepy. What a terrible condition that has befallen the Church of God!
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. Proverbs 6:9-11
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. Romans 13:11-14
Read Christian Service, page 82
If you are not going to fight, you better leave while the going is good. One way or the other you are going to go. If you are not going to battle, you are going go out those doors. The Church militant will become the Church triumphant. The shaking that is going on right now among God’s people, is going to shake those shirkers, those spectators, couch potatoes, thinkers and dreamers out or they are going to either collaborate or leave the ranks at once. You are not going to just sit around God’s house and do nothing. Useless person!
The citizens of Meroz may not have been fearful, may not have had assessed themselves feeble. They were merely chillin’, as the young people like to say. We have a job to do and it is no time to fall asleep on the job. [Read Christian Service page 91, paragraphs 1] Isn’t that your purpose for coming to Church? Not just to come here and look pretty and sophisticated, not just to come here to hear what the preacher is going to say, not to see what sister and brother so and so is going to wear, your purpose of coming here is to learn how to witness, to be a better witness, and to fellowship and strengthen the brethren. You’re not going to sit around God’s house and do nothing! I don’t care how old you are. You are not going to sit around God’s house and do nothing. I don’t care if you are black, white, rich, or poor.
In conclusion Church, Meroz was cursed because of its uselessness. The sources of which are cowardice, false humility, and indolence. They are chains that bind the vigor and energy and the work of God, the strength of these chains is almost immeasurable. Who can break these chains? Nothing can do it but the power of Jesus!
When a person understands the life and cross of Jesus, and really knows that he is redeemed and saved, his soul leaps up in love and wants to serve its Savior; then he is afraid of nobody; and however little his own strength is he wants to give it all; and the cords of his self-indulgence snaps like cobwebs. Then he enters the new life of usefulness. And what a changed life that is! To be working for God however humbly is a joy to have part in the service of God as the sun, stars, angels, archangels, with strong and patient and holy men and women. To be, in some small corner of the field, stout, and brave and at last triumphant in our fight with lust, cruelty, crime, falsehood, ignorance, unbelief, to help prepare a people to meet God in peace. To here Jesus says, “Well done!”
[PRAY]
