Judges 20:25 Benjamin went out against them from Gibeah the second day and felled to the ground again 18,000 men of the sons of Israel; all these drew the sword.
The men of Gibeah of the tribe of Benjamin had committed a terrible and lewd sin. So Israel went to punish them for bringing sin into the land. However, on the first two days of battle it was Israel who suffered defeat. There are many things we can learn from this historical account but the one I want to focus on this morning is the wide spread ramifications of sin. We notice that Benjamin is the one who committed the sin and the rest of Israel were seeking to stop it and purify their land. Yet the punishment of sin reaches even to them. They are the ones who lose the battle the first two days. Now to be sure there are failures and sin on the rest of Israel too but the sins of Benjamin are causing wrath on the other 11 tribes. In the end Benjamin is punished almost to the point of extinction. So what can we learn from this account?
The sins of the individual affects the whole church. Even when the church seeks to rectify the sin the church will still suffer. God created us to work as individual members to create one body. When the arm hurts the whole body struggles. We need to recognize this as individuals so we will attempt to not sin causing the body as a whole to suffer. We also need to realize this as a body. Even when we attempt to handle sin in the correct way it still will cause pain. We must pull together and continue to strive to do the right thing. Eventually, God will bless the church that endures.
Are you willing to endure? It might be that there is more suffering to come but endure we must. Next we need to evaluate ourselves as individuals are we the cause of the far reaching suffering in the church? If this is the case we must repent.
I pray God will lead us in both areas and that we will follow.
Love Bro. Scott