Cut down the groves — what Israel left standing, and what you're leaving standing

From a sermon · Judges 2:11–13; Exodus 34; Deuteronomy 7 and 12

"The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord's sight. They worshiped the Baals and abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed other gods from the surrounding peoples and bowed down to them. They angered the Lord." (Judges 2:11–12)

Israel has entered the promised land. It's been divided among the tribes. Joshua has died. And already the people have forsaken God for the gods of their neighbors. To understand how they got here, you have to go back to a mountain.

The covenant (Exodus 34)

Moses has just come down Sinai, seen the golden calf, and shattered the tablets. He goes back up with two new stones, God passes by him in the cleft of the rock, and God makes a conditional covenant. The promises: I will do wonders with this people that have never been done anywhere, and I will drive out your enemies — the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. The condition: "Be careful not to make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land... Instead, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, and chop down their Asherah poles. Because you must not bow down to another god." And the warning that goes with it: if you make a treaty, they'll invite you to their sacrifices, you'll intermarry, and their daughters will lead your sons after their gods.

That generation never entered the land. Forty years later, Moses gives the same instructions to their children, twice — Deuteronomy 7:1–9 and 12:1–3. Destroy the altars. Break the images. Cut down the groves. Burn the idols. "Because they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods." Three times God laid out the plan. The groves and altars were where the Canaanites worshiped their gods — likely the devil himself — with child sacrifice and ritual prostitution. God warned that these people would be a snare and a thorn. He wanted to be served alone.

What they actually did (Judges 1:21–36)

Read through Judges 1 and one phrase repeats like a drumbeat: "did not drive out." Benjamin didn't drive out the Jebusites. Manasseh didn't drive out Beth-shean, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, or Megiddo — "when Israel became stronger, they made the Canaanites serve as forced labor but never drove them out completely." Ephraim didn't. Zebulun didn't. Asher didn't. Naphtali didn't. Dan got pushed into the hills. Seven tribes. They made it to the promised land, and they didn't do what they were told. They didn't destroy the altars, break the images, cut down the groves, or burn the idols.

And the result is Judges 2: they served the Baals and Ashtoreths. They thought they could make the Canaanites their servants; instead the Canaanites made servants of them. Israel dealt with it for generations — the rest of the Old Testament is the story of God's people forsaking Him for these same gods, over and over. Because they didn't deal with it then.

What groves are still standing in your life?

We're saved. We're in the promised land of God's will. And we're hanging onto pieces of the world. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world" (1 John 2:15). "The friendship of the world is enmity with God" (James 4:4). God has marvelous plans for your life in serving Him — and He loves you too much to want you captive to sin. Jesus didn't die so you could stay enslaved, and He didn't die so you could be a mediocre Christian. We think we make our sin our slave. Always, our sin makes a slave of us.

So what are the groves? Pride. Music. The phone. Social media. The shows you watch, the things you read, the corners of the internet you visit. The friends you keep and the people you let influence you (Proverbs 25:23–28). Relationships at work. Other women, other men. When your time, your talents, and your treasure are going to something other than God supremely, you've made an idol out of it — and idolatry always turns into other sins. In Israel's case it turned into immorality and the sacrifice of their own children. What sin is idolatry causing in your life?

These things need to be torn out, broken down, burned, and destroyed — completely. Don't show mercy to sin. "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us" (Hebrews 12:1).

Who it affects

God told them exactly who their disobedience would hurt: it would be a snare and a thorn to them — and it would be devastation to their children. "They will turn your sons away from me." If you leave groves standing in your life, your children will worship at them in theirs.

So a word to parents. One of the most loving things you can do for your child is to be the parent. You're in charge, so be in charge. You're a steward of them. You're not responsible for your child; you're responsible to your child — you owe it to them and to God to be a good and loving parent. Part of loving them is protecting them; soldiers protect a country because they love it. Be careful what you allow on the screen. Be careful what you hand your children that you have no control over — phones, tablets, computers. Even secular research is blunt about it: no screens before two, an hour a day at most for a toddler, no phone until twelve, no screen in their room until they're grown. Be careful what music you allow. And remember that what you can handle, your child may not be able to. What you allow, your children will accept. A dad who drinks raises a son who can't stop. If you talk badly about people, you're forming your child's view of those people. If you disrespect leaders, your children will too. Sin will make a slave of your children the same way it makes one of you. The devil wants your kids; he's sneaky, but he isn't hiding it. If you don't put walls around them, the world, the flesh, and the devil will get to them.

Leave no sign of it

What are you leaving standing? Drive it out. Break it down. Burn it. Cut it out. Destroy it completely, and leave no sign of it in your life — for your sake, and for your children's.

The honest version is this. The biggest thing standing in your life isn't a screen or a bottle or a habit. It's sin, and you cannot cut it down yourself. Israel proved that for four hundred years. That's why Jesus came. He went to the cross and took the whole grove of it, root and branch, and then He came out of that tomb alive. Ask Him to save you and He'll do what those seven tribes never managed — clear the ground completely and leave no sign of it. That's not you turning over a new leaf. That's a new life.

And if He's already saved you, you know exactly what's still standing. You walked past it this morning. Don't schedule it and don't pray about whether. Today, before you talk yourself out of it, delete it, cancel it, pour it out, or hand your phone to your wife and say hold me to this.

Your kids aren't listening to what you say about it. They're watching what you leave standing.

Related: 1 John 2 — do not love the world and Parenting — your children are your first disciples.