When Winning Means Losing God | Historical Books | Judges 11:29-40

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Ten Minute Bible Talks

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4.9 • 960 Ratings

🗓️ 7 March 2025

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Summary

Is winning always worth it? What are you losing for the sake of winning? What fake victories are you falling for? In today's episode, Jeff shares how Judges 11:29-40 forces us to consider if, in the pursuit of the world, we have forfeited our soul. Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. We love to hear from you all! If you're listening on Spotify, drop a comment below and tell us your biggest takeaway from today's episode. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Judges 11:29-40

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life.
0:08.9	In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jeff Parrott.
0:13.0	People like to say that winning is everything, but sometimes winning just isn't worth it.
0:21.1	Just ask the king of Apiris.
0:23.9	In 281 BC, the King of Apiris advanced against the might of Rome to defend his homeland
0:31.7	in Greece.
0:33.2	He and his troops were victorious and not just one, but two battles against the greater Roman army.
0:41.3	If winning was everything, then the king of Apiris should have been elated, but he wasn't, because winning came at a great cost for him.
0:51.2	In fact, his forces were so devastated, so depleted after those two victories,
0:58.0	that the Romans came back just a handful of years later and decisively defeated his army. His victories
1:06.1	ultimately led to his defeat. The name of that Greek king from a Pyrus is Pyrrhus.
1:14.6	And the true story of his victories that led to defeat serve as the origins for our concept
1:20.6	called a Pyrrhic victory. A victory that's not worth winning because it comes at such a great cost that there's little
1:29.8	difference between winning and losing. To achieve a Pyrrhic victory is to sacrifice the wrong
1:37.4	thing in the wrong way and thereby ultimately sacrifice everything. It makes winning not worth it. Now, the namesake for
1:48.2	Pyrrhic victories is rooted in that story from ancient warfare, but the concept very much runs
1:54.9	over into our lives, the lives of individual people, families, and communities stretching across world history.
2:03.4	I mean, people have a knack for sacrificing the wrong thing and the wrong way, and ultimately
2:10.3	thereby sacrifice everything.
2:13.5	Sometimes we just can't tell when winning isn't worth it.
2:18.3	We come across an appalling Pyrrhic victory for a man named Jephtha and his family in Judges
2:25.4	Chapter 11.
	...

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