November 8, 2009
Morning Worship
Text: Joshua 6:7 – 7:25
Subject: Gideon
Title: Reporting for Duty
On Wednesday of this week we celebrate Veteran’s Day. I want you to stop for just a moment and think about all the freedoms that you have. I want you to think about the lines from the Declaration of Independence that says that we have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Now I would like for all those who have served in the military to stand. We celebrate you today because we understand that if it were not for you and millions of others like you we would not have the freedom that we have now. We applaud you!
Last week I told you that I was not someone who was political by nature. After thinking about that for some time this week I want to clarify what I said. I am not a staunch Republican and definitely am not a Democrat. But I am conservative and I love what our country stands for because it was founded on the very things I believe – the truths from the Bible. At the same time I am greatly disturbed by what our country has become. And it appears that as we sit here this morning that the very freedoms that our ancestors fought for against the tyranny of England are being ripped from us.
Now what we see happening in our country is the uprising of brave souls who are demanding that we move back to the very precepts of the bible that are our foundation. The Conservative party is part of that uprising and I believe that it is something that those who have served in our military would be proud of. Their mission statement is very basic: Our mission is to re-establish the limits and boundaries of Government as framed by the Founding Fathers of the United States of America.
I’m not telling you to join this new “conservative party”. I’m not promoting one party over another. What I am telling you is that it is time that America returns to its roots and that we as Christians have a large part to play in that. It is time for you and me to be proud once again to be Americans and to stand for what we believe in instead of allowing someone else to dictate what we must believe. One person can make a difference when that person will agree to stand on God’s word and the freedom that His word affords us.
Today I will be reading through parts of Judges 6 and 7. Follow along to see what the Lord has for you today.
The first thing I want you to see this morning is the state of the nation of Israel. 1Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help.
7When the Israelites cried to the LORD because of Midian, 8he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 9I snatched you from the power of Egypt and from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them from before you and gave you their land. 10I said to you, ‘I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.” The problem is pretty obvious isn’t it? The reason Israel was under oppression wasn’t because some nation with greater power had attacked. Their problem never was a problem of not being able to defend themselves. It has always been a spiritual problem. Always! If you turn to Deuteronomy 28 you begin to get a picture of the type of relationship that God desires to have with all nations. 1If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God: then it goes on to list the blessings that God has for the nation that obeys Him. It is followed by what will happen to those who disobey. 15However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you… 20The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him… 25The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. All these things will come to the nation that rejects God and that is what was happening to Israel in Gideon’s time. But God called one man to make a difference.
Lord open my eyes to see and my ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
I. WHO ARE YOU IN YOUR OWN EYES? Here is a problem that has beset America. We are of the mindset that one person cannot change anything. My vote won’t matter. My voice can’t be heard. We really don’t see much value in ourselves much the same way that Gideon saw himself. 15“But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” Three things to note here: 1) Gideon’s negative confession. Proverbs 18:21, The tongue has the power of life and death… Gideon was defeated before he ever went to battle because his mouth spoke what was in his heart. “how can I save Israel? 2) Gideon focused on who he was. My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family. 3) Gideon wasn’t just giving an argument. He was making excuses. He didn’t see himself as anything special. He knew that because his clan was the least and he was the youngest there was no way that he could ever have any authority or influence over those around him. So why bother? Don’t look at yourself with your own eyes – you are too nearsighted to see what God sees.
II. WHO ARE YOU IN GOD’S EYES? You know, I think that when the angel of the Lord (it was the Lord Himself) spoke to Gideon in verse 12 Gideon must have missed something. 12When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” He heard the first part because that is what he responded to. “13“But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.” It’s all God’s fault. See the effect of the negative confession that Gideon had in his heart? He was looking at his circumstances and did not take into consideration who it was who had spoken to him and what He had spoken. He knew about the Lord. He knew about the miracles of the past. But now it looks as though God had abandoned them. What difference can one person make – especially him? But you see when God calls you to make a difference He empowers you. 14The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you? 15“But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” 16The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.” Has Jesus given you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy? Can you or can you not do all things through Him who strengthens you? As believers are you or are you not supposed to be doing all the things and even greater things than what Jesus did? That’s who you are in God’s eyes.
III. WHO ARE YOU IN THE WORLD’S EYES? When you begin to understand what God has called you to and who you are in Him something else will happen. When you begin to move in God’s power the world will rise up against you. I’m not talking about people who are your enemies. I’m speaking of your average ordinary everyday person. When your righteousness begins to be an issue in their lives they will rise up against you. 25That same night the LORD said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. 26Then build a proper kind of altar to the LORD your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering.”
27So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.
28In the morning when the men of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!
29They asked each other, “Who did this?”
When they carefully investigated, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”
30The men of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.” Their problem wasn’t with who Gideon was. It was with whom Gideon served. If he had just kept his mouth shut and let everybody do their own thing all would have been OK. Who does he think he is that he can force his beliefs on everybody else? That’s the same rhetoric we hear from the world today. Who do we think we are when we try to force morality on others through legislation? Christians aren’t supposed to be involved in politics – you know, separation of church and state and all… so in the world’s eyes you are just another do-gooder who is out of touch with the real world and living in some fantasy world. 1 Corinthians 2:12-13, We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
IV. WHO ARE YOU IN THE ENEMY’S EYES? You know you are doing the Lord’s work when those who hate you blame what you are doing on God. 9During that night the LORD said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. 10If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah 11and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. 12The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.
13Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. “I had a dream,” he was saying. “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.” 14His friend responded, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands. The enemy knows he is defeated but he will do everything he can to spread his lies and deception so that even believers are subject to his influence. But the victory is won before you ever go to battle.
Can one person make a difference? Can you help change America? Can you help lead us back to the righteous of God as a nation? Can you help our nation once again become something to be proud of, worth fighting for – a lighthouse in a dark place?
Isaiah 26:1-3,
We have a strong city;
God makes salvation its walls and ramparts.
2 Open the gates
that the righteous nation may enter,
the nation that keeps faith.
3 You will keep in perfect peace
him whose mind is steadfast,
because he trusts in you.
I watched a video on the Internet the other day where our president was proclaiming the fine points of the religion of Islam. In his speech he informed us that Islam has played an important role in our nation’s history. Our nation was founded on the Bible. Contrary to what our President might say Islam has not been a force of influence in the beginning of the country. Buddhism hasn’t formed our nation. But the God of the bible and His holy word have been the major influence from the beginning and if you will allow yourself to be, you can be a continuing link in the chain of events that will lead us back to what God wants us to be. You don’t need to look at yourself with your own eyes, but look at yourself to see what God has called you to be… “a mighty warrior…”! And then let’s get to work.
Stand for what is right. Send the message to congress that you are not going to put up with any more middle of the road politics. Stand strong in God’s power and you can make a difference. Pray for your country. Confess the sins of the nation before the lord and ask for His forgiveness. 2 Chronicles 7:14, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Remember what our nation once was and let’s work together to get back what has been lost.
Our veteran’s have served our nation on the battlefield in foreign lands so that the battleground would never be here. But the battle has come in a subversive manner, under the guise of government and the general welfare of the people. The battle is in our own land and now we must be willing to fight and become veterans of the greatest spiritual battle – the battle for the nation that God wants to bless.
Let’s stand together to make a difference.
