HIDING OUT: We see ourselves as weak and powerless.
- Judges 6:11.
- Here we meet Gideon for the first time.
- A telling detail that is at first obscure is that he was “threshing wheat in a winepress.” What’s that mean? A winepress was a small pit carved out of rocky ground. Normally a threshing floor would be located in a large exposed area so that the wind could blow off the chaff.
- Why is he threshing wheat in such an inefficient way? Verses 3-5 give us the answer: the Midianites would invade the land at harvest time and take whatever they wanted.
- It should be said that this is a perfectly normal response to this kind of situation. Looking at this situation, a reasonable response would be to hide out.
- Still, it’s sad – kind of a much more serious version of the middle school kid who takes the long way around the school even though it makes him late for class because he’s afraid to walk past the bully’s locker.
X-RAY VISION: God doesn’t see us as we see ourselves – God sees something greater within us.
- Judges 6:12.
- Turn a table on its side, duck down behind, then pop your head up to illustrate the absurdity of this image. The angel calls for the “mighty warrior” and he pops his head up from hiding. It’d be funny if it weren’t a little sad!
- There is a consistent Biblical pattern of God picking ordinary people to do extraordinary feats.
- Peter was prone to go off at a moment’s notice, yet God chose him to be the first leader of the early church.
- The disciples generally were a breathtakingly ordinary group of men – not exactly the cream of the crop – yet Jesus handpicked them.
- King Saul was also the “least” (1 Samuel 9:21).
- David was the youngest of the brothers – not even worth bringing in from the fields when the prophet came to town.
- In 1 Corinthians 1:27-29, Paul tells us that God has chosen the weak and foolish things.
- God wants to do something significant through us. He wants our lives to matter, to point people to Him.
- It is clear throughout the New Testament that God desires fruit.
- It is clear throughout the New Testament that God desires to manifest His power through us.
- Consider all the titles and names that are given to Christians in the New Testament, yet we often have difficulty claiming those for ourselves.
- We’re His ambassadors. We’re the heirs of God. We’re God’s representatives.
- We have trouble believing such things could be true of us.
- When I say “something greater,” I don’t mean that we’re all destined to write a book that’s a best-seller or that start something that has an impact the world over.
- Some specific examples of what this might look like:
a. Someone sees themselves as a fake, yet God would address them as “Man of Integrity.”
b. Someone sees themselves as selfish, yet God would address them as “Woman of Mercy.”
c. Someone sees themselves as shy, yet God would address them as “Mighty Preacher.”
d. Someone sees themselves as clueless, yet God would address them as “Lifter Of Her Children’s Lives.”
- It may be something small, but that doesn’t mean it’s not significant.
NO WAY!: There are lots of reasons to believe that isn’t really true.
- Judges 6:13, 15.
a. Objection #1: The situation is too bad.
- v. 13.
- He starts out by asking, “Why has all this happened to us?” The situation was terrible.
- Then he notes that the miracles of years ago no longer happen. God had delivered them to the enemy because of their sin.
b. Objection #2: I don’t have what it takes.
- v. 15.
- He says that he doesn’t have the right background (“my family is nothing special – in fact we’re the weakest”).
- Often we’ll allow our family history to become our destiny.
- My father was a drunk, so I’ll end up a drunk.
- My mother was a gossip, so I’ll be a gossip.
- No one in my family ever did anything great, so there’s no chance that I will.
- We will often use phrases like “I could never. . .”
- He also says that he himself is the least among his “pathetic” family.
- He sees himself as a nothing. . . or at least a nothing special.
- I’m not particularly smart.
- I didn’t even finish college.
- I can’t understand the Bible the way he does.
- I can’t do that ministry as well as she does.
- On this “not having what it takes,” a little side note: I believe that this idea is particularly strong and damaging when it gets on the inside of a man. Men (and this is a generality) tend to define themselves more by what they do. We need people who will come beside us and speak words of belief to us. Particularly important here are two people: fathers and wives. Those two people have a disproportionate ability to damage or lift a man. What a father says to a son matters deeply. What a wife says to her husband matters deeply.
- This is probably a good place to note why God works like this – why He chooses people who outwardly seem unqualified.
- It’s because He prefers the humble. He prefers those who aren’t filled with cockiness and self-confidence. That’s because what He’s asking you to do is something that requires His power. That will only come by relying on Him. Further, this allows the glory to go to God.
GREATER THINGS: The invitation here is not a sappy “Follow your dreams,” but a challenging “Follow God’s call.”
- Judges 6:14.
- This is not “go do whatever you want to do” or “go follow your dreams.”
- This sermon is not a shallow pep rally to get you to “try harder” and “believe so you can achieve” and “just trust in yourself and everything will turn out great” and “listen to your heart and it’ll all fall together.”
- Gideon is called here to something that is challenging and that is not what would necessarily have been his first choice of “career paths.”
- Again, this presumes that God knows more about us than we know of ourselves and that He knows what is needed in the world more than we know ourselves.
- I believe that, in the end, what God calls us to will generally bring us more joy and fulfillment than if we’d “followed our dreams.” But that doesn’t mean that it seems that way at first. Sometimes we have sin within us that is coloring our ambitions and our goals.
- For example, when I wanted to go to law school, I believe that being a lawyer would have been a good fit for my personality and mind, but that decision was also heavily influenced by desires in my heart to have power and influence. (And money too!) Those were sinful desires that were coloring my “dreams.”
- Jesus’ call is “deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me.”
- Matthew 16:24-26; Mark 8:34-36; Luke 9:23-25.
- This stands in firm opposition to the popular idea that the secret to life is “going off and finding yourself.” Jesus doesn’t call us to “find ourselves,” but to deny yourself.
- But in that denial, in that taking on of the sacrifices, in that obedience to Christ, we will find what God has for us.
- It may be that God calls us to something that requires us to give up a steady income. (Like Kim Morris starting her kennel.)
- It may be that God calls us to something that requires us to risk our reputation be tainted with failure.
- It may be that God calls us to start a Bible study at work and we worry about how it’ll affect our promotion possibilities to be labeled a “Jesus freak.”
- It may be that God calls us to start making calls or sending cards to people we know are hurting and we worry that they’ll wish we’d quit calling.
- It may be that God calls us to raise our kids without the video games and shows that everyone else in their circle are enjoying and we worry our kids will be angry at us and possibly rebel.
- This is something that doesn’t necessarily initially make sense to us. But it is true and it is the path we must walk.
- We’re not talking about a truth that applies in every situation. What we’re talking about this morning has to do with situation where you specifically feel God calling you.
- As we listen to God, He guides and directs us in ways small and big. What we’re talking about here are those things where He is calling the shots. Through the word, through conversation in prayer, through a wise word from a friend, we sense that this is something He wants us to do.
- To want to do this, you have to presume that the Lord is good and wise and loving.
- You have to presume He wants good things in your life (like fruit of changed lives and a full heart). You have to presume He’s wise (He knows you better than you know yourself and He knows the best way for you to spend your life). You have to presume He’s loving (He wants to use you to share His love with others).
- There are hidden things that God has access to that you don’t.
- The church in America is vastly underachieving in part because we don’t see how God could do anything significant through us.
WHEN YOU QUESTION: Your confidence is based on the fact that God is sending you.
- Judges 6:12, 14, 16.
- When we’re doing something like this, it’s pretty much inevitable that we’ll have moments of questions and doubts. After all, we’re being called to do something bigger than we feel qualified or skilled for.
- In those moments of uncertainty, where do we look for something to help us along?
- We look to the call of God. It’s the knowing that what we are doing is from Him that makes the difference.
- Three times in this passage God reminds Gideon of His presence in what he embarking on: “the Lord is with you,” “Am I not sending you?,” “I will be with you.”
- This is the essential fact for our confidence. If I am doing what God has called me to, then who can stop me? If God is for me, who can be against me? Circumstances will shift from promising to depressing; your attitude will go from enthusiastic to overwhelmed.
- Within all that, the single thing that gives ongoing hope is this: I am doing what God has called me to do.
- Particularly when your heart feels crushed or the situation seems hopeless, that is the knowledge that God began and is orchestrating this that will see you through.
- Again, this is also a reminder that we’re not talking about a truth that applies in every situation. What we’re talking about this morning has to do with situation where you specifically feel God calling you.
