Judges 61-6,11-16
You know, we hear a lot of people in churches say that it’s not just the pastor’s job to go out and tell people about Jesus.
They say that anybody can do it, and that we all should be doing it.
But I’m not so sure, you see I’ve often thought that maybe it should be left up to the professionals.
I mean after all, if you didn’t go about doing it right…you could really mess somebody up don’t you think?
There was a barber that thought that he should share his faith with his customers more than he had been doing lately. So the next morning when the sun came up and the barber got up out of bed he said, "Today I am going to witness to the first man that walks through my door."
Soon after he opened his shop the first man came in and said, "I want a shave!" The barber said, "Sure, just sit in the seat and I'll be with you in a moment." The barber went in the back and prayed a quick desperate prayer saying, "God, the first customer came in and I'm going to tell him about going to heaven. So give me the wisdom to know just the right thing to say to him. Amen."
Then quickly the barber came out with his razor knife in one hand and a Bible in the other and he looked the man right in the eyes and said, "Good morning sir. I have a question for you... Are you ready to die?"
Isn’t this how you envision it turning out if you try to tell somebody about going to heaven?
And maybe you’ve got good reason to think that way.
Let’s find out by looking at a very good example of the kind of people God picks to do awesome things for Him.
Pray
When I think of a good example of the kind of person that God is looking to take His message to the masses, I think of Gideon.
I think of the kind of guy who has enough chutzpah to take on an entire army with just 300 guys and actually win big.
This is the kind of person that God needs to do His will.
Somebody who’s got the skills and the means to do what He asks.
Somebody way above par.
And to be completely honest when I look out over this congregation today, I don’t see any rocket scientists.
I don’t see any nuclear physicists.
I don’t see any brain surgeons.
I see plain ordinary people.
If I’m being completely honest, some of you seem like the kind of people that may have been fired from the M & M factory for throwing out the W’s.
And by the way, if you didn’t get that joke, then you’re the person I was talking about.
And don’t get me wrong, I think you’re all wonderful people.
I love you all dearly as if you were my own family.
Which actually isn’t saying much since you know my extended family.
I love you more than my own family.
But if I have to be completely honest with you...I look out and I’m not sure that you’re qualified to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.
I mean God always picks people that are well above the norm to take His message to the people, doesn’t he?
Look at Gideon for instance.
The Midianites have taken over Israel.
The Israelites are so afraid of the Midianites that they are hiding in the hills.
The Midianites are like the big bullies of the day, and anytime the Israelites start doing well for themselves the Midianites come in and beat them up and take what they’ve got and kill all of their animals.
And the Israelites don’t know what to do, and they have no idea how they could ever stand up against this much bigger and stronger army.
Luckily the Israelites have Gideon.
And Gideon is such an awesome guy that he leads just 300 soldiers and conquers the entire army.
This takes an extraordinary guy.
This is the kind of person that God picks to tell others about him.
And the reason that he does this is because if you don’t pick the right person, they could really mess things up.
John went to the store the other day. He was only in there for about five minutes, and when he came out there was a motorcycle cop writing a parking ticket. So John went up to him and said, 'Come on buddy, how about giving a guy a break?'
He ignored John and continued writing the ticket. So John called him a stupid jerk. He glared at him and started writing another ticket for having bald tires!
Then John really got angry at the cop and started calling him some even more unfriendly names. The cop finished the second ticket and put it on the car with the first. Then he started writing a third ticket!
This went on for about 20 minutes. The more John abused him, the more tickets he wrote. When the cop finally ran out of tickets, he silently mounted his bike and drove on down the road. John just stood there looking at the multitude of tickets shaking his head.
He then proceeded to take his keys out of his pocket and walk to his car that was parked around the corner
The message was a good one, “give a guy a break.”
The delivery however was the problem.
This is what happens when you have an ordinary guy giving an extraordinary message...you open the door for all kinds of trouble.
And this is why it’s important to understand the exact nature of the people the God picks.
For example what kind of man was the guy that God picked to defeat an undefeatable army?
Verse 11 “The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."
So “mighty warrior” is what the angel calls Gideon...I told you he was special.
Verse 13, “ 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."
14 The 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?"
So God is sending this highly qualified mighty warrior to defeat this army.
And here is Gideon’s response of how he has been waiting for this very day to prove his might.
Verse 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."
Wow now that sounds like a special guy now doesn’t it?
He’s got the weakest clan, and he is the lowest out of all of them.
Basically Gideon says, “God I am the lowest of the low. Why would you pick me, I am just an ordinary guy.”
How would God expect a normal, average, everyday guy to be able to do wonderful things for the lord?
Verse 16, “16 The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."
An average guy was able to accomplish such a powerful thing...simply because God told Him to do it, and therefore would see Him through it.
But certainly this is the exception, not the rule right.
I mean God usually uses extraordinary people, and every once in a while makes due with the average guy...right?
Who were the disciples? (fishermen and a tax collector)
Mary the mother of Jesus, how about her? (just a kid)
Joseph the father of Jesus? (a carpenter)
Moses? (couldn’t even talk in front of people)
Jonah was a plain old guy who didn’t want to go
Paul had done horrible things in his past
The first people to spread the good news were just stinky shepherds
The woman Rahab who helped the Israelites take the promised land was a prostitute
King David started as a lowly shepherd
I guess when you stop to think about it…when you look throughout the entirety of the Scriptures you witness God continually using the common, everyday, average person to accomplish mighty deeds.
And the good news is that they don’t get these things done because of who they are...they get them done because of who He is.
But the bad news is that we no longer have any excuse not to tell others about him.
If you were a rocket scientist, or a brain surgeon you might have a better excuse than you’ve got right now.
Because you don’t have one.
God wants to use you, and it’s not about how good of a speaker you are, or how smart, charismatic and attractive you are...it’s all about how good He is.
And it’s about how simple his message is.
It’s about a story that can be told by a child, a story that you already know.
Help me tell it.
In the beginning God created the world, and on this world He put two people named…(Adam and Eve)
And things were good for a while, but Adam and Eve messed things up when they disobeyed God by…(eating the apple)
You see, Adam and Eve sinned when they disobeyed God and because of this sin man was separated from God in this life and in the next.
But God knew that this wouldn’t do so He sent his son to earth named…(Jesus)
Jesus was born as a baby he didn’t sin a single time, but he was punished anyway.
They arrested him and they put him to death by…(hanging him on a cross)
On the third day he…(rose from the dead)
God did this to show that Jesus death was accepted as punishment in our place.
So if you want to have God in your life here on earth, as well as spend eternity in heaven…then all you’ve got to do is accept his death in your place, and try to live life the way that he wants you to.
End of story.
You know this story, don’t tell me that you don’t.
And God wants to use you, a normal, everyday average person to tell it to the people around you.
And you’ve got no excuse.
It doesn’t matter how young or how old you are.
It doesn’t matter how much you like to talk in public.
It doesn’t matter whether or not you know all of the answers.
You know this story.
And God wants to use you to tell it.
You don’t have to go out and save the whole world…you’ve just got to be willing to tell the people around you that God is asking you to tell.
And you don’t have to be any kind of special super Christian to do it.
You’ve just got to be you.
The people that do great things for God aren’t great before they start…they are great after they finish.
