Men of God and the God of Men - Judges 6:11-32 - June 19, 2011
(Father’s Day)
How many of you here this morning are familiar with the cartoon strip, “Calvin and Hobbes”? It’s one of my favourites, mostly I think, because of Calvin’s incredible imagination. Now, for those who are not familiar with it, Calvin is a young boy, about 6 years old, and Hobbes is his toy tiger. Everyone else in his life sees Hobbes as nothing more than a stuffed animal, but in Calvin’s mind, Hobbes comes to life and they share wild adventures together. And Calvin is always imagining himself off somewhere, whether it be battling aliens on a distant planet, flying a fighter jet, or exploring the remote wilderness in search of new adventures. Whatever he is doing, he is always the hero of his own imaginings.
And I think that’s what makes him so appealing to so many of us. We can relate. We have shared the same imaginings. We have dreamed the same dreams. Men, as young boys, have we not pictured ourselves as the heroes of our own stories? Whether it’s scoring the winning goal in overtime, taking down the bad guy with our bare hands, discovering some long lost treasure, or emerging the victor in some forsaken battle as we save the day – we have longed to be the hero.
As young boys, dreams like this sustain us. They nourish our thirst for adventure and excitement. They make the long hours of school bearable as we, through the wonders of our imaginations, leave behind the stale walls of the classroom, and head out into the great unknown – a place where we are the masters of our destiny and the heroes to whom others turn in their time of need.
And this is just what Calvin does. But he also learns something along the way. He learns it’s a lot easier to be the hero of your own story than it is to be a hero in real life. Outside the worlds that he imagines, Calvin is a relatively ordinary 6 year old boy. He doesn’t have any superpowers. He isn’t particularly skilled or gifted at anything. Instead he finds himself stumbling through each day just trying to make sense out of the world in which he lives.
His arch nemesis is one of his classmates, a young girl named Suzie. Calvin is always laying elaborate plans in which he sees himself emerging victorious in the struggle that the two of them have, but, more often than not, it is Suzie who comes out ahead.
And men, as we grow older, we find that life is a lot like that as well, don’t we? That’s it’s easier to be the hero of your own imaginings than it is to be a hero in the course of each day? Real life tends to get in the way of the future we once envisioned for ourselves.
But real life heroes do exist. They don’t tend to think of themselves that way. Most of them seem to see themselves as rather ordinary men who were just doing their jobs, or just doing what needed to be done. Let me tell you about two such heroes …
Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon were both members of that elite unit known as ‘Delta Force.’ On October 3, 1993 they sat in a helicopter in the skies over Mogadishu as part of Task Force Ranger. The mission for the day was to apprehend some of the key advisors to a Somali warlord by the name of Mohamed Aidid.
Things did not go as planned. First one, and then a second, of the Black Hawk helicopters participating in the operation were shot down. The forces on the ground were taking heavy fire from all sides and were having difficulty getting to the crash sites in order to help rescue the downed aircrew. From high above the streets below Randy and Gary could see crowds of armed Somalis converging on the crash sites. It became apparent that the men below, if they still lived, would not be able to defend themselves long enough for ground forces to reach them. Three times Gary requested permission to be inserted into one of the crash sites to help defend that position until other forces could relieve them. Twice he was denied. The third time permission was reluctantly granted.
Gary and Randy fought their way to one of the helicopters, extracted the injured crew members, and set up a defense. Now if you’ve read the book, Black Hawk Down, or seen the movie of the same name, you know what happens next. The crowds moved in. Gary and Randy held them off for some time, but, with ammunition running out, first one, and then the other, is killed. However, they had not given their lives in vain. One of the men they had pulled from the wreckage, a pilot by the name of Mike Durant, survived. Mike has written a book about his experience called, “In The Company of Heroes.” Surely two of his heroes would be Gary and Randy. They stood their ground against impossible odds and defended those who were unable to defend themselves. That’s the stuff of a young boy’s dreams. But it’s also the stuff of real life for Jesus has said, Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13) And that’s the very things these two men did.
But heroes aren’t just born. They are moulded and shaped and God often uses the most unlikely of materials as He shapes the lives of the men and women who will emerge as heroes of the faith. Today in our Scripture passage we are going to see the moulding of one such unlikely hero. So I’ll ask you to turn with me to the book of Judges. Judges chapter 6, beginning in verse 11. We’re going to see what happens when Men of God, come face to face, with the God of Men. And ladies, I’ve not forgotten about you this morning, but just as we focused upon the women on Mother’s Day, so to today, being Father’s Day, will we focus on the men. But listen closely, because deep in the heart of the men in your life – fathers, husbands, sons, brothers, friends – whatever the case may be – deep in the heart of these men lies the desire to be a hero – not just to you – but a man who is great in God’s sight, who accomplishes big things in the name of his God and who will stand in the gap, so to speak, in our own day. Let’s begin reading in 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. When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” “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.”
Now when you think of Gideon this probably isn’t the passage of Scripture that comes to mind, is it? When we think of Gideon we think of him, and his 300 men, carrying their torches and trumpets into battle against a vastly superior enemy force and emerging victorious. That’s the story that we’re familiar with. But I want you to understand that before that story could ever come to be, Gideon had to first live out these moments that we’re reading about right now. And the man we see here bears little resemblance to the hero he is one day going to be.
What we are given here, is a picture of a somewhat ordinary man - nothing exceptional about him to make him stand out from hundreds of others just like him. We don’t see him clad in armor, bearing a shield, or grasping a sword in his hand – nothing that would indicate the fact that God would one day use Gideon to set His people free. Instead, what we see is a farmer, threshing his wheat, and doing it in secret because he lives in fear of being discovered by his nation’s enemies. Yet this is the clay with which God will work.
Look at verse 12 with me … When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” (Judges 6:12) I want you to underline that phrase, “Mighty warrior.” Because Gideon certainly didn’t see himself that way. By his own admission he has little to offer. In a moment he is going to tell us that his clan is the weakest of the clans and amongst his family he is the least of the least. Oh, as a boy he might of dreamed of himself in that manner – a mighty man of valour. He might have imagined that one day he would grow to be a mighty warrior who would do great things in God’s name. But those days are long past. The reality of life has set in. He lives among an oppressed people. The dreams of childhood faded away long ago. Gideon even doubts that the God he heard about as he grew up still cares for the people who were once His treasured possession. Men, the truth is that there are others in the land more powerful than Gideon. There are others with more influence. There are others with greater experience. There are others who would seem better suited to the task God has in mind. But none-the-less, God chooses Gideon.
And men, maybe you once dreamed big, maybe you even once dreamed big for God, and you had hopes, and dreams, and aspirations, but somewhere along the way the dreams faded and reality set in. What could be, was replaced by what is. It might even be that somewhere along the way, others stole those dreams from you. They told you that you couldn’t do it, that you wouldn’t amount to anything, that you were wasting your time. And bit by bit you bought into that lie. If that’s the case, then Gideon’s story is for you, and Gideon’s God is for you. Because Gideon’s God – the God of Men – looks at Gideon and He doesn’t just see what is – He sees what can be.
And I believe that’s how God looks at us today. Many of us are captive in prisons we have built around ourselves, but God sees past it all – He looks past the wounds and the hurt and the shame and the failure and the fear – and He sees what we can be in Him. The world looked at Gideon, his family and friends looked at Gideon, and they saw a timid farmer. God looked and He saw a mighty man of valour.
Wouldn’t you like to know what God sees when He looks at you? I mean, the world might see you, you might even see yourself, as just a farmer, or a teacher, or a mechanic, a truck driver, a student, or a pastor, a trapper, an athlete, or a government employee of some sort, but the real question is, “What does God see when He looks at you?” I can guarantee you that God sees more in you than the world does. Men, could it be, that when He looks at us, He sees mighty men of valour waiting to be set free? And if that’s the case wouldn’t you want to see yourself as God sees you?
And maybe you are sitting there thinking to yourself, “Nope. There’s no way! That’s not what He sees in me. I’ve got nothing to offer. I’ve made a mess of things. I’m just an ordinary guy. What use could I possibly be to God?” And we’re thinking that because somewhere along the way we’ve dropped the ball. We’ve said, “Yes,” when we should have said, “No,” or, “No,” when we should have said, “Yes.” And we fall short in our own eyes of what we dreamed we could be. But I don’t believe that’s what God sees at all. Look at the people He’s chosen to work through over the years. David, a shepherd boy who becomes a great king and a man after God’s own heart. Elijah – a man just like us who saw God do miracles through him. Joseph, a slave who becomes the second most powerful man in Egypt and through whom God preserves a people. And it’s not just the Old Testament. God specializes in using ordinary people for extraordinary things in the New Testament as well. Mary was a peasant girl, Matthew was a tax collector, Peter was a fisherman, Luke was a doctor and on and on it goes – ordinary men and women chosen by God - but through whom He does extraordinary things.
Let’s keep reading. Verse 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?” “But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.” We might consider Gideon a hero of the faith but it’s not because of who Gideon was. It’s because of who God was to Gideon. God believed in Gideon when Gideon didn’t believe in himself. The weakest of the weak, the least of the least, was sent out, in what little strength he had, to save Israel. It’s ridiculous, isn’t it? What’s Gideon going to do? One man against a whole people – he doesn’t stand a chance. He doesn’t stand a chance except for this: He is being sent by God. If you stand with God, who can stand against you?
But men, know this: you cannot be sent of God until you have first met with God. Remember in the book of Acts how the disciples are preaching with power and with great authority, they are doing amazing miracles that the crowds are in awe over? Scripture tells us that the crowds saw the power in the disciples lives and they took note that these men – ordinary, unschooled men – had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13) We need to be with Jesus before we can be sent by Jesus. Look at verse 22 … When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, “Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!” But the LORD said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.” So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace. (Judges 6:22-24) The angel of the Lord is thought to be the pre-incarnate Son of God – Jesus Himself. And brothers, we need to get with Jesus before we can get about doing the Lord’s work.
We need to get with Him and we need to get right with Him. In the book of 2 Timothy we read these verses: In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:20-26)
And friends, Gideon lived out the truth of those words. At the word of the Lord, Gideon starts to clean house. Verse 25 … That 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. Then 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.” So 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.
Folks, idolatry had crept, not just into the land of Israel, but also into the house of Gideon’s family. And Gideon, and his father, and everyone else had been just fine with that. It didn’t bother them in the least. But it bothered God and God said, “If you will be a mighty warrior for my name’s sake you need to start by cleaning up your own home. Get rid of that which does not honor Me.” And men, there’s a lot of cleaning that could be done in our homes and in our hearts, and in our attitudes and our behaviors as well. I know that it’s always easier to point out the faults in the other guy, but God asks us to start with ourselves right where we’re at. If there is sin in your life, if there is godlessness in your home, do away with it and do away with it now! If you don’t, then you are choosing to remain in bondage, you are choosing to be powerless, you are choosing to be of little use to the Lord, you are choosing to never be that mighty man of valor that God knows you could be if you would only give it all over to Him.
And look what happens. When Men of God, turn to the God of Men, and take a stand for Him, when they begin to get right with God, other men, who have dreamed big things for God will get on board and will follow them. Gideon goes to take down the altar to Baal and there are 10 men willing to follow him. He’s no longer alone. Not only is God with him, but other men of God are with him now as well! And if we kept reading we would see that his father is inspired by Gideon’s example and also takes a stand for God. The house of Joash is going to get right with God!
It’s an awesome thing! Men of God inspire others to seek the God of Men and to live their lives for Him. If we were to read even further we would find that soon there were 32,000 men who were willing to follow Gideon’s example and stand for the Lord. 32,000 and it all started with one man who was willing to walk by faith! And throughout Gideon’s lifetime the nation as a whole followed God, but Scripture tells us that when Gideon’s time came, no sooner had he died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. (Judges 8:33) Brothers, never underestimate what God can do through even just one man who has their heart set on living for Him!
Men, in our own ways we each want to be something more than we are. Deep down we know we were created for more than this world calls us to. In our heart of hearts we want to be heroes, not just in the eyes of those we love, but in the eyes of our God as well. We want to know that our lives mattered, that they counted for something. And I don’t believe for a moment that we have a lot of good role models around in our society these days who we can look to, to see what it means to be a man. The heroes of this world are actors and musicians and athletes.
But the most manly thing a man can do is not to act, or to make music, or to play games. It’s not to break horses, or fix a piece of machinery. It’s to stand for the Lord when the world turns away. It’s to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength when the world ridicules you and resists you every step of the way. It’s to walk closely with God and to lead our families in the ways of the Lord. It’s to love our wives and to raise our children well. It’s like Gideon, to move beyond our fears and to boldly live out our faith knowing that God is with us, that He sees in us more than we could ever really imagine because He sees in us His Son. And in truth this is what you were created for – to be a hero of the faith – to be strong in the Lord. This is what you are called to and this is what we can be by the hand of Almighty God! Amen?
We’ve got a little something for all the men here today. I think we’ve got enough for every man over 15 years old. It’s a pen and a devotion book with Psalm 27:1 on it. Psalm 27:1 says, “The Lord is the strength of my life.” Brothers, let that be true of you! Now I’m going to ask all the men and boys to stand and the we’re going to pray …
