One day in junior church, Davy Troxel, New Albany, IN taught about Gideon. The following Sunday, for the sake of review, he asked who remembered last week's Bible hero. No hands went up. "Okay," he said. "I'll give you a clue: he fought a battle using only lamps, pitchers, and trumpets." Still no response. "Maybe you remember how he used a fleece to learn God's will," he said. Ten little blank faces stared at him. "One final clue," he pleaded. "There are people today with the same name as our hero, who go around hotels putting Bibles in the rooms." Finally an eager 8 year old boy shot up his hand and said, "Oh! Oh! It was Hilton!"
If you’ve been in a hotel, you’ve seen Bibles placed by the Gideons – a group entirely devoted to placing God’s word into peoples’ hands. Why would a society dedicated to the spreading of the Scriptures be named after Gideon? It’s because of what he accomplished by faith. We’re still looking at OT people of faith in the hopes that our faith will grow. This morning, looking at Gideon, we hope to see 3 important principles that can be accomplished when faith is applied.
-We’re in the book of Judges. There's no king in Israel. Everyone just does what seems right in his own eyes. Sounds real American. As a result, the nation goes through cycles - they serve God, then turn away from Him, then God allows their enemies to overrun them, then they repent and turn back to God and He sends someone to help deliver them. It's during one of those times, when then Midianites were having their way with Israel and they repent, that God calls Gideon to be their deliverer
Judges 6-8.
-His first assignment is to destroy his dad's altar to Baal. He does it at night, but he does do it, and the neighborhood takes notice. Joash, his father, changes his son's name to "Jerub-Baal" If Baal's such a great god, let him take care of himself!
Right around that time, the people of the East cross the Jordan River into Israel's back yard. It's time for their annual "what's yours is mine" festival. There's a lot of them. (*7:12). Gideon sounds the trumpet and begins to muster the troops of Northern Israel for war. He double checks with God, just to make sure that he's supposed to be doing this, and heads off with 32,000 men to take on 130,000.
Gideon is a man of faith. They’re outnumbered 4:1. He's afraid, but he's going anyway.
What does God do? "There's too many. Let everyone who's scared go home." Apparently there's a lot of scared men, and most of them leave. Great. Now we're outnumbered 13:1. God says, "There's still too many!" Can you imagine Gideon's thoughts at this point? So God thins them down to 300! That's 433:1. The odds are getting a little more difficult here. (My Dad always said the odds of him winning the lottery were better than the odds of him buying a ticket.)
To make it even, they're going into battle with machine guns, artillery, and air support. Not! But they are going into battle with the Lord fighting for them. In the middle of the night, they surround the camp, and suddenly they're blowing trumpets, holding torches and shouting. The Midianites wake up, and begin killing each other. Most of them are killed and the rest run for their lives, which were soon lost as the 300 men of Israel chase them down.
There's something to be learned about faith in the life of a judge we call Gideon.
God makes people of faith able to do what they could never do on their own.
So let’s look into this story of Gideon at 3 principles we're able to apply by faith:
I. Move On When You're Afraid
-Gideon was scared *6:15
-courage isn't the same as being unafraid. It's pressing ahead even though you are afraid. And the way we can do that is by faith in the One Who makes us able.
-Have you ever noticed? God likes us to be in positions where we can't go on by ourselves. When He chose who would lead the people against the Midianites, he goes to Gideon - the one whose "clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and who is the least in his family." After the troops are gathered - 32,000 men, God sends away the ones who are scared - 13:1. That would take faith! God says, "Too many." God doesn't want Israel to think her own strength has saved her. So down they go for a drink, and God weeds out another 9,700 men. 300 men. And then there was the battle plan. "Here's your weapon - trumpet, torch, clay pitcher."
Can you imagine the Midianites saying, "Look out! They've got broken pottery!"
And it seems to me it would have sent them running away faster if the Israelites had been playing accordions!
This was no military campaign! What's God trying to prove? It's God who's going to make them able.
You see, this isn’t a military issue. It’s a faith issue. God wants His people in positions where we can't do it by ourselves. Who are the great heroes in the Bible and in history that we remember for their faith? - People who were in a position that required God's power, wisdom, timing. Gideon, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, David, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshac, Abednego, Peter, Paul, Wycliffe, Huss, Luther, Glen Elliot, Jay Henry - They're real people who go into situations, afraid, but with faith in God that allowed them to move on.
quote - Eugene H. Peterson - "There is an enormous gap between what we think we can do and what God calls us to do. Our ideas of what we can do or want to do are trivial; God's ideas for us are grand." What a thought! God's ideas for us are grand! "I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jer 29:11)
I wonder what ideas, what plans God has for VHCC, but they're waiting until we place ourselves in a situation that makes us depend on God instead of ourselves! We write a budget if we're sure we can come up with it. We undertake a sort of new approach to something, provided it's not too far outside our comfort zone. We get together to pray, as long as it's fairly convenient.
When will we do more than we're doing now? When we get the lesson that it's God Who makes people of faith able to do things they could never do on their own.
Ill - I have a little girl and a little boy who both have a zest for life. They wring life out of every hour of the day, right up until bed time. But you know what? most of their plans and hopes right now in their lives are for things that aren't just up to them. They're counting on Mom and Dad to take them places, and to provide for them, and to help them when they can't do things on their own.
"So what," you say, "they're just kids. They have to rely on someone else. They don't have to be independent yet." And I ask you, when Jesus said that we must become like little children to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, when He teaches us to know God as Our Father, do you think He's telling us to be people who are independent, or people who are counting on their Father to take them places, to provide for them, and to help them when they can't do things on their own?
I know it's scary to count on something you can't see. Gideon would tell us this morning: “Be courageous. Move on – even when you're afraid.” When we really believe God can see what’s down the road, we can do that.
II. Thank God for the Helps
3 helps were given to Gideon: -angel at the rock (6:11-24) -fleece (6:36-40) -dream (7:9-15)
These first 2 times, it was Gideon's idea. But there's no record of God being angry that he asked for reassurance. God answers his request for help. The 3rd time, Gideon’s still scared, and it's God's idea. God gives His people the helps they need to be able to press on and do things by faith.
quote - If you want a wonderful experience, take a Bible software program and look up the phrase "but God." See how many times human resources have been brought to an utter end; despair has gripped the heart and pessimism and gloom has settled on a people; and there's nothing that can be done. Then see how the Spirit of God writes in radiant letters, "But God," and the whole situation changes into victory. And then, thank God for the help.
God doesn't leave Gideon out hanging on a thread. He gives him "the certainty of what he can't see." The principle is this: If we'll be willing to stick our neck out for God, He doesn't abandon us there.
I don't think that means you should put out a fleece every time you're seeking God's will. In fact, notice what Gideon asks: "Did I hear you correctly? Will You really do this for me?"
story - Kenny and Cindy White served as youth minister in Hillsboro, OH. He and Cindy were wrestling against the decision to enter full-time vocational ministry. So he wanted a sign from God. He knew it would be tough, and he wasn't sure that's what he wanted to do. So he prayed that if the Lord wanted him to accept a certain ministry position, there would be a deer on a certain side of the road – really thought he’d make God go out of His way to prove that’s what he should do. If a deer appeared on the right hand side of the road, it would mean that God wanted them to accept the youth ministry position. If not, God didn’t. They came around a curve, there were 2 eyes gleaming in their headlights. There, in the middle of the road - was a skunk! Kenny concluded that God thought their attitude stunk!
I don't suggest you spend your life asking God for signs, but I do suggest that when God confirms good decisions, you thank Him for it. You make a decision that you question - it's difficult, it takes faith, and later you learn that it was the best thing you could have done.
Thank God for the helps He gives along the way.
A 3rd principle we can apply by faith is to:
III. Look at Achievements the Way God Does
Max Cleland, Strong at the Broken Places
I asked God for strength that I might achieve,
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health, that I might do greater things,
I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked for riches, that I might be happy,
I was given poverty, that I might be wise.
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men,
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life,
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for but everything I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered. I am among all men, most richly blessed.
(A. Timelessly)
Consider the language that God uses when He talks to Gideon: "mighty warrior" "go in the strength you have, " "I have given them into your hands"
Ro. 4:17 "the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were."
God looks at his people's achievement as if it has already happened. He sees things timelessly, and sometimes we need to learn to look at achievements in the timeless way God does.
(B. Measured by Heavenly Standards)
Do you want to be used by God?
quote - Hudson Taylor - "God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on him."
quote - Phillips Brooks - "Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger people! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your world shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle. Everyday you shall wonder at yourself, at the richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God."
*Heb 11:32-40
Remember, that's a list of things that people accomplished "by faith." This is a list of achievements. Not achievements as the world measures them, but the way God measures them. God looks at His people of faith, sees them able to do something they could never have handled on their own - maybe it’s just dying nobly for Him, and God calls it success.
We need to learn to measure our successes by heavenly standards. Not a whole lot of that is going on around us. Be careful of what you call “success.” Is that how God looks at it? Have you measured it by the things that God considers to be important?
Conclusion:
Faith makes us able - rather, God makes people of faith able to do what they could never do on their own.
Dr. Floyd Faust –
“Early in my ministry, I met a man named Worral. He had been stricken with rheumatoid arthritis at age 15, and when I met him 30 years later, he was totally paralyzed except for 1 finger, could barely speak and was totally blind. But he had a string tied to that one mobile finger that could turn on a recorder. He wrote for national magazines, authored books and led a happy and influential life from his bed. This was possible because after initial prayers brought no healing, he accepted his lot graciously and said, "Well Lord! If this is the size plot in life you've staked out for me, let's You and me together show the world what we can grow on it."
Down the path of humble acceptance, Worral achieved a happier and more useful life within the limitations of very restricted circumstances than most people ever will manage with excellent physical health.”
God makes people of faith able to do what they could never do on their own.
There are a lot of people for whom salvation is an issue of “I can do it myself.” Let me point out to you this morning – heaven is something you can’t do on your own. No one can. We need the help of a Savior who has paid the price we couldn’t pay. But God makes people with faith able to do what they could never do on their own…
