GO, in the Strength YOU have
Judges 6:11-14
It is really intriguing how God writes a sermon. This sermon comes out of a discussion I had with Shawn about why God blesses some churches and not others. But then, it also comes out of a book I read about Gideon.
It started out as a sermon about one thing and God completely changed where it went.
Oh, yes. Good news. It also comes out of an article I read entitled: Why Shorter Sermons Are Better
Today we continue the series… Our Faith Family Tree and we will be looking in the Book of Judges.
The book of Judges records six cycles of failure, repentance, and restoration. It can be illustrated like this. (Diagram)
The story begins with one of those cycles.
Judges 6:1 says: “Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites”
The Midianites were desert bandits who came from the Arabian dessert to raid the farms of Israel. They would attack the people of the valleys, steal the food and cattle, destroy the villages, and chase the Israelites into the hills. For seven years these bandits came back. Every time the Israelites were ready to reap the harvest, the Midianites came out of the desert on their camels; attacking the children of Israel; stealing their food, their women, and their animals; destroying their cities and stealing the crops and then running back to the dessert again.
The results were devastating.
This went on for seven years!
Finally the children of Israel were broken before God. They repented of their sin and cried out to God for deliverance.
God answered by sending Gideon, aka Super Chicken! A guy who’s afraid of his own shadow!
When we first meet Gideon, he is a mess. Judges 6:11 says, “The angel of the LORD came . . . where . . . Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites."
A winepress was a deep hole lined with stones. You threw the grapes down into the hole. Then someone would jump in and stomp the grapes. Gideon was down inside the winepress, but he was not trying to make grape juice. He was in the winepress trying to thresh wheat!
Normally this was done on a threshing floor in an open field where the breeze could blow the chaff away. Gideon was fearful that if he did it out in the open, the bandits would come and steal the wheat from him. So he got down inside the winepress and tried to throw the grain up just high enough to be blown but not seen.
It hasn’t changed in thousands of years
Well. Back to Gideon. About this time, the angel of the Lord came along dressed like a shepherd and sat down under a tree next to the winepress and said to him: “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior” (Judges 6:12).
Gideon probably thought, “Mighty warrior? Are you out of your mind? I’m scared to death! I’m down here in the wine-press hiding for my life!”
Gideon replied, “IF’ the LORD is with us [the first of Gideon’s many ifs], why has all this happened to us? . . . The LORD has abandoned us” (Judges 6:13).
Instead of correcting him, criticizing him, or chastising him, the angel said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand" (Judges 6: 14).
Go in my strength? Gideon thought. I don’t have any strength! I ’m Super Chicken, hiding down here in a winepress.
God has a way of choosing unlikely candidates to do His work.
God called and people came by the thousands to follow Gideon… 32,000 men.
The problem is, there were 130,000 Midianites and Amalekites down in the valley.
We’re outnumbered! We don’t stand a chance! We’re doomed! What am I going to do?
God comes to Gideon and says, “We’ve got a problem.”
Gideon is thinking, YA THINK??? YEAH we have a problem alright! I don’t have enough men!
God said, “No, you’ve got too many men!”
Too many men? What do you mean, too many men? Gideon thought. You’ve Got to Be Kidding!
God replied, “I know these people. If I let 32,000 defeat 130,000 they’re going to say, “We did it ourselves!” I’ve been dealing with these people long enough to know how they operate.
So God whittled Gideon’s army down to three hundred men… and the enemy has 130,000… we’re outnumbered like… 433.3 to one!!!!!!!
BUT… finally, Gideon was ready to go. Then God said, “I have another idea.”
This sent shivers down Gideon’s spine… Oh no… He’s going to get rid of some more men.”
The Lord told Gideon to take the three hundred men and divide them into three groups. He gave instructions to Gideon to give a pitcher with a torch inside it to every man, along with a trumpet for them to carry. Then He told him to put a hundred men on each side of the valley and a hundred in the middle. Gideon was to give the signal and the men would break the pitchers, wave the torches, and blow on the trumpets. Then they were to shout, "The sword of the LORD and Gideon!”
SO…
In the middle of the night, Gideon gave the sign and Gideon’s men smashed their clay pots. It simulated the clash of arms and echoed down in the valley below. The noise terrified the Midianites and the Amalekites.
They looked up and saw the torches and heard the trumpets surrounding their camp. They assumed there were thousands of soldiers out there.
They panicked, thinking the Israelites had hired allies to come against them. In the confusion of the noise and darkness, two different groups of people with two different dialects ran out of their tents.
The Midianites and Amalekites slaughtered each other without even realizing it. Before the night was over, 120,000 Midianites and Amalekites were dead. All Gideon and his three hundred men had done was to stand there and make some noise for God!
Hold on… here comes the point of the message: This is what God wants you to take away from this sermon… It doesn’t take thousands of people to make a difference in the world in which we live.
There is an attitude in this church… or at least in much of this church that we are too small… we have declined… we don’t have enough leaders… we don’t have enough workers… we don’t have enough volunteers… we don’t have enough whatever.
Did you hear the excuses Gideon gave the angel of God?
I ’m from the tribe of Manasseh, and we’re the least of all the tribes! And I’m from the house of Joash, and we’re the least of all the families in Manasseh. And I’m the least in my father’s house. No way! You’ve got the wrong guy!
EXCUSES!! That what they were… excuses. Do you know what an excuse is? It is A LIE WRAPPED UP IN AN EXPLAINATION and you think because you have some explanation that makes the lie less ugly and more acceptable.
It is like the difference between a cow patty and a cow patty with a bow on it. The bow does not make it more acceptable.
Gideon had excuses and we have excuses… but to God they are all LIES
Because your excuses for why YOU CAN’T… is really you trying to say God can’t… and that is a lie.
But I digress, that is not where I am headed today. Today I am going to preach something I have never preached before and never heard any preacher preach.
Some may call it heresy.
When I read this story again, a phrase caught my attention. I never thought of it before but this time it grabbed me.
The angel told Gideon something very strange. “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel”
I wondered why he did not say go in the strength God has, or go, and God will be with you to give you the strength to do what He calls you to do.
But no… he said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel”
Now this is where it gets squirrelly… Most commentators believe this means in the strength of God because the angel first said, “The Lord is with you” so the strength he had would be the strength of God.
It is true: God was with him. It is true: God had all power and would give Gideon the power Gideon lacked or He wanted Gideon to have.
But I think it means exactly, literally what it says… Go in your own strength.
Gideon’s story is very unusual from other stories in the bible.
I want us to walk through the story and see… What did God ask Gideon to do?
v. 20 To "Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth."
Could Gideon do it in his own strength?
V. 24 build an altar
Could Gideon do it in his own strength?
v. 25-26 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."
Anything Gideon could not do in human strength?
v. 34 Blow a trumpet
v. 35 Send out messengers
Human strength would do.
7:3 Make an announcement
7:4 Lead them to the water and watch them drink
7:16-21 divide the group into thirds, give them a pitcher, a torch and a trumpet, walk to the enemy camp, throw down the pitcher, lift up the torch, blow the trumpet and scream really loudly.
God did not ask Gideon or his men to do one single thing which they could not do in their own human strength. NOTHING!!!
God was going to do EVERYTHING else. The victory would be ALL GOD.
An astronaut and a monkey were launched into outer space. There were two lights on the panel. If the red one lit, NASA would give the monkey instructions. If the green one lit, the astronaut would receive commands. Just before blast off, the red light lit up and the control gave the monkey a series of tasks to complete. As the rocket rose, the red light came on again and NASA told the monkey to pull a lever and push some buttons. The green light did not light up for a long time and the astronaut got angry. The red light continued to light up and the monkey continued to perform complex maneuvers. Finally… the green light came on. The astronaut got all excited, he could hardly wait to get commands. Would they be complex? Would he finally show that humans were superior to apes? The voice came over the speaker… NASA to orbiter… do you read? The astronaut replied, NASA this is orbiter, I read you loud and clear. NASA responded… Feed the monkey.
Gideon was like the astronaut… his was not asked to do anything that took any knowledge or strength greater than himself.
He was not asked to prophesy, not asked to preach, not asked to write a book, not to heal, not to make any great sacrifice.
Does that mean Gideon was not important? NO
God was doing something through Gideon He did not do through others… show that IT WAS ALL GOD.
Gideon only did what he could do in his own strength… but look what God did.
God gained a miraculous and total victory and God got all the glory. And don’t miss this point: God waited on Gideon to do what he could do in his own strength before God stepped in and said, “I’ve got this.” Then God did amazing things.
I think this story has tremendous application to First Baptist.
I said earlier, too many people in the church, FBC and other churches, believe our church is too small, our workers are too few, our budget is too small.
We can’t do anything. We are too small to make a difference.
We are NOT too small and we are NOT too weak.
There is a lot we can do… IN THE STRENGTH WE HAVE
God didn’t say to FBC, Go IN THE STRENGTH YOU HAD
It is true, we are not as large or as strong as we once were. BUT WE CAN DO A LOT IN THE STRENGTH WE HAVE
Do you know how many people it takes to make a difference in this town? ONE!!!!!
What can one do?
ONE CAN Walk across the street and invite their neighbor to church where they can hear the gospel
Then God Can Move in their spirit and save them
But He is waiting for you to go… and do what you can do in your own strength
ONE CAN Pick up the phone and call a member who has drifted away
THEN GOD CAN convict that person and draw them back
He may be waiting for you to do something you can do in your own strength
ONE CAN Pick up an older member of the church who does not drive anymore
THEN GOD CAN Use that person or just minister to them
ONE CAN Attend church. Just be there.
Then God can Encourage the leader who is about to quit. Keep the ministry going.
ONE CAN Write a card of encouragement or friendship
Or text or tweet or message
Then God Can Lift that person out of depression and hopelessness and loneliness
ONE CAN Take a turn in the nursery
THEN GOD CAN Give someone a break, let them attend worship
ONE CAN Make a thermos of coffee and visit a shut-in and share a cup of coffee with them
ONE CAN take the birthday calendar and mail cards
ONE CAN Buy five toys at the dollar store and mail them to Connie Maxwell to be given to a child
ONE CAN Come and help in the clothes closet or food pantry
George picks up rice while in town
Remember the point of the message:
It doesn’t take thousands of people to make a difference in the world in which we live
If a few people will get out and make some noise for God, and wave the light of the truth in the darkness, God will multiply and magnify their efforts.
One can do a lot in their own strength. You don’t have to have some supernatural strength.
Remember the word of God to Gideon… Go… in the strength YOU have.
When we do… God is with us… and unbelievable things can happen.
There is no telling what you and I could do for the cause of Christ if we really tried.
