TAKING A STAND
Judges 6:1-22
In the mountains of East Tennessee, there is a beautiful little church with a strange name. On the sign out front the name is artfully written: “Compromise Church.” There is a story behind the name. The church had been built early in the 20th century and the congregation could not agree on a name. One group of people wanted to call it one name and another group was determined to call it something else. The conflict in the church became so severe that it threatened to break up the church family. In the end they called it the “Compromise Church” in order to avoid the conflict. Unfortunately, “Compromise” is the name of many churches, not because they are trying to avoid conflict, but because they have accommodated to the culture. They want to be well thought of, and have compromised with the world.
In a sense that is what had happened in the life of Israel. The people of God had been delivered from the slavery of Egypt, but that had been a long time ago. The people who crossed the Red Sea and the Jordan River were all gone, and the memory of what God had done was fading. They did not drive the pagan nations out of the land of promise as the Lord told them to, and instead they had accommodated to the culture of the people around them. The Lord had warned them in the first part of the book of Judges: “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you” (Judges 2:1-3). And that is exactly what happened. Even though the people continued to worship the Lord, they also worshiped the gods of the other nations. Next to the temple of the true God they placed the images of Asherah and Baal. They had effectively become the “Compromise Church.” It was not that they had completely abandoned God, they still worshiped him, but they wanted to incorporate the other gods into their lives as well — and they were so spiritually blind that they did not see the contradiction. That’s what compromise was in their situation: the willingness to live with obvious contradiction. They worshiped Asherah and pretended that she was the consort of the God who led them out of Egypt. They compromised their faith by worshiping them both. The worship of Asherah and Baal included the worst kind of lewd and obscene practices, and also included human sacrifice. Now the worship of a holy God was practiced along side the most unholy acts imaginable — and no one seemed to notice. The theme running throughout the book of judges is stated several times: “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25, KJV).
It was into this kind of world that Gideon was born. His father was thoroughly compromised, worshiping both God and Asherah. And, as far as we know, Gideon was doing the same. But he did not stay compromised. This morning I want us to take a look at the various stages in Gideon’s life that brought him from being a worshiper of Asherah to being an exclusive worshiper of God. He went from a person who was a part of his culture to one who took a stand against his culture — from one who was a part of the problem to one who became a part of the solution.
The first stage in Gideon’s life was that: Gideon was a defeatist. It was depressing to live under the kind of conditions he faced. The situation looked impossible. His life was miserable because of the oppression of the Midianites who occupied Israel. The Midianites had a distinct military advantage. Other nations had chariots, but the Midianites had camels. They could move in quickly from the desert and devastate a region and go back just as quickly. For seven years they had been coming into Israel and taking or destroying all the crops and running back home. The land became desolate and the people were oppressed.
In the opening scene we find Gideon threshing what little grain he has been able to gather in a winepress. It was a pit carved out of rock where grapes were pressed for their juice. It was an extremely inconvenient place to thresh grain, but he was hiding from his enemies. Normally, grain was threshed on the top of a hill, or out in the open, where the wind could blow away the chaff. But Gideon is in hiding. His spirits are in the pits as well as his body. Things could not get much worse. People were subsisting, and some were not even able to survive. What the people failed to understand was that the problem was not the Midianites — the problem was the Israelites. The only reason they were oppressed was not because the Midianites were cruel, but because they had forsaken the Lord. The Midianites had grown strong because Israel had grown weak spiritually, and the Lord was using the Midianites to awaken them to just how far away from God they had gone. Their situation socially was a sign of where they were spiritually. They loved other gods and it led to oppression.
But in the darkest moment of Gideon’s life the Lord appeared to him saying: “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” But it was as if Gideon did not hear what he said. Immediately he began to complain: “But sir, 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.” God was standing right in front of him trying to encourage him and all he could think of was how God had let them down. He was disillusioned and disappointed with God, because he thought God no longer cared about his people. He was blind to the fact that his people had abandoned God. He blamed God instead of the sin of his people. He saw how God had abandoned his people, but he failed to see that his people had abandoned God. The problem was not the Midianites, the problem was Israel.
The Bible says, “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.’” He sounds like Moses at the burning bush: “Oh Lord, please send someone else to do it” (Exodus 4:13). He was a defeatist. He was defeated before he began. But then the Lord said, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together” (Judges 6:12-16). Gideon was correct in thinking he could not defeat the Midianites, but the Lord promised that he would be with him and fight for him. The Lord would use Gideon to defeat Midian.
Gideon was about to pass into the second phase of his spiritual life because there was a light shining into his darkness, but he still was not fully convinced. The second phase of Gideon’s life was: Gideon was a doubter. He was not an unbeliever, but he was a doubter. He needed some proof. He wanted a sign. First, he said to the Lord: “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me” (Judges 6:17). And then, as Gideon prepared a sacrifice for the Lord, the Lord touched the rock and fire sprang up and consumed the sacrifice as the Lord disappeared from his sight. It was proof positive that it was indeed the Lord who had appeared to him, and that he would be with him in a supernatural way — or was it proof positive?
As Gideon faced the Midianite army he needed further assurance. He started doubting again that God was with him and capable of letting him defeat the Midianites. The Bible says, “Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel” (Judges 6:33). It was frightening and Gideon was not sure he was up to the task. The odds looked overwhelming. Just the thought that he could defeat the Midianites seemed ridiculous. He began to doubt and he asked God for another sign. He said, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised — look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” Then the Bible says, “And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew — a bowlful of water” (Judges 6:36-38). But that was not enough for him. He still had his doubts. The Bible continues the story: “Then Gideon said to God, ‘Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew.’ That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew” (Judges 6:39-40). At that point Gideon had no choice but to go. He set off to fight the Midianites with 32,000 men.
But God was going to further test the faith of Gideon. God told him that 32,000 men were too many, so Gideon told all the ones who were afraid to go back home. Twenty-two thousand men breathed a sigh of relief and headed home. Now there were only 10,000 men to fight the Midianite hoards which numbered 135,000. But still it was too many as far as God was concerned. Now the Lord told him to do something very unusual. He said, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there.... Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink.’ Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink” (Judges 7:4-6). Then Gideon dismissed all but 300 men and sent them home. He was about to face one of the greatest armies in the world with only 300 men.
So now Gideon is forced to move into the third stage of his life: Gideon was a doer. He finally became a man of faith. When he was a defeatist and a doubter he required a sign, and God gave him three signs: the sacrifice which was miraculously consumed, and two signs with lamb’s wool. Now God gives him a sign for which he has not asked. The Lord told Gideon to go down secretly into the camp of the Midianites and listen to what they are saying. The Bible says, “Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. ‘I had a dream,’ he was saying. ‘A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.’ His friend responded, ‘This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.’” Gideon had it straight from the mouth of his enemies about what God was going to do. Gideon was shamed because his pagan enemies had more faith in his God than he did at times. But it goes on to say, “When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped God. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, ‘Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands” (Judges 7:13-15). Once Gideon was convinced that God was with him he became a doer.
Initially, when God came to him saying, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior,” Gideon complained that if the Lord was with them then why were they in this awful mess. And God said, “I’m glad you asked that. I have come to tell you that I have chosen you to deliver your people out of this mess.” Gideon said, “Oh no, Lord! Not me. The whole thing depresses me, but don’t ask me to do something about it. Why don’t you just perform some miracle and make everything good again?” And God said, “I always work through people. Don’t ask me to do something that you are unwilling to be a part of. Don’t complain about he problem unless you are willing to be a part of the solution.” That was not what Gideon wanted to hear. He wanted someone else to do it. He wanted God to do it. But he did not want God to ask him to do something. The next time you complain about a situation to God, be prepared to have him ask you to do something about it. Be prepared to be a part of the answer to your own prayer.
Gideon finally stepped up to the plate and began to act on what God was asking him to do. He began by tearing down the altar to the pagan god Baal and the image of the goddess Asherah that had caused Israel to sin. The repugnant worship of these pagan gods was responsible for Israel being in subjection to her enemies. Gideon placed his life in danger by taking this kind of stand, but it was the beginning of God’s work in Gideon’s life and his deliverance of Israel. Gideon’s next step was to call out all Israel to fight against the Midianites. He felt encouraged as all the people rallied around. There was excitement that someone was finally leading them in order to defeat their enemies. But Gideon watched as God took that great army and reduced it down to 300 men. Gideon and his men stood around the camp, each with a torch inside a clay jar in one hand and a trumpet in the other. And when Gideon and his men broke the jars to let the light shine, and (just like Joshua’s defeat of Jericho) as they gave a trumpet blast and a shout for the Lord the enemy was defeated. God threw the army of the Midianites into confusion and they started slaying each other and running away from Israel. It was a humiliating defeat that would give Israel peace for forty years. And one man made the difference. Gideon had passed from defeatist and doubter to doer.
What enemy are you facing today? What has you defeated and discouraged? Is there anything that has robbed you of your identity and dignity? Maybe you are in hiding, afraid to show your face. Perhaps today it is time to take a stand. God is coming to you in this moment and is saying to you, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior!” “Who me?” you might answer back to God. “If you are with me then why am I going through this?” But God is calling you to be a conqueror instead of being a defeatist. He is calling you to leave your doubt and walk in faith. He is calling you out of hiding and inactivity. He is calling you to be a doer. Don’t be a complainer when God is asking you to be a doer. We keep wanting God to do it without our help. We keep wanting him to do it for us. We want somebody else to do it, but God is wanting to use your life. He always works through people.
God called Gideon a mighty warrior, but that was not who he was, it was who he would become — with God’s help. God looked at his potential rather than his weakness. That is what God is doing for you today. He is giving you a new name — a name that reflects who you can become if you will walk in faith and do what God is calling you to do. The Lord says to you, “Go in the strength you have.... Am I not sending you?” (Judges 6:14).
Rodney J. Buchanan
March 12, 2000
TAKING A STAND
Judges 6:1-22
“When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, ‘The Lord is with you, mighty warrior’” (Judges 6:12).
1. Gideon was a ___________________________________ .
2. Gideon was a ___________________________________ .
3. Gideon was a ___________________________________ .
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION (Mar 12, 2000)
1. What were the three stages of Gideon’s life? Where would you place yourself in that continuum?
2. What are the positives and negatives of compromise?
3. In what ways do the people of God compromise with their culture today?
4. Read Judges 21:25 and compare contemporary American culture.
5. How important is moral leadership? Why has the slogan of many become: “It’s the economy, Stupid!”?
6. Give examples of how it takes courage to stand against the majority.
7. Read 1John 2:15-17. How do these words apply in a practical way to modern Christians?
8. Read 1Kings 19:9-11, 18. Have you ever felt like this? What is the solution?
9. Read 2 Kings 6:15-17. Why is it so easy to forget that whoever has God is in the majority?
10. In what areas is God asking you to take a stand?
11. If you knew that you could not fail in anything you attempted, what would you do?
12. If you were to do the equivalent of tearing down pagan altars in your home or town what would they be?
