The Verdict on Judges
One Ordinary Guy
February 19 – Gideon
120,000 Midianites came like a plague of locusts against the Israelites. Gideon raised an army of 32,000 to take them down. He cut down the number to 10,000 and then to 300. He armed them with trumpets, torches and pitchers. They split into three groups and attacked the enemy with the sounds of 300 trumpets and then smashing the pitchers so that the light from 300 torches lit up the hills surrounding the midianite camp. In the chaos of night and the shifting shadows of the torches the Midianites rose up and began to fight with one another. The battle was quickly won.
Gideon was a hero! How did this happen? Let’s start at the very beginning and see. Let’s begin in Judges 6. If you have your Bibles read with me how it all started.
Gideon
1Again the Israelites did what the LORD said was wrong. So for seven years the LORD handed them over to Midian…
2 Because the Midianites were very powerful and were cruel to Israel, the Israelites made hiding places in the mountains, in caves, and in safe places. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other peoples from the east would come and attack them. 4 They camped in the land and destroyed the crops that the Israelites had planted as far away as Gaza. They left nothing for Israel to eat, and no sheep, cattle, or donkeys. 5 The Midianites came with their tents and their animals like swarms of locusts to ruin the land. There were so many people and camels they could not be counted. 6 Israel became very poor because of the Midianites, so they cried out to the LORD.
7 When the Israelites cried out to the LORD against the Midianites, 8 the LORD sent a prophet to them. He said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you out of Egypt, the land of slavery. 9 I saved you from the Egyptians and from all those who were against you. I forced the Canaanites out of their land and gave it to you. 10 Then I said to you, ‘I am the LORD your God. Live in the land of the Amorites, but do not worship their gods.’ But you did not obey me.”
11 The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak tree at Ophrah that belonged to Joash, one of the Abiezrite people. Gideon, Joash’s son, was separating some wheat from the chaff in a winepress to keep the wheat from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon and said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior!”
Judges 6:1-12
When I say the word "Hero," who is it that comes to your mind? George Washington? Lewis and Clark? Audie Murphy? Pat Tillman? John Wayne? Wayne Gretzky?
When we think of Heroes we think of people who have grit, determination, courage, and character.
We think of one who doesn’t necessarily run from a fight. There no question that Gideon was not such a man. We find him threshing his wheat hidden from view in a wine press. He was obviously a careful, cautious, and pragmatic man looking to keep his family’s crops from being stolen by the Midianites. He was no coward but he was certainly not “hero” material.
But the Angel of the Lord came to Gideon and called him, “A Mighty Warrior.” How can this be? Gideon is threshing wheat in a wine press. Now then, if this skittish, nervous, timid guy was looked upon by the Lord as a Hero, (Mighty Warrior), that should be encouragement to us all.
If God could see the Hero in Gideon then just maybe he can see a Hero in us! So let’s look now to see how this happened. First there was the calling from God.
A CALLING FROM GOD
14 The LORD turned to Gideon and said, “Go with your
strength and save Israel from the Midianites. I am the one who is sending you.”
15 But Gideon answered, “Lord, how can I save Israel? My family group is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least important member of my family.”
Judges 6:14
We know what went through Gideon’s mind when he heard the angel speak.
“Hey, you got the wrong guy! - You are looking for a Great Soldier. You are looking for a Super Hero, but not me!”
Do you ever feel like you are too weak to do what God is asking you to do? Let me confess something important to you here today.
This past several months I’ve felt a lot like Gideon hiding in the wine press.
We live in a land populated with people who like the Midianites have swarmed the land with their tents, their animals, and their ways – which are not God’s ways.
The Midianite army that surrounds us is a community of people who are, at best, tolerant of the church and apathetic about the ways of God. At worst, they are antagonistic or dismissive.
Our Midianites believe that the idea of God is a quaint concept. That human kind is the natural result of evolutionary forces is really no different than the rest of the animal species.
They believe that there is no sanctity of life – that fetal tissue is not life breathed from God and made in his image but just a glop of cells. In their system of thinking there is no distinctive between living beings. Their value is in the quality of life Marriage is a loving relationship defined by whatever you want to decide is a loving relationship – for you.
They are no external moral boundaries of right and wrong. Archiaic laws from God like the 10 commandments are nice but as outmoded as chalk boards in a day of video projectors. Morality is personal – it comes from within each of us and is relative. It all depends on what is right for us.
Modern Midianites are no different than those in the days of the judges and Israel who “each did what was right in their own eyes.”
Living in a land filled with Midianites it becomes very tempting to be like Gideon and to hunker down in our hiding places where we can make a little food and sustain our existence.
Like rabbits hiding in our holes we only come out when we have to and then only to run as quickly as possible to another rabbit hole where we are – whew – safe again!
OK. Here is the confession part. In the last few weeks I have been driven to my knees. I haven’t the skills, the knowledge, the strength, the brains, or the ability to be a hero. I can’t do it. I cannot lead you as the pastor of this church. I cannot preach with words to encourage and inspire. I cannot administrate the resources of the body to meet the needs of others in the church and community. I can only fall on my knees and say, God use me – I’m yours.
But this is the moment that the angel of the Lord came to Gideon. Somehow, in a small way he has come to me and you with the same message and calling from God.
If Gideon is to succeed he had to hear the calling of God. If you and I would be part of a great victory – it cannot be our victory – it must be God’s calling and God’s victory.
The reason why many fail today is simply because they are relying on their own abilities. It wasn’t Gideon’s talents that God knew he could use; in fact, it was his disabilities God knew he could use. Often times God chooses what is weak to confound the wise.
How many times over the years have you and I been hiding in the wine press – you know – just laying low about our faith and our God. You know it can become quite comfortable – hiding, laying back, not pressing forward.
You and I have been called by God. In fact the word for church means, “called out”. We have been called out of the world into a band of unlikely hero’s.
This morning we start with our weakness and God’s calling. This is the beginning of victory.
A PLAN FROM GOD
16 The LORD answered him, “I will be with you. It will seem as if the Midianites you are fighting are only one man.”
Judges 6:14-15
God’s plan is a simple one. In fact it is too simple for most of us. It’s too simple for me! God’s plan is “I will be with you.” It’s that simple.
I keep wanting to improve upon it with my skills, experience, and abilities – foolish man! My skills are like paper in a bonfire. My experience is as limited as the words I use to explain summer clouds floating in a blue sky to a blind man. My abilities are as valuable as swimming in an ocean of angry sharks.
God’s Plan
God says, “I Will Be with You”
I am driven to God’s plan. Think about it – the creator of the world says, “Move forward, I’ve got your back”. Now that’s a good plan.
We all need that kind of support and help from someone who loves us.
One of the dynamic preachers in America is Dr. E.V. Hill, an African American Pastor in Los Angeles. A few years ago he lost his wife after many years of marriage to cancer. He describes his wife as a partner that made him a better man.
In their early years of marriage he was a struggling preacher and had trouble earning a living. He decided to invest their family’s scarce resources over his wife’s objection in a service station. His wife was right and eventually the station went broke.
It was a critical time in the life of E.V. Hill and his wife would been justified in saying: “I told you so.” But when E.V. Hill told his wife what hap happened she just replied; “All right.” When he came home he was expecting his wife to give him the business. Instead she said: “I’ve been doing some figuring. I figure that you don’t smoke and you don’t drink. If you smoked and drank, you would have lost as much as you lost in the service station. So it’s six in one hand and a half-dozen in the other. Let’s forget it.”
She could have shattered her husband’s confidence, but she told her husband what he needed to hear: “I still believe in you.”
A few nights later E.V. Hill came home and his wife had prepared a candlelight dinner. She said, “We’re going to eat by candlelight tonight.” He went to the bathroom to wash his hands and the light would not turn on. He felt his way to the bedroom and flipped another switch. Darkness prevailed. He went back to the dinning room and asked his wife why the electricity was off. She began to cry. She said, “You’re working so hard and we’re trying, but I didn’t have enough money to pay the light bill. I didn’t want you to know about it, so I thought we would eat by candlelight.”
On another occasion Dr. Hill said his wife was his protector. He had received death threats due to his working with gangs in the inner city. One night he received notice that he would be killed the next day. He went to sleep and work up thankful to be alive. But he noticed his wife was gone. He looked outside and saw the car was also gone. His wife came driving up and he asked where she had been. She said it occurred to her that the bad guys might put a bomb in his car and if he got in it the next morning he’d be blown away.
So she got up and drove the car all night. E.V. Hill’s wife demonstrated unconditional love in marriage. She practiced the marriage covenant, “In good times and in bad times…sickness and in health, richer or poorer.”
Listen – we have a covenant with God. He is our protector and our help. That’s the plan! It’s that simple.
The Lord told Gideon his plan. “I will be with you”. When God is with you an army of 120,000 equipped and trained fighting men seems like one newly drafted, freshly shaved, thoroughly intimidated, 137 lb scrawny recruit at army boot camp.
It has always been so… Look at the Judges we’ve see so far. Othniel… Ehud killed Eglon… Shamgar killed 600 with an pointy stick… Deborah inspired Barak and 10,000 Israelite fighters…
And it didn’t stop with the Judges… Saul hid among the mules when God called him to the be the first king… David was just a young Shepherd Boy… The youngest among his brothers - yet he was later known as one who killed Bears & Lions & even a Giant Slayer…
In the days of our Lord Jesus we see God a work in the same way. Peter… Nathaniel… Saul… Timothy… James… Stephen…
The work of God continues to this day in exactly the same way. When you are called by God then his plan is to use you to accomplish his will!
And his plan is always the same… I am with you. And we must choose to stand with him.
God’s Plan
We say, “And I Will Be with You”
25 That same night the LORD said to Gideon, “Take the bull that belongs to your father and a second bull seven years old. Pull down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah idol beside it.
Judges 6:25
We cannot have any other God’s in our life. What ever it is in you life that you worship that is not God – pull it down. If you can’t tear it down then cut it off.
Idolatry is the problem. Most of us don’t worship a little metal God on a shelf so we think that this is not a problem of ours… but it is because idolatry goes a lot deeper.
Idolatry is the giving of our affection and life to any one…, or any cause…, or any thing…, other than God.
We are covenanted to God and God alone. Think of it like the covenant of marriage – and our God is a jealous God – he will not share you with anyone else.
My wife is the most loving and tolerant woman in the world but one thing she has made abundantly clear in our relationship is that she will not tolerate any one…, any cause…, or any thing…, other than God to come into our relationship.
This is why all through the Bible God speaks of Idolatry as a kind of adultery. It is the adulteration of our relationship with God.
So what are the idols of our time… Look around and see what the Modern Midianites are doing with their lives. An idol is anything that sucks up our time and energy to the exclusion of God. I’ll let you fill in the blank but it is clear that we live in a land of idol worshipers.
A GIFT FROM GOD
34 But the Spirit of the LORD entered Gideon, and he blew a trumpet to call the Abiezrites to follow him. 35 He sent messengers to all of Manasseh, calling them to follow him. He also sent messengers to the people of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali. So they also went up to meet Gideon and his men.
Judges 6:33-34
What makes a hero? Is it one’s own ability? Is it because one has been given good teachers? Is it the training that one receives?
Let me tell you what really makes a Godly Hero – it is a gift from God. Here we discover the secret of the great heroes of the Bible. The real secret is that God chooses to equip people in special ways for his work.
God took this little timid, scared, man that was once found hiding in the wine press and made him a Great leader of his people.
Gideon blows the trumpet and 32,000 men come out to fight with him! How did this happen? The Spirit of the Lord came upon him! The Spirit of the Lord took possession of him, empowered him!
This same Spirit is the same Spirit that empowers us today! He’s a gift! Who is he? He is "The Holy Spirit!"
A Band of Ordinary Guys
38 Peter said to them, “Change your hearts and lives and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 This promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away. It is for everyone the Lord our God calls to himself.”
Acts 2:38
You say, "I can’t meet up to the challenge of being a Christian." "I can’t tell others about Jesus." Oh yes you can! You can be that Hero! Look upon Gideon’s life.
If God can turn Gideon into a mighty warrior, he can do the same for you! If you’re worried about whether you’re up to the challenge of being Jesus’ disciple then take courage from the example of Gideon, the mighty warrior; mighty only because of God’s mighty power which enabled him to do great things.
Who is a candidate to be "AN UNLIKELY HERO?" You are looking at him.
And if you will go home and look in the mirror, you will see another one.
The fact is we’re all "UNLIKELY HEROES." If it wasn’t for God’s mercy & grace none of us would be able to do anything that we do for him. It is a gift. And a gift is to be treasured.
Do you have that gift? Do you know that Spirit that empowers men & women to do great things for his work? It is for you. God’s gift is for you.
I’m going to ask you to make a decision today. Have you become part of this band of ordinary people God calls the church.
Here is what it takes… You must turn from your idol worshiping ways and turn to God. You do this by accepting Jesus as your savior and lord. You can do that today – right now, this very moment.
You need to then seal this decision with the sign of the covenant – that’s baptism. It’s like the giving of the ring in a marriage ceremony. It is a picture of your death to the old ways and your new birth into a new life with Jesus. We can help you do that too.
Many of us need to make another decision. To stop hiding in the winepress from the Modern Midianites in our world and start being Jesus followers – openly and unapologetically – let us tear down the idols in our lives and recommit our lives to the service and ministry of God.
I ask you to continue in your prayers for me and for this church. Let us be the people of God in the middle of a modern midianite world.
If you need to make a decision – come up right now and we’ll pray with you and for you. Don’t stand there when you need to put one foot in front of another and ask God to stand with you as you commit to standing with him.
