Shamgar's Service

Introduction

Tonight the message in which I’m going to preach to you is a similar outline to one I preached here many years ago. As I pondered on what to preach tonight, the LORD laid this man and this message on my heart.

The man to which we’ll speak there is very little said about him. What you see is it concerning what he did. He’s only mentioned one other time Jg. 5:6 “In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, In the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, And the travellers walked through byways.”

(Set the Table)

Many of you know I’m sure about the time period of the Judges, but some may not, so I want to make sure that we all have our bearings about us.

Prior to this: The COI were enslaved in Egypt. But God brought them out

Then they were stuck in the wilderness - not because of God, but because they didn’t believe God.

Finally, God rose up another generation and used Joshua to lead them into the Promised Land.

Victories over 31 kings later, the COI have settled into the land that was promised unto their forefather Abraham. They were God’s people subject unto Him.

The governmental system was Theocracy - They had no king, but God was their King. Because that after Joshua left the scene, the COI began to walk by sight and not by faith, they began to sin against the LORD.

This brings us to our first point - the Spiritual / Societal Condition of the COI

I. The Spiritual / Societal Condition

Distant

Remember the spiritual condition of Israel in that day - they were distant from God.

We see a breakdown of the book in Jg. 2:7-19.

Then we have the theme: Jg. 17:6 “In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

Now let me ask you - is that really any different than today? How many times have you heard people talking about ‘My’ Truth?

(Ill.) I remember Demi Lavato a while back when we were doing the radio broadcast story that said that she ‘Came into her truth’. She decided that her pronouns were going to be ‘they/them’ and she was identifying as ‘nonbinary’. She was going to tell ‘her truth’

But church know this: The truth is not subjective. The truth is not up for debate. The truth is something sure - now you may not like the truth & wish it were something different, but the truth is STILL THE TRUTH! We need to Remember: Pro. 23:23 “Buy the truth, and sell it not; Also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.” The Truth is something valuable that we need to acquire. It’s something that we should be willing to give up treasure for. It’s something that we should get - and not let loose of!

But what was going on in Judah in Shamgar’s day was everyone was living their truth. Whatever they felt like, that’s what they were doing. Much like today. ‘You want to be a boy, be a boy - a girl? Be a girl!’ It was ungodly THEN and it’s Ungodly NOW!

Our Land is Distant from God

Disarmed

Shamgar didn’t take an Sherman tank to the Philistines. He didn’t use an M-60. He didn’t even have use of an AR-15. Of course, those hadn’t been invented yet, but do you know what else he didn’t use? He didn’t use a sword w/ a sharpened edge. He didn’t use a bow & arrow. He used a farming tool called an ox-goad. An ox-goad is a long rod of wood w/ a point on one end and a spade on the other.

The reason that he used an ox-goad is because that’s all he had available. The enemy had confiscated all the weapons in the land and that’s what he was lift to fight with.

Two things:

First: You’d better be real careful about this government that we have. There’s a reason why they want you to register your weapons - and it’s not just so you can pay tax on it. It’s so that when they want to round them up, they know where to come get them. It might come to be that when you need to fight an oppressive government, you’re left with using a shovel to do it!

Secondly: In Eph. 6:14-17 we see Paul speak of the Armour of God. In that, the only offensive weapon that we have to wield is the Word of God!

Speaking of Spiritual warfare, our society is being disarmed as we speak. The Catholic Church tried to prevent the Word of God from being accessible to the masses, but God proved Greater. Since that didn’t work, Satan has for the last 100+ years, Satan has moved to dull & pervert the Word of God by putting forth counterfeits in the form of ‘versions’.

On top of that, many Christians who KNOW the truth and HAVE the truth often IGNORE the truth! They don’t

Our land has largely been disarmed - by Satan and / or by Self

Discouraged

Because they were distant from God, because they’d been disarmed - the people were discouraged.

I don’t know about you, but when I turn on the news & I see the shape of my country - it’s discouraging.

When I go to Walmart & I see the things I see there - it’s discouraging.

When I see Christians yoking up with an ungodly world - it’s discouraging.

When I see Christians displaying so little care for the things of God - it’s discouraging.

Church I know that it gets discouraging. We were just talking about whether or not we’ll see revival in America. Church I want you to know that we CAN! But revival is a CHOICE, it’s not a mystical force. God gave us instruction on how to have a national revival: 2Chr. 7:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

I know it can get discouraging - but what we need to make sure that we’re doing is OUR PART. We can expect nothing if we’re not doing our part - but we can expect ANYTHING IF WE ARE!

They were Distant, Disarmed & Discouraged.

Now that we see the Spiritual / Societal Condition, next let’s look at A Servant’s Unction

II. A Servant’s Unction

His Anonymity

Shamgar had no name or reputation

This wasn’t Solomon, who was the son of the great David, or Isaac or Joseph – this was Shamgar, son of Anath: a virtual nobody in the eyes of history. All throughout Scripture, God used men of no reputation to accomplish great things for Him!

Who was Peter, Matthew, James & John? Who was Moses or Abraham? These men didn’t have pedigree, most didn’t have a stellar education – but God USED THEM FOR MIGHTY THINGS!

You may not have any pedigree to speak of, but God can still use you to do great and mighty things - just as He used Shamgar to deliver the COI.

His Anonymity

His Attitude

He Demonstrated Confidence:

Confidence in His Ability and His Instrument

Different people are proficient w/ different tools.

Some can sing, some build, some finance. God has given each Christian a certain set of tools for them to work with.

Ministries I want to see the church in:

Soul Winning / Visitation

Discipleship program

Van / Bus

Nursing Home

Prison / Correctional Centers

Website

Music / Choir / Special

CD / Radio

But there are some tools that every Christian ought to have in their toolbox:

A Testimony

A Telling (of the story)

Confidence In His God

Before Shamgar’s time Moses addressed the Children of Israel

Deuteronomy 31:1-6 And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel. And he said unto them, I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: also the LORD hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan. The LORD thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them: and Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the LORD hath said. And the LORD shall do unto them as he did to Sihon and to Og, kings of the Amorites, and unto the land of them, whom he destroyed. And the LORD shall give them up before your face, that ye may do unto them according unto all the commandments which I have commanded you. Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

It doesn’t say, but I would suspect that Shamgar was familiar with this. Shamgar could rely on a God that promised to be with him!

Church – God’s promised you this same thing. You can have confidence in Him!

His Action

Was Evident

You didn’t have to look far to see that Shamgar stood for something. You didn’t need to hire a private investigator to see if Shamgar did something with his life for the cause of His God.

Church when you walk by faith & not by sight as Shamgar did, your contribution to the Cause of Christ will be Evident!

His Contribution was Evident

Made an Impact

He delivered Israel.

His contribution was not only evident, but it made an impact.

I began thinking about mainly college kids, and read that apx. 66% of kids ages 18-22 stop attending church. “Cited as the top reasons for dropping out, most young adults said they simply wanted a break from church. Others stated moving away to college caused them to stop attending. The third and fourth reasons given were work responsibilities and simply being too busy.”

So many people are trying to ‘make something of themselves’ trying to make a mark on the world… when in fact, the ONLY MEANINGFUL WAY TO MAKE AN IMPACT IS THROUGH CHRIST – ANYTHING ELSE HOLDS TEMPORAL MEANING, BUT WHAT YOU DO FOR CHRIST IS ETERNAL!

A Servant’s Actions were one of Anonymity, Attitude & Action

Now that we see the Spiritual / Societal Condition, and A Servant’s Unction. Lastly, we’ll look at a Supernatural Intervention

III. A Supernatural Intervention

There’s many things that we can see where God simply had His hand on Shamgar.

This was not an instance of where Shamgar went out and silently / stealthily killed these 600 Philistines. There’s no way to conceal an 8-10’ ox goad. This deliverance was Supernatural. Consider these proofs:

God Gave Him Strength

We really have no idea how large Shamgar was – but one thing that I know: No matter who you are, there’s always someone stronger. To suspect that Shamgar was physically greater than all 600 that he encountered would be far-fetched –

BUT if that’s not enough, consider that God Sustained Him

God Sustained Him

Can you imagine fighting 600 men? Ill. The story of when Brian & I met & wrestled for the first time. (1 minute seemed like 1 hour)

God Sustained Him

God Gave Him Success

Finally God gave Shamgar the victory.

Church – if you submit yourself unto the Lord, He’ll:

Give YOU Strength

Sustain You

Give You Success

Conclusion

Shamgar was a man of no reputation – he didn’t have much to work with, but he impacted a multitude! He made a difference! How about you? What will you do with what you’ve got?