Clean Up Your Own House First

Clean Up Your Own House First

INTRODUCTION

I remember as a child, every fall and spring, it was clean up time. We did a deep cleaning of the entire house and even as a young man raising my own family it was the same thing twice a year, clean the house form top to bottom. Put away the winter cloth and take out the summer wear. Then put away the summer wear and out comes the heavier winter cloths.

We would clean up our own house, the one we lived in.

Let me stop for a moment. I'm talking about cleaning our homes, but

We have to remember that our homes come in three forms. First is the physical structure that we pay rent or mortgages on. The second home that we all have is our bodies. And the third home is our spiritual home.

Thing is that all three need to be cleaned on a regular bases

The title for our message today is "Clean Up Your Own House First"

Our Scripture is taken from Judges 6:25-26

Reading from the New American Standard version of the Sacred Scrolls:

Judges 6:25–26 NASB95

25 Now on the same night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it; 26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.”

PRAY

Now, You may already know this, but it is not easy, to stand up and be counted as a believer. Perhaps it’s more difficult in some situations than others. It may not be too difficult when you are with Christian friends; but when you are on your own at work or at school or college – perhaps even sometimes at home – that’s when the going gets tough.

That’s why, this morning, I want to address this question by, taking a little journey back time to visit

an Old Testament prophet by the name of Gideon.

It is my hope that the things we see and hear as we travel along our journey will help us to understand how God gives power to His Children for everyday living.

GIDEON’S PROTEST

Our journey takes us back a couple, ok a few thousand years to events recorded in the book of Judges. The main theme of this book is that of failure through compromise. The people of Israel simply were not living up to their calling as the people of God. Again and again they wandered away from God and worshipped idols.

God would have been just if he had left his people alone to die in their sin – but he didn't. Instead, he raised up rulers called Judges – hence the title of this book. These Judges were called by God to deliver his people from their enemies, and call them back to the worship and service of the one true and living God.

Gideon was one such leader. He would become a mighty warrior. But that was certainly not how he saw himself when God called him. But before we come to his story let’s paint in a little more of the background.

Judges chapter 6 opens with the often repeated words:

Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord,

and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. After suffering for a while they cried to the Lord in the midst of their oppression. Does that sound familiar to you? Having first sent them a prophet to rebuke them, the Lord then called Gideon to deliver them from the hands of their persecutors.

But how did Gideon react to this call? Did he immediately obey and take up his task? No way. He protested – although it has to be said that

his protest was one of disbelief rather more than disobedience.

Look at Judges 6: 11-15.

Judges 6:11–15 NASB95

11 Then the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.” 13 Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 The Lord looked at him and said, “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” 15 He said to Him, “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”

This encounter with the angel of the Lord caused Gideon all sorts of problems. First, he wanted to know why they had experienced seven years of tragedy, if the Lord was with them? The answer, of course, was that they had suffered because of their sin. Even so, it was because of their suffering that they had turned again to the Lord, seeking his face in prayer and repentance.

But Gideon wasn't sure that he was the one for the job God was purposing. And that accounts for his further protest: (Judges 6:15) “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” “Surely”, he was saying, “God. Lets be serious here, You can’t want me as the leader”. As he looked at himself and his family the idea that he was, or ever would be, a mighty warrior seemed laughable.

Gideon came from a poor family and he was the youngest member of it. Actually, he wasn’t that young: he was probably about forty years old at this time but you can hear him say: “Surely, Lord, you don’t mean me”. But God did mean him. What is more, God promised that Israel’s enemies would be defeated through his leadership at this time.

Listen to what God told him in verse 14: “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

There was no mistake. God had called him. And God understood his felt sense of weakness and had already made provision for it. Gideon was to go in the strength that he already had. We have to remember that God prepares us for our mission, prior to sending us anywhere.

Of course, we may well understand Gideon’s protest. Yet, his call is clear and the principle on which he should proceed is set out in those few words: “Go in the strength you have”.

You have enough strength to take the next step. So take it!

We too should take these words to heart. Whatever challenges we face, God is saying that we already have enough strength to take the next step. So, “Go in the strength you have”.

But before Gideon could accept the mission that God had prepared him for, he had some work to do himself. He had to clean up his own house, just as we all do.

Let's look at verses 25 and 26 …

Judges 6:25–26 NASB95

25 Now on the same night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it; 26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.”

Gideon's home needed to be cleaned. Just like our’s, he was allowing idols to that up residence in his home.

Turn with me to Exodus Charter 20, reading the first five verses: here is where we find God’s first commandment to His followers

Exodus 20:1–5 NASB95

1 Then God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,

There is no doubt in my mind what he is saying here.

Idols, you should not make them, have them or worship them.

Idols

Materialism, Greed,

Relationship, Sports,

Careers, Binge watching,

Shopping, Eating

Any thing that distracts us from worshipping our Father, is an idol.

I believe that in Judges 6: 25-26, God is telling Gideon, I can't use you until you clean up your own house then I can use you to clean up the nation. What idols do you need to get rid of? There are idols that have been in our lives for so long that we don't even recognize them as idols.

We just look at them as things but they have become a distraction, taking away from the time we spend with God.

Francis de Sales once wrote these words ....

Take courage, and turn your troubles, which are without remedy, into material for spiritual progress. Often turn to our Lord, who is watching you, poor frail little being as you are, amid your labors and distractions.

Francis de Sales

John 10:10 tells us that satan has only on job and that is to stop us from receiving all the promises of the Father.

John 10:10 NASB95

10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

One of his favorite tools in his arsenal is DISTRACTION.

We can stop the devil in his tracks by cleaning our own homes. When we clean the structure we live in, we should also clean our bodies and I’m not only talking about good hygiene, I’m talking about eating right, exercising, paying attention to the instructions our doctors give us and that includes seeing the doctor.

And finally cleaning our spiritual homes. Are to building on your relationship with our Father? Are you studying His Word? Are you praying and listening to His still small voice? Are you?

Closing

As we come into this season of Thanksgiving, let’s begin our celebration by Cleaning our own homes.

PRAY

First is the physical structure that we pay rent or mortgages on. The second home that we all have is our bodies. And the third home is our spiritual home.