Untitled Sermon (6)

SCRIPTURE READING

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SERMON

INTRO

Some years ago, when my kids were much younger

my wife and I brought the kids for an outing to east coast park.

As far as I can recall, it was the first time they were so close to the sea.

And the kids were so excited when they saw the expanse of sand.

As soon as we reached the sand, <click> 

we started building sandcastles.

Because the sand was dry, we needed to get water from the sea to dampen the sand to make it easier to build.

Alethea eagerly said she want to get water from the sea!

So she took her small pail, 

and rushed toward the water.

But as soon as she saw a rather big wave coming at her, 

she suddenly became afraid. 

And came running toward me, grabbing both my legs.

I tried to assure her, don’t be afraid, I’m right behind you.

I tried all sorts of ways to assure her. But it didn’t work.

Then I remembered that one of her favourite stories in her picture bible <click> 

was the account of Jesus and His disciples being caught in a storm.

where Jesus stilled the wind and the waves.

So I looked at Alethea, who was still afraid and clinging to me, 

and asked her, 

“What did Jesus tell the wind and the waves?”

She quickly replied, “be quiet”.

“What did Jesus say to His disciples?”

Don’t be afraid.

I didn’t say a word more.

She looked straight ahead at the shore. 

With pail in one hand, and courage in her heart

she slowly walked forward across the sand.

She scooped some water. And ran right back to me, 

because another wave was coming quickly.

When she was some distance off, <click> 

she sat on the shore, 

mighty pleased with what she could do, as you see in this picture.

Why did I share this story?

Our God is a God Who gives us courage that no human being can give us.

When papa said, don’t be afraid, it didn’t work.

When papa said Jesus said, don’t be afraid, she went forward.

Our God is a God Who gives us courage. 

Because at some point in our lives, we will need courage.

Courage to be faithful when we are pressured to compromise our faith

Courage to be unashamed of Jesus in front of our friends who don’t know or even reject Jesus

Courage to face the future in a new season

Courage to take on new responsibilities, heavier responsibilities in life

Courage to be vulnerable with those close to you.

We all need courage to live as a disciple of Christ.

Many of us may think that the opposite of courage is fear.

When I google what is the antonym for courage, the first result is not fear. It’s cowardice.

Fear can lead to courage or cowardice.

Fear can lead us to make bad decisions.

But fear can also lead to courage

The darkest place of fear is where the the light of courage can shine brightest.

The moments when you can be truly courageous, 

are the moments when you are deeply fearful. 

Just like how my daughter was deeply fearful of approaching the waves, she courageously moved forward, not because she was no longer fearful, but despite her continued fear.

If you have no fear, you have no need for courage. 

Today we look at the story of Gideon, one of the 12 Judges of Israel. 

And Gideon was living in fear.

When the Bible first introduces Gideon to us, he is doing something strange

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He is beating wheat in a winepress. 

A winepress is a pit where you would process grapes and leave them to ferment to become wine. 

It is strange,

because you usually beat wheat in the open, so that the wind can carry away the unwanted parts of the wheat. The rest you can use to make flour for bread.

So why was Gideon beating wheat in a winepress pit? 

because he was fearful of the Midianites, and hiding from them. (6:11)

The Midianites would come and destroy the Israelites’ crops, 

rob them of their belongings.

So much so that the Israelites could no longer live in their homes.

They had to make caves in mountains to hide from the Midianites.

The context of Judges 6 is that

Israel was living in fear.

Gideon was living in fear.

Maybe some of us here are facing some fears.

And we feel paralysed.

You wish that you had courage to face what’s in front of you.

But you can’t find it within yourself.

That shouldn’t be surprising.

Because we will never find the courage we need within ourselves.

It has to come from somewhere or someone else.

Gideon was unable to find courage within himself. It was the Lord Who came and gave Gideon and his people what they did not have.

Today I want to share 3 reflections from Gideon’s life about God-given courage.

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1. Courage and calling are often birthed in weakness and fear 

If we were to just read the 1st 15 verses of chapter 6, we would think that Gideon was all weak and fearful.

And he was.

So it seems ironic <click> that the first thing the angel of the Lord says to Gideon,

 in v12, is: “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valour.”

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13And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ 

But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 

And the Lord calls Gideon mighty a second time:

14 And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 

And Gideon said in reply:

15 ..“Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” 

Why does God begin his conversation with Gideon by calling him mighty twice, when Gideon was clearly not feeling like that at all?

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God uses those who fully acknowledge their weaknesses, fears, and need for Him.

When you are fully conscious of your own weakness, 

and the difficulties of the situation, 

and you realise your need for GOD,

that is when the Lord can use you. 

The person who relies on his own strength, her own achievements, his own capabilities, will not rely on the Lord’s grace, 

God works out His purpose in those who (know) they are truly helpless without Him.

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God uses those who pray “have mercy on me, a sinner”, rather than those who pray “I thank God that I’m not like those sinners and lawbreakers”

God's strength shines through our weaknesses, just as it did with Gideon

If you are facing fears in your life, and you turn to Him, that is when He can use you.

If you are facing fears in your life, if you are feeling weak, know that the Lord calls us to courage not when we are strong, but when we are weak.

How does He give us courage?

How did He give Gideon courage?

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By saying to Gideon in v16.. “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” 

When Gideon said that he was the least in his father’s house, 

God didn’t say, “No no, you are greater than that!”

God didn’t say, “I have faith in you”

God said, “I will be with you”

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God wasn’t building Gideon’s self-confidence. 

He was building Gideon’s God-confidence,

by assuring Gideon that “I will be with you”.

The Christian life is not about building our self-confidence. It is about building our God-confidence.

Self confidence says, “I can do it, I’ve got this”

God confidence says, “God is with me, I can do it with His help”.

In the face of fear, do we tell ourselves: “I have to be strong”, 

or do we tell ourselves, “God is strong”.

Where do we find our confidence and courage? 

Is it in our capabilities, is it in our circumstances, 

or is it in God’s presence?

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God confidence comes not when we have overcome all our fears, but in the midst of our fears.

Gideon was clearly still fearful, even when he said yes to God.

When Gideon destroyed the idol in his father’s house, he did so at night because he was still fearful of others catching him.

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Godly courage is not about overcoming our fears, but moving in obedience despite our fears knowing that God is with us when we obey Him.

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See our fears not as obstacles, but as opportunities for the Lord to use us when we move in obedience to Him

Because Courage is often birthed in weakness and fear

2nd point we can learn from Gideon’s life:

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2. Courage & Revival Begin within our hearts 

God’s call to Gideon in 6:14 was to save Israel from the Midianites. 

But His first instruction was to fight a more important battle first.

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25 That night the Lord said to (Gideon), “Take your father’s bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it 

26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.” 

God’s first instruction to Gideon was not to craft strategies to fight the Midianites. 

His first instruction to Gideon was to cut down the altar of Baal.

Baal was the Canaanite god associated with fertility and the sun. 

People would pray to this god, hoping they would be blessed with children and a good harvest, 2 very important aspects of life back then. If there were the 5Cs in ancient Israel, 2 of them would be children and crops.

Why does God instruct Gideon to cut down Baal’s altar, when his call was to fight the Midianites? <click>

Because God is more concerned with the altar of Gideon’s heart, than the actions of his hands.

Before Gideon could fight physical battles out there, 

Gideon had to win the battles within his heart first.

Because God is more concerned about his inner motivations, than his outward actions

The Israelites were not worshipping Baal in place of God. 

They were worshipping Baal in addition to God.

Because their motivation was to live for themselves.

When things were going well, they forgot the Lord, they worshipped Baal to get children and crops.

When things were going badly, they cried out to the Lord. 

This is the vicious cycle in Judges. People were doing what was right in their own eyes. living for themselves.

But We may think, “we don’t have idols today, do we?”

Baal is so remote to us today.

But Baal can take other forms today.

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Because any good thing (or person) can become our ‘Baal’ if we trust in them to give us ultimate happiness.

An idol is what or who we trust in to make us happy.

We may trust God with our finances. But deep down, do we actually trust in a certain minimum salary level we think we must have to be happy?

We may trust God in our relationship. But deep down, do we actually trust in having a certain relationship with a certain kind of person, we think we must have to be happy?

We may trust God with our future. But deep down, do we actually trust in having certain kind of grades, a certain course of study, a certain kind of job, a certain kind of retirement, we think we must have to be happy?

Nothing wrong with any of these aspirations. 

But Any good thing (or person) can become our ‘Baal’ if we trust in them to give us ultimate happiness.

Or to put it another way, if these things were taken away from us, can we still be happy?

If the answer is no, then we will struggle in our faith, we will struggle to be courageous, because our heart will be torn between two masters.

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Courage & Revival begin when we are honest about our Baals, and we are willing to pull them down.

The most crucial battles that God calls us to, are not against the evil in society, but the evil within our hearts. The idols within our hearts  

God is saying, that if He wants to use us for the battles around us, we have to face the battles within us first.

God is more concerned about the altars of our hearts, than the actions of our hands. 

What is on the altar of our hearts will guide the actions of our hands.

God is more concerned about why we serve, rather than the fact that we serve.

Who is on the altar of our hearts?

Who is the determining factor in our decisions?

Courage & Revival begin within our hearts

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3. Courage & Success can Breed Pride

I think the reason why God likes to call people who are weak and fearful, 

is Because if He called people who were strong and fearless, it would be very easy for us to say, “my strength and capability brought me this success”

That’s why when Gideon assembled his army to fight the Midianites,<click>

the Lord said to Gideon in chapter 7:2, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ 

So the Lord reduced the size of Gideon’s army from 22,000 people to 300.

Why? So that when victory comes, it will be very clear that it was the Lord Who brought victory, not Gideon, not the people.  

Yet pride is so dangerously powerful in the human heart, that Gideon still fell into its clutches.

When the Lord gave the Israelites victory over the Midianites, <click>

this was what the Israelites said to Gideon

Judges 8

22 ..“Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” 23 Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.” 

Sounds like Gideon’s heart was in the right place.

But then he goes on to say to the people:

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24 .. “Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil.” (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) 25 And they answered, “We will willingly give them.” And they spread a cloak, and every man threw in it the earrings of his spoil. 26 And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels[b] of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels. 27 And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family. 

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An ephod was a garment worn only by the high priest.

The ephod was carefully crafted, it carried various gem stones which represented the tribes of Israel.

They symbolise how the high priest brought God’s presence to the people, and how he brought the people to God in prayer,  

Yet something meant to help the people worship the Lord, was turned into an object of worship.

All because of Gideon’s pride at his success.

Pride is subtle and dangerous. 

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Proverbs 16:18 - Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Gideon began with spiritual boldness. He ended with personal pride. 

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The Lord knows that success can breed pride, when he says in

Deuteronomy. 8:17 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

C S Lewis - “Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good - and better than someone else - I think we may be sure that we are being acted on by the devil, not by God. The real test of being in the presence of God is, that you either forget about yourself altogether, or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether.”

James 4:6 “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”.

C S Lewis: “A proud person is always looking down on things and people; & of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see (Someone) that is above you”

Stay grateful to the Lord when He gives you courage and success in life  

Jeremiah 9:23-24 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

RECAP

Courage and calling are often birthed in weakness and fear

See our fears not as obstacles, but as opportunities for the Lord to use us when we move in obedience to Him

2. Courage & Revival Begin within our hearts 

Be honest about the Baals in our hearts, and be willing to pull them down

3. Courage & Success can Breed Pride

Stay grateful to the Lord when He gives you courage and success in life  

If I ended here, this may end up as a moralistic sermon. Do this, don’t do this. Be courageous, don’t be a coward.

But that’s not the heart of this message.

COURAGE ultimately comes from knowing CHRIST our GREATER DELIVERER

The reason we can be courageous is because Gideon is not the hero of this story. Ultimately, the Lord is the hero of this story. 

For He provided His people with a deliverer in Gideon, even when they disobeyed Him.

Gideon didn’t finish well. and that points us to our need for a greater Judge.

A greater deliverer. A greater Saviour.

Our Lord Jesus Christ.

When Gideon faced rejection from the people of Succoth and Penuel, he took revenge on them by killing them. (This is the TLDR version of Judges 8:1-21)

When Jesus Christ faced rejection from the people He came to save, he took pity on them by praying “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do”.

In his mission, Gideon cried out “for the Lord AND for Gideon”

In His mission, Jesus did all He did “for the Father”, not for Himself.

Christ gives us a courage that no one else can give us.

So let’s fix our eyes on Him

If we ever have courage that overcomes our fears, it points to our ultimate need for a Saviour