Do You Bring Jesus Your Leftovers?

If Jesus were coming over for dinner what would you serve him? Would you serve Him leftovers?

In judges 6 we see Gideon is met by an angel of the Lord while he is beating out wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites. So the setting is the Midianites are raiding the land of Israel, during the harvest they would come and take all the food from the Israelites. And so you see Gideon in a winepress beating wheat in order to have food that the Midianites would not find.

Story: I enjoy a good glass of wine. Especially a red wine. It’s a fascinating to think that a grape can produce such a drink. What is even more interesting is the study of how wine has been made through the ages. In Israel they would make a wine press. They way they would make it would be excavate bedrock through a system of connecting troughs big enough for several people to stand in and crush the grapes. As a matter of fact it is in one of these troughs that we see a man beating wheat in Judges 6, trying to hide his food from raiding parties that were attacking Israel and stealing their food. That’s when an angel of the Lord appeared and commissioned Gideon to a certain task. Gideon’s response is to go make God a meal, during a time when they are scrounging for food. He didn’t give God leftovers, he gave him a feast.

valor n. — exceptional or heroic courage when facing danger; especially in battle.

When you feel that all you have to give is leftovers?

What’s Wrong with Leftovers?

In one sense there is nothing wrong with leftovers, after all I eat them all the time.

Jesus is worthy of our Best. If we think our leftovers in the fridge are unworthy of Jesus, why do we think the leftover parts of our lives are worthy of Jesus?

Have you ever stopped and asked, “What is worthy of Jesus?”

Meaning, what is owed to Jesus by me because of who He is? My response to every word spoken by Jesus will reveal the worth I place on Jesus. Every time you say no to following Jesus you are saying, “Jesus, you are not worthy of my obedience!”

Ill: When we sing songs like: “You are worthy of it all...” what is that implying, what demand is that making on my life? One day a man went on a walk out in woods and while in the woods he comes across a cave, and in that cave is a gold vein, and he goes out and sells all he has in order to buy that those woods and that cave. What is it worth? Everything he had in order that he might possess those woods and that cave that contained the vein of Gold.

[Now, what if upon finding the cave the person leaves and tells everyone how much the cave is worth but never sells all of his things in order to obtain it? He just kept living with what he had, we would say he did not really agree that the cave was worth giving everything he owned. Even if he assured us that it was, his actions would not align with his statement.]

Where are you not giving Jesus your best, but leftovers?

What are the leftovers we tend to give to God?

Time

Money (God calls us to give, to tithe)

Call: Our call is to Make disciples and Evangelize

Devotion: Spiritual Disciplines (Prayer, Reading God’s Word)

Character: Display the fruit of the Spirit

Obedience (Jesus, when I get around to it i’ll really work on loving my spouse like you want, but right now I’m really busy so I can’t do the dishes.)

The goal here is not to condemn you, it is bring to the surface areas where we are not giving Jesus what He is worth in our lives, we aren’t even trying. Gideon helps us in this regard: Hearing, Giving, Accomplishing

Listen for God in the Winepress

When God comes to Gideon it is with an understanding of his potential. It is not what Gideon was at that moment, but was drawing out what Gideon was created to be, a man of courage. Gideon cannot achieve that potential by staying in the winepress, he has to get up out of the winepress. There are idols to be pulled down.

“Virtue is not the tame ‘respectability’ and ‘uprightness’ of the philistine but the enhancement of the human person in a way befitting his nature. Virtue is the…most a man can be.” (Josef Pieper, p. 99)

Giving your Best, even when you Lack

What conditions (excuses) do I put on Jesus’ worth?

For Gideon it could have been his lack, the Midianites, his cowardice, or busyness.

Accomplish the Call: One step at a time

Tear down the idols

Holy Spirit Clothing

Keep listening for God’s Instruction