Gideon #2

Introduction

Good morning church,

Well we are continuing our series in Judges this morning. I’m here with the last sermon on Gideon. Gideon’s story has been quite a unique one.

A really quick recap from last week. We learned that Gideon was a most unassuming leader. He wasn’t the guy that anyone was going to ask to lead a group of people into battle and out of the predicament that the Israelites found themselves in. But we learned and know that God calls people just like this into action for his kingdom. God uses broken and messed up people to change the world. I truly believe that this is so that we would recognize that it’s God at work and not anything that that person has done.

And we saw Gideon ask questions of God, which I think is absolutely ok. If there is anyone who can take our questions, doubts, frustrations, it’s God. And not only can he take it, I think that he wants it. He wants us to go to him with whatever is on our hearts and minds. God wants to be there for us, to guide us through whatever it is.

So this week we’re going to look at the rest of his story. We’re kind of going to do a fly through of the things that Gideon gets up to and I think in the rest of this story there are a bunch of things that God can use to encourage us when we are faced in similar situations.

We pick up the story at the end of Judges 6.

Gideon’s obedience in the face of those around him.

Let’s read together Judges 6:25-27, “25 That night the Lord said to Gideon, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one that is seven years old. Pull down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole standing beside it. 26 Then build an altar to the Lord your God here on this hilltop sanctuary, laying the stones carefully. Sacrifice the bull as a burnt offering on the altar, using as fuel the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down.”

27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord had commanded. But he did it at night because he was afraid of the other members of his father’s household and the people of the town.”

Gideon is given this command to destroy the alter of Baal and to build one for his Lord. And we see that Gideon was obedient. If you remember from last week the people of Israel had fallen back into this trap of doing evil in the eyes of God and following the God’s of the people who lived among them. They were pretty easily influenced. And so we see our brave warrior Gideon do as God had instructed. And because he’s so brave he does this work at night, because he was afraid of his family and the people in his town.

As we read the rest of this chapter we’ll find out that the people in the town actually finds out pretty quickly that it was Gideon. I suspect that one of the 10 servants who helped him with this probably spilled the beans. We see Gideon’s fear actually take place. The people in town wanted to kill him for what he did. And we read in verse 29 that Gideon’s earthly father actually stood up for him after the town asked him to hand over his son. And his statement is pretty profound, he says in verse 31, “31 But Joash shouted to the mob that confronted him, “Why are you defending Baal? Will you argue his case? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If Baal truly is a god, let him defend himself and destroy the one who broke down his altar!”

Let’s stop here just a second, cause I think there’s a few things that stand out for us.

1. When we are at work for God its pretty evident to those around us that he’s at work in our lives. We’ve heard this before that we become different people when we accept God into our lives and hearts. Our outlook on life and our demeanours change and are different. 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us, “17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” We are new changed people. And you know what people notice that. They notice that our rhythms change. How we might respond to situations might change.

And don’t let that get you down. There are times where we slip up. We still have a propensity to sin, but not we tend to recognize it and we feel bad about it. That is another sign of a changed life.

When you are recognized for the good things that you’ve done. Even if its not well received, I want to encourage you that that’s a good thing. When people around notice the good of you taking a stand for Christ that is amazing. Because we know that they are seeing Christs work through us. Cause there are times where we will take flack for our faith. For the stands that we take. Paul reminds Timothy of this is 2 Timothy 3:12 when he says, “12 Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” It’s a guarantee for us. When we are working counter to the world around us we will be at odds with the world. But because of our trust and hope in God we can be confident that God is using that work for good in the world.

2. The second thing that stands out is Joash’s response to the folks looking for his son. And I love the image of Gideon’s earthy father standing up for him alongside his heavenly father. But I really want to look at his response to Baal. He tells the people who want kill Gideon that they should let Baal defend himself. If he is a truly a god then he can fight his battles. They’ve likely heard stories of the God of Israel stepping up in incredible ways to save his people and their response makes you think that they’ve never seen Baal show up or do anything in the lives of these people.

And I think the interesting part of this is that there are a lot of Baal’s that are placed in our lives. Many different things that we prop up like that we give reverence like a god. Maybe it’s a career, maybe it’s a bank account, maybe it’s the stuff we’ve hoarded, maybe it’s a reputation, whatever it is we treat it with undue reverence and honour. But I truly think we should treat it in the same way as Joash. Ask ourselves why we are defending, giving so much honour and putting so much emphasis on these things. You see these things are here today, gone tomorrow. We know we can’t take them with us when we die. Yet we treat them like we can. Let us remember that what God has in store for us is so much better. The life and perfection that he has prepared for us is so much better. Let us seek after that.

Gideon and the warriors

In Chapter 7 of Judges we get into the beginning of the battle with the Midianites. Let’s read together the beginning of all of this.

Judges 7:1-6 tells us, “So Jerub-baal (that is, Gideon) and his army got up early and went as far as the spring of Harod. The armies of Midian were camped north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. 2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength. 3 Therefore, tell the people, ‘Whoever is timid or afraid may leave this mountain* and go home.’ ” So 22,000 of them went home, leaving only 10,000 who were willing to fight. 4 But the Lord told Gideon, “There are still too many! Bring them down to the spring, and I will test them to determine who will go with you and who will not.” 5 When Gideon took his warriors down to the water, the Lord told him, “Divide the men into two groups. In one group put all those who cup water in their hands and lap it up with their tongues like dogs. In the other group put all those who kneel down and drink with their mouths in the stream.” 6 Only 300 of the men drank from their hands. All the others got down on their knees and drank with their mouths in the stream.”

Pretty incredible way to whittle down the number of soldiers isn't it?

What I think is even more incredible is just the thought that God knows people, he knows us. That is something that I think we don’t always give enough credit to. That God knows us intimately, he knows our thoughts, he knows what will happen to us. Nothing is a surprise to God.

In our story God knew that if the full strength Israelite army were to defeat the Midianties then they would ascribe that win to themselves. They’d say that because of their great fighting abilities they were able to defeat their enemies. Even though up until this point it wasn’t until God sent them Gideon that they had even gotten that far. And so God said in order for them to recognize that they can’t do anything without Him he’s going to make it glaringly obvious that it was only with God’s help that they defeated the Midianites. So God takes them from 22,000 to 10,000 to 300.

And I think that’s important. God sees our hearts. He sees our intentions. No matter how much we hide from those around us God sees. And the reason I think that’s important is because it means that we can be real with God. As much as we might want to fake it, and maybe as much as we might fake it, we don’t need to do that with God.

I think sometimes, and I know it for myself, I tend to have my phone voice when I interact with God. You know what I mean by phone voice right? That voice that we put on when we are on the phone with people. We tend to talk a little different when we are on the phone with someone than when we are talking face to face. We’re maybe a little gentler, a little sweeter when we are using our phone voice.

I feel like at some point in my life I was taught to pray and talk to God in a way that was proper and not always real. But I’ve learned that God wants our real self. He wants us to come to him as we are. He already sees us when we are at our worst, so let’s just be real. And I think when we can get to that point that we can have some incredible fellowship with God. You know what that model of realness between us and God was modelled by Jesus. We touched on it quickly last week. But we see in Jesus’ life, him being real with God. We see him going away from others and praying, simply talking with his father. Billy Graham sums this idea up best when he says, “Remember: He WANTS your fellowship, and He has done everything possible to make it a reality. He has forgiven your sins, at the cost of His own dear Son. He has given you His Word, and the priceless privilege of prayer and worship.” God wants us folks. He wants us to come to him, to be real to him. To take whatever is going on in our hearts and minds to him.

Gideon’s availability

As we continue with Gideon’s story we learn that God used these 300 men to do the impossible. To defeat the Midianite army. In the first part of the battle these 300 men defeated 120,000 men. That is incredible isn’t it. It sounds impossible. But that’s the thing. The impossible is always possible with God. Whenever we think that no way that can’t happen God has a way of making that happen.

As I come up on 2 whole years of working at the church I look back 3 years ago when I was thinking about where I would do my internship. And if you would have told me then that Bethany and I would be moving across the world to Canada to Sicamous I would have told you that would be impossible. But as I’ve learned in all of this that God makes the things that you least expect possible. And in those moments, which have their ups and downs, I can tell you that God continues to show up. And a big lesson that I’ve learned in all of this is to just be available and open to whatever God has in store.

Jesus reminds us in Mark 10:27, he says, “27 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.”

Remember God called Gideon who himself said really me? A little guy who was scared and afraid and knew that on his own he couldn’t do a great deal against trained fighters. God used him to lead 300 men to defeat a massive army. Wow. This is another attribute of God that I think we can’t talk about enough. That he uses people like us. David Platt says this, “God actually delights in exalting our inability. He intentionally puts his people in situations where they come face to face with their need for him.”

As we finish our time with Gideon in Judges chapter 8. Gideon and the 300 men of Israel continuing to follow God’s commands and they defeat the Midianite army. God leads them through this. I’d encourage you to take a read through these 3 chapters. There’s a bunch more of the story thats just amazing.

I want to end though with just reading the last few verses of Judges 8 from verses 28 to 35, “28 That is the story of how the people of Israel defeated Midian, which never recovered. Throughout the rest of Gideon’s lifetime—about forty years—there was peace in the land.

29 Then Gideon son of Joash returned home. 30 He had seventy sons born to him, for he had many wives. 31 He also had a concubine in Shechem, who gave birth to a son, whom he named Abimelech. 32 Gideon died when he was very old, and he was buried in the grave of his father, Joash, at Ophrah in the land of the clan of Abiezer.

33 As soon as Gideon died, the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping the images of Baal, making Baal-berith their god. 34 They forgot the Lord their God, who had rescued them from all their enemies surrounding them. 35 Nor did they show any loyalty to the family of Jerub-baal (that is, Gideon), despite all the good he had done for Israel.”

We see that the Israelites during Gideon’s life remained plugged into their faith and as soon as Gideon died they returned to their old lifestyles. This for me is an amazing reminder for us to stay grounded in our faith.

Something earth shattering like Covid-19 can rock our world and try to detach us from our faith. It can deter us from meeting regularly together. But the reminder that we get from the life of the people of Israel is to not allow these things to pull us back into our old lifestyle.

I love that now in 2020 that in the midst of this pandemic that we’re dealing with that it doesn’t stop the church from being the church. We can worship together still over the internet. We can call one another and have fellowship that way. We can safely meet together in our life groups. We can encourage one another through text message. There are many ways that we can remain in community together. And the reality is that this isn’t going to be forever. We will be able to meet together again when we get through this there’s not doubt about that. But in the mean time the encouragement is to not disconnect from our saviour. Remain faithful and allow God to continue to work in your life.

Let’s pray.