2020-06-28 Judges 6

Judges 6:11–16 CSB

11 The angel of the Lord came, and he sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. 12 Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “The Lord is with you, valiant warrior.” 13 Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about? They said, ‘Hasn’t the Lord brought us out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.” 14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the grasp of Midian. I am sending you!” 15 He said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s family.” 16 “But I will be with you,” the Lord said to him. “You will strike Midian down as if it were one man.”

Introduction: threshing wheat in a winepress

I. Gideon’s 1st excuse: Where is God today?

Judges 6:12–14 CSB

12 Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “The Lord is with you, valiant warrior.” 13 Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about? They said, ‘Hasn’t the Lord brought us out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.” 14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the grasp of Midian. I am sending you!”

A. Do not become blind to what God is doing today because your are fixated on what he did yesterday.

Judges 6:13 CSB

13 Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about? They said, ‘Hasn’t the Lord brought us out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.”

Illus: We as people tend to romanticize the past. We look at the days behind us and say, oh that we might bring back america or the church from 40-50 years ago.

When I was in seminary I heard the same things… we need to get the church back to the way it was at the beginning. I always laughed thinking… have you read the book of 1 Corinthians? The early church was a mess! That is why we have all the letters of Paul.

It is important to look back to how God has worked in the past, while not romanticizing it.

We look back to see the hand of God at work as evidence of God’s faithfulness. We look back to say, yes God is at work in the world.

The problem is not in looking back, but in refusing to look forward as well.

We can so idealize the past that we refuse to see how God will work in the future.

I think the old hymn communicates it well, Oh God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come.

Gideon so idealized God’s work in the past that he didn’t see God speaking directly to him about what he would do.

The Bible never tells us to forget the past, but encourages us to let the past point our eyes to Jesus and his plan for us today.

Hebrews 12:1–2 CSB

1 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

B. God’s response is follow me and see what I will do.

Judges 6:14 CSB

14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the grasp of Midian. I am sending you!”

Illus: God does an interesting thing when Gideon makes excuses… he doesn’t answer the excuse, but instead says how he will work.

Gideon says… why don’t you work like you used to, God says I am sending you.

In other words, God did not justify Gideon’s excuse, but told Gideon to open his eyes to how he was going to work.

I am going to challenge you here. Will you open your eyes today to see the work God is ready to do?

What are your eyes on that is keeping you from following God? What are you distracted by that is keeping you from focusing on God?

Yes, Gideon tried to use the past, but there are any number of other distractions that will keep you from seeing God’s future.

Open your eyes, God is ready to work.

John 4:35–36 CSB

35 “Don’t you say, ‘There are still four more months, and then comes the harvest’? Listen to what I’m telling you: Open your eyes and look at the fields, because they are ready for harvest. 36 The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.

II. Gideon’s 2nd excuse: I’m too weak.

Judges 6:15–16 CSB

15 He said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s family.” 16 “But I will be with you,” the Lord said to him. “You will strike Midian down as if it were one man.”

A. It is very easy to find excuses. Here is the truth, you will never be good enough to be used by God.

Judges 6:15 CSB

15 He said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s family.”

Illus: Isn’t it uplifting to come to church and hear that you just are not good enough to be used by God.

Gideon said, I don’t come from a good pedigree, and I’m the dregs of my family.

But listen closer to what he said… how can God work when I’m the best he’s got.

Gideon tried to say God was limited by himself. In other words, God could only do what Gideon could do.

God is not limited by you, but instead works through our limits to show that it wasn't us all along.

Moses tried to pull the same excuse. Sometimes God needs to remind us that he is not limited by us.

Exodus 4:10–11 CSB

10 But Moses replied to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent—either in the past or recently or since you have been speaking to your servant—because my mouth and my tongue are sluggish.” 11 The Lord said to him, “Who placed a mouth on humans? Who makes a person mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

B. Your hope is not in who you are, but instead in who God is.

Judges 6:15–16 CSB

15 He said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s family.” 16 “But I will be with you,” the Lord said to him. “You will strike Midian down as if it were one man.”

Illus: We can make all kinds of excuses about why God can’t use us.

You might say, my past, my ability to speak, my family. I don’t know. Truthfully, excuses are pretty easy to make up.

When we don’t truly want to trust and obey God we can think of any number of reasons.

God’s answer to Gideon had nothing to to with Gideon. God’s answer to Gideon was, it is all about what I will do.

We make excuses because we think we are more important than we realy are.

Humility, genuine biblical humility, realized that when God works through you, it has nothing to do with you.

God is the one who works.

2 Corinthians 12:9–10 CSB

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. 10 So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

III. What’s your excuse?

Judges 6:12 CSB

12 Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “The Lord is with you, valiant warrior.”

A. What is keeping you for trusting, following, and being used by God?

Illus: I believe the biggest obstical to being used by God is that we are too caught up with ourselves.

Gideon was too distracted by the past and by who he was to see the possibility of being used by God.

God opened his eyes to realize that he was ready to work today through an undeserving servant.

And that is who we are. Undeserving people.

We are undeserving of the grace given to us by Christ.

We are undeserving of being called to God’s great plan.

Today, will you take the step of faith, believing that God is working in our world right now, and ready to work through you?

Proverbs 3:5–6 CSB

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.