(I gave this message at Pines Baptist Church, Pembroke Pines Florida on September 20, 2015. You can listen to the message online
HERE.)
As we go through
life year after year, God opens new doors placing new opportunities before us leading
us to take on new responsibilities. A young person wrestling with the question "What
does God want me to do with my life?" "Where do I go to school?"
"What should I study in preparation for that calling?"
A young
married couple about to have their first child. Excited in anticipation of the
new arrival, yet perhaps a bit apprehensive of the responsibilities, challenges
and sacrifices of becoming parents.
Perhaps
you've just started a new job. The learning curve is steep. You find the assignment
difficult, even overwhelmed with the unfamiliar. Perhaps you're a businessman, sensing
God's leading to start a new business; to venture out on your own for the first
time. Perhaps in following God's call you've accepted a ministry assignment but
struggle with doubts and a sense of inadequacy. Maybe it's a person you need to
speak with to make things right. Or the Lord has put His finger on a besetting
sin in you life.
We could
likely come up with as many different scenarios as there are people here this morning.
Maybe you're waiting to get started, or you've already taken the first step. Perhaps
you are well on your way but facing obstacles, even opposition, prompting doubts
whether or not you should even continue.
Thousands
of years ago God called a man by the name of Gideon to an assignment he felt
woefully unprepared for. And in the Biblical account recorded in the book of Judges,
we find principles that transcend time, culture and circumstances speaking to
us today in the 21st century as we face new opportunities and assignments.
Note with
me the historical setting. In a message from the book of Joshua a little over
two years ago we learned that God does His work through His people, serving in
His power, carrying out His plan.
As Joshua
lead Israel across the Jordan River into the promised land, Israel began to
take possession of the land God had promised their forefather Abraham hundreds
of years before. Under Joshua's leadership they began the daunting task of
defeating and driving out their enemies as the Lord had commanded them. Judges
2:8 records the death of Joshua. The period of the judges that follows covers
the next 300 or so year from the time of Joshua's death to the beginning of the
monarchy in the mid 11th century BC.
Under
Joshua's leadership, Israel began to conquer and take possession of the Promised
Land. But when we come to the book of Judges a very different story emerges. As
John McArthur writes, "Judges is a tragic sequel to
Joshua. In Joshua, the people were obedient to God in conquering the Land. In
Judges, they were disobedient, idolatrous, and often defeated."
Therefore John Davis notes, the
contrasting themes of the two books. The book of Joshua, "Victory Through
Faith." The book of Judges, "Failure Through Compromise." And David
Howard writes, "The theme of Judges is the downward spiral of Israel's national
and spiritual life into chaos and apostasy...." (ESV Study Bible pg. 433)
In this regard, Judges 17:6 could
well be the key verse in the book, "In those days there was no king in
Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." (ESV)
Judges 2:10-19 provides us with a
summary of this period in Israel's history.
"10 And
all that generation [the generation of Joshua] also were gathered to their
fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the
Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.
11 And the people of
Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 And they abandoned
the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of
Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were
around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. 13 They abandoned the
Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. 14 So the anger of the Lord was kindled
against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he
sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no
longer withstand their enemies. 15 Whenever
they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord
had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible
distress. 16 Then the Lord raised
up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they did not
listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to
them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked,
who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. 18 Whenever the Lord
raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from
the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to
pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. 19 But whenever the
judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going
after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any
of their practices or their stubborn ways." (ESV)
Remember God had established a
covenant with Israel through Moses at Mt. Sinai. After wandering in the desert for
forty years, Moses renewed the covenant with the people before he died Deuteronomy
29. Joshua then renewed the covenant with the people after they entered and
began to take possession of the Promised Land.
But the generations that followed
Joshua grew up oblivious to God and oblivious to what God had done for Israel in
the preceding years. This new generation lost sight of the unique identity they
had as the people of God. Verse 10
they "... did not know the Lord or the work that
he had done for Israel." Verse 12, "... they abandoned the Lord, the
God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt."
They settled in the
land and became attached to the Canaanite people. They embraced the immorality
and gods of the pagan culture around them. The book of
Judges records seven seasons of such apostasy. A sequence of four events was repeated over and over again in
these seven cycles of apostasy.
First, Israel would abandon God. They
turned from the Lord and served other gods. Two, the Lord chastised them. He brought judgment upon His people subjugating
them to their enemies. Three, Israel would cry out to the Lord for deliverance.
Four, God raised up a judge to deliver Israel from their enemy oppressors. The
title "judge" means savior or deliverer.
The issue in the book of Judges is
the repeated rejection of the Lordship of God in Israel, and His gracious response to the repeated cry for deliverance by
his wayward people.
The first judge Othniel delivered Israel
from the oppression of Mesopotamia, chapter three, followed by 40 years of
peace. Ehud then delivered Israel from the Moabites followed by 80 years of
peace. Brief mention is made of Shamgar who defeated 600 Philistines. The prophetess
and judge Deborah delivered Israel from the Canaanites, followed by 40 years of
peace. Then the cycle started all over again. Judges 6:1-4,
"1The people of
Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into
the hand of Midian seven years. 2 And
the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of
Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and
the strongholds. [In other words they were hiding in the mountains.] 3 For whenever the
Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of
the East would come up against them. 4 They
would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza,
and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey. Verse 6, And Israel was
brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help
to the Lord."
Again, Gideon's generation turned from
the Lord and followed the pagan gods. Then after the
Lord caused their enemies to oppress them they cried out for His mercy and He once
again raised up a judge to deliver them from their enemies. This is the world
in which Gideon lived. This is the context in which God called this man to
deliver Israel from the oppression of their enemies.
I want to look at God's
call of Gideon and note the process that followed the call. The process that
prepared Gideon to both accept and carry out the assignment God had called him
to. In other words, I want to note the steps it took to get Gideon "on
board" and in particular how God worked with Gideon through out that
process to bring him to a place of obedient faith to the calling God had placed
on his life.
And I believe we will
find principles in this process that apply to you and I in the here and now. I
want you to know that in deciding to bring this message a degree of selfishness
came into play. For I recognized that I need this message. Therefore what I
share this morning is first and foremost for my benefit if for no one else!
God calls Gideon. Judges
6:11,12, Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at
Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating
out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the
Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The
Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”
Perhaps
now you understand why I have taken the time to place the call of Gideon in its
historical context. An entire nation is in distress. The Midianites had been
plundering them for seven years. They are desperate. The supermarket shelves
were bare so to speak. The commodities necessary to sustain life were vanishing
as the enemy repeatedly devoured "...the produce of the
land...leaving...no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey," verse 4.
And a very ordinary man, evidently a
farmer, is winnowing wheat in a wine press of all places, so as not to be discovered by the Midianites,
when God appears to him and gives him the assignment. The call of Gideon itself
is unusual. He is not approached by a prophet; he is not anointed by a priest; he is not elected by
the people. No, God appears to Gideon
in the form of a man, a theophany it is called, and calls him to deliver his
nation from the enemy who had been plundering them for seven years.
As I've said before, God
often chooses ordinary people to accomplish the extraordinary, here a middle-aged
wheat farmer. You remember, God called Elisha while he was plowing his fields. Amos
was a sheepherder from Tekoa; David a shepherd boy the youngest of all his
brothers; Peter, James and John
were fisherman when Jesus called them. You can add to the list.
G. Campbell Morgan, "God
almost invariably discovers the man of the hour where no one else is looking
for him."
You and I are included in
that list. True, God might not be calling you to deliver your nation from an
oppressor. On the other hand, maybe he will! God knows how much we need one. But in the world in which
you and I live, a stay at home mother caring for or perhaps even home schooling
her children; a postal worker delivering the mail; a physician tending to the
sick; a sales representative marketing your companies product. You fill in the
blank.
Never minimize where God
has placed you. Never underestimate the value and significance of your calling.
Never think, no matter how old you are, that there will never be new
assignments God is calling you to. Reaching out to your new neighbor down the
street who does not know Christ; discipling or mentoring a new believer in your
church; becoming a foster parent to an orphaned or abandoned child.
Back to Judges. The NIV
Topical Bible, "None of the major judges was a likely candidate for
leadership in that society. Ehud was left-handed, Deborah was a woman, Jephthah
was not only an illegitimate child but the son of a prostitute, and Samson was
a Nazirite dedicated to living a simple religious life." (page 262)
God is not concerned
about the pedigree, position, prestige, or power of those he chooses to use. Education,
wealth, status and abilities are not what determine usefulness, as we will see
momentarily.
Notice Gideon's response,
verse 13, "And Gideon said to him, 'Please, sir, 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.”
Fred Young writes, "In
talking with the angel, Gideon questioned the validity of the stories he had
heard about the power and presence of God in the experience of his
ancestors...He hesitated to accept the offer of leadership the divine messenger
made." (The Biblical Expositor page
251)
One word characterized Gideon's
initial response to the Lord. Doubt. Are you familiar with that word? Has it
ever popped up in your mind in the face of something the Lord has asked you to do
or is asking you to do today? Apparently Gideon doubted the relevance of God in
light of the dire circumstances facing Israel. Evidently, he had difficulty gaining
encouragement from God's miraculous intervention in the distant past. His
generation had not yet experienced God's intervention as his
ancestors had.
You see, God's call often
comes in the darkest hour; in the midst of trying circumstances. In that
setting it is easy to respond to God as Gideon did. "Where have you been
God?" It is always easier to jump on the "band wagon" when there
is blessing and success than it is to stay on the sinking ship where the only
challenge is to roll up your sleeves and get to work.
Listen to God's response,
verse 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?'”
In essence God is saying,
"Get busy doing what I've called you to do!" And here's the key to that command. We learn
in book of Joshua that God's plan always depends on God's power. Verse 14 - "Go in this
your might." God is referring back to what He had said to Gideon in verse
12, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” In other words, God is challenging Gideon to go in the strength he
has been given because the Lord is with him!
The German commentators,
Keil & Delitzsch, "The demonstrative 'this' points to the strength which has just been given
him through the promise of God." You see, God had called Gideon to a task,
the success of which did not depend on Gideon.
Friends, nothing has
changed over the years. What is God asking you to do? What is God speaking to
you about today? His expectation is the same as it was for Gideon - Go! Do it! And
the premise of the call is the same as for Gideon,"The Lord is with you, O
mighty man of Valor!" verse 12, "Do not I send you?" verse 14.
Well, evidently Gideon had
difficulty getting hold of this truth. Listen to his response, verse 15, And he said to him, “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.”
"How can I save Israel?" he asked. Gideon still didn't get it. He
proceeds to give the Lord two reasons why he was not the right person for this
assignment. "I don't have the right pedigree." He reminded the Lord that
he was from the weakest clan in the tribe of Manasseh.
Secondly, he insisted, "I'm not
qualified." "I feel inadequate." After all, I am the least in my
family. I don't think God objected to Gideon's self-assessment. It's as though
the Lord was saying, "That's precisely my point Gideon! That's exactly how
you should feel. That's why I called you. You are not qualified for the job and
you know it! But I am!"
"The Lord is with you...Go in this
might of yours...Did not I send you!" were His words to Gideon. Centuries later, God said the very same thing to the
Apostle Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my
power is made perfect in weakness.” To which Paul rightly responded Therefore I
will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may
rest upon me." 2 Corinthians 12:9 (ESV)
Notice God's specific response to
Gideon's doubt. If I
can read between the lines, "Gideon you don't quite get it yet! Let me
spell it out for you again." Verse 16, "And
the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall
strike the Midianites as one man.” Taking down the Midianites will be a simple
task FOR ME. But I intend to do it through you.
Listen, God can use us
even in our weakness. If we feel inadequate to the task, from God's perspective
that's a good place to be! Because whatever assignment He gives to us depends
on His power and resources not ours!
Note how the Lord then prepared
Gideon for the assignment. First of all there was an encounter with God,
verses 17 - 24. Gideon wanted to be sure he knew who had commissioned him.
Verse 17, "And he said to him, 'If now I have found
favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who
speak with me.'"
He then asked the Angel of the Lord if
he would wait until he brought him a present. And he prepared a meal for the
visitor. At the request of the Angel the meal was turned into an offering, as
Gideon was instructed to place the meal on a rock. Verses 21 - 22, "Then
the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and
touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and
consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished
from his sight. Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And
Gideon said, 'Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to
face.'"
At that moment Gideon knew he had come
face to face with the Lord Himself. Therefore the "expression of alarm,"
"Alas, O Lord God!" His response is reminiscent of Isaiah's
words when he saw the Lord sitting upon His throne, "Woe is me! For I am
lost; I am a man of unclean lips" (Isaiah 6:5) But the Lord calms Gideon's
terror with these words. Verse 23, "But the Lord said to him, 'Peace be to
you. Do not fear; you shall not die.'”
Peace! That is what God
offered Gideon! Having come face to face with Me, you will not die! Said the
Lord. Perhaps before this experience Gideon knew of God. But in this encounter,
he came into the presence of God. And he would never be the same. This
was the first step of Gideon's preparation. Knowing the presence of God is the
context in which we respond to the call of God.
Do you know God this
morning? That's not the same question as, do you know about God? There is a difference
between knowing God intellectually and knowing God experientially. The first step in
responding to God's call is knowing the One who extends the call. If you do not
know Jesus Christ this morning He invites you to put your trust in His death
and resurrection.
His work of redemption on
our behalf is complete. As our substitute, He paid the penalty for our sins when
He shed His blood on the cross, reconciling us to God. And the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the grave is proof that when we repent of our sin and trust
in his Son for salvation, God will declare us righteousness in His sight and we
will have peace with God. This is the clear witness
of Scripture, "Therefore, since we have been justified (been made right with
God) we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1 (ESV)
Verse 24, "Then
Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace." If you do not know the
peace of God that comes from the forgiveness of your sins hear the Lord's invitation
today and call out to Him in faith for salvation!
There was a second step of preparation. Gideon
was consecrated to God verses 25-27. There was something in Gideon's household that
needed to be cleaned out before Gideon proceeded. In a sense it was his first
assignment but also a necessary step of preparation.
Verse 25, "That night the Lord said
to him, '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 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.”
As we have already noted, idolatry
filled the land. And some of it was in Gideon's own backyard. There was
something in Gideon's life that displeased the Lord. God put His finger on it,
and asked Gideon to remove it. That's what consecration is. It means to take
remove the idols in our lives.
Sin is inevitably an obstacle to both
hearing God's call and responding to God's call. At a men's retreat years ago, Pastor
Ron Walborn said that consecration means, "to get rid of the mixture in
your life." Idols compete with the will of God in our lives. He said
consecration means "to live in a constant state of repentance." It's
like keeping short accounts with God.
This step of consecration was followed by
the third step of preparation. Gideon was, empowered by God. Before God used
Gideon to deliver Israel from their oppressors we read the following, verse 33,
"Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East came
together, and they crossed the Jordan and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel."
The enemy once again
gathered to attack Israel. But this time, verse 34, "...the
Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon, and he sounded the trumpet, and the
Abiezrites were called out to follow him. His mission began only after one last
preparation. "...the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon."
The implication of the verb
"clothed" is to have "complete possession" of. (Arthur
Cundall IVP) As an army of 135,000 enemy soldiers
crossed the Jordan River into Israel, Gideon became the "mighty man of
valor" verse 12, as he was clothed with God's power verse 34.
As Jacob Meyers observes, "The
spirit of the Lord became incarnate in Gideon, who then became the extension of
the Lord."
A number of years ago now, a freighter
being towed to Fort Lauderdale broke free from the towboat and drifted onto a
sand bar, three hundred yards off Port Everglades. For days it languished on
the sand bar completely immobilized stuck in the sand, unable to reach its intended
destination.
You see, once the ship was disconnected from
the tug boat it lost both its sense of direction and its source of power to get to its
destination. That's the risk each of us face. That "mixture in your
life" Pastor Walborn spoke of can easily side distract us from the call of
God no matter what that may be, and disconnect us from experiencing God's power
necessary to complete the call.
We're like that stranded ship. Out of
its element grounded on a stretch of sand, immobilized, having lost the power and ability to get
to its intended destination. Have you ever had that experience? I have, more
times than I would like to admit.
God gave Gideon a glimpse of who He was.
Had him deal with the idols in his life. And now He filled him with His power. You say, "God has never appeared to me!" I
have not had a visitation by the Angel of the Lord calling
me to do this or that.
Listen, friend, if you
are in Christ this morning; if you have been born again by the Spirit of God, the
same God who appeared to Gideon as a man in a theophany indwells you. God doesn't
need to visit you in a theophany. Jesus indwells you in person of His Holy
Spirit. As Paul gave witness, "I
have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who
lives in me." Galatians 2:20a (ESV)
Paul gives us this command,
with a promise. Perhaps we could call it the New Testament version of Judges 6,
Philippians 2:12,13 (ESV). I like the NLT version, "Work hard to show the results of your
salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you,
giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him."
That pretty much covers
it all. As we step out in obedience to God's call, He will give us both the
desire and the power to do His will.
© James P. McGarvey All Rights Reserved
