Quote from Forum Archives on July 25, 2005, 12:35 pm

Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

GO WILD ABOUT GOD #1/5

KNOW GOD
July 24, 2005
Text: Judges 6:1-16

Next Sunday evening will be the beginning of our annual Vacation Bible
School, “Serengeti Trek: Where Kids Are Wild About God.” I bring this up
for two reasons. First, to encourage as many as possible to attend. Bring
your children, grandchildren, and/or neighborhood children. But it’s not
only for children; there are teen and adult classes as well. And there is
still need for adult staff.

Don’t treat VBS as trivial. I well know the demands and tugs on our
resource of time. Give VBS some of your priority time. All of the
cultural forces that we identify as dangers to our children’s spiritual
well-being - and to teens and adults, too - are all too willing to devote
quality time to teach our children to treasure demonic values. On quality
and quantity of resources they are willing to pour into events and
activities to pry our children away from the saving truths of Christ,
they win most of the time. We have an opportunity to stand against all
that next week.

This leads me into the second reason I bring up VBS. Each night, a Bible
theme, lesson, and familiar Bible story will be taught. For my next five
sermons, beginning this morning, I will use the Bible themes and
references being used in this year’s VBS. The themes are “Know God,”
“Talk to God,” “Tell About God,” “Love God,” “Work For God.”

I have read from Judges 6 this morning which begins the well known story
of Gideon’s defeat of the Midianites, an enemy of Israel. The Israelites
are in danger because the “Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern
peoples invaded the country.” (Judges 6:3) They were destroying crops and
livestock. They were killing Israelites. They were like “swarms of
locusts.” In Judges 6:6, we read that “Midian so impoverished the
Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.”

In response, God reminded His people that the reason they were in this
mess was because they did not listen to Him. That means that they
disobeyed Him. Specifically, they worshiped other gods. Nevertheless, God
heard the cries of His people and moved to once again deliver them. The
angel of the Lord came to a man named Gideon. At that time, Gideon was
doing what he could to deal with the Midian occupation; he was “threshing
wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.” In other words, he
was trying to get through the invasion and survive. Nothing but the day
to day survival for him and his family occupied his mind and activity.
That’s not unusual at all. That is exactly the priority of the rank and
file man and woman faced with an insurmountable foe - survive.

But there are always those few who struggle and strive for more than
survival in the face of evil and injustice. There are those few who
refuse to live under oppression. Gideon was not one of those few men. But
he was going to be, because God chose him to be the human instrument of
his deliverance. The angel of the Lord came to Gideon, saying, “Go in the
strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending
you?” (Judges 6:14) And Gideon said, “Alright, Lord! I am your man! I’m
strong; I’m fearless; I’m seeking a victory over this enemy!” Well… not
exactly. Judges 6:15 tells us what was actually said: “‘But Lord,’ Gideon
asked, ‘how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I
am the least in my family.’” Gideon must have taken the Moses course in
accepting responsibility from God.

For good reason, Moses and Gideon are criticized for their respective
responses to God. After all, this is God telling Gideon that he will be
the mighty warrior who will deliver the Israelites. Who is Gideon to tell
God, “Not me”? But a new thought occurred to me as I studied these
verses. Maybe this is the better way to respond to God when He sets some
amazing task before us. It’s not so much disobedience as an incredulous
observation of the situation. Fact: the Midianites far outweigh the
Israelites in numbers, resources, and might. Fact: the Midianites are
occupying and ravaging the land. Fact: the Israelites have no forces to
actively fight for their liberation. Fact: Gideon is from the weakest
clan, and he is the least in his family. Fact: the angel of the Lord
appears to Gideon and tells him that he will save Israel out of Midian’s
hand. You’ve got to be kidding, God! You need a strong, mighty warrior
for this job, not the least member of a family from the weakest clan in
Manasseh.

I have begun to think that Gideon’s “you’ve got the wrong person” reply
was just what God was looking for. Because he found God’s call
unbelievable at first, he clearly indicated his humility considering the
situation. If God had wanted a proud “I’m you’re man” man, I’m sure He
could have found one and would have called on him to deliver Israel. I’m
sure God could have found a man who already had all the ideas and answers
for taking down the Midianites. Such people have always existed.
Unfortunately, even though they usually have many talents for dealing
with difficult situations, they also usually are obnoxious to work with
and for. They tend to be arrogant, to point to their accomplishments, and
to become extremely moody when they do not receive the credit they
believe they deserve.

I am re-reading The War of the Revolution by Christopher Ward. The battle
of Bemis Heights led to General Burgoyne’s surrender to the Americans at
Saratoga. This has been hailed as the turning point of the American
Revolution because it encouraged the Continental Army to continue the
fight, other colonists to join the war, and the French to provide
military aid to the hard pressed Americans. One of the Continental
leaders who played a decisive part in the American victory at Bemis
Heights is a name known all too well for a very different reason:
Benedict Arnold. Although remembered throughout American history as a
traitor to the American cause, Arnold actually contributed significantly
to American successes in the fighting that took place in Canada along
that border in 1776 and 1777. But Benedict Arnold was also a man who
expected his accomplishments to be recognized and valued by others to the
same extent that he recognized and valued them. Make no doubt about it,
because of some the politics of the day - they played politics back then,
too, as unbelievable as that may seem - some of Arnold’s valid
accomplishments were ignored. The promotions and rewards he thought he
deserved, and he did deserve some, were not bestowed upon him. These
disappointments led, in part, to his later treachery in making a deal to
turn over West Point to the British.

In contrast, George Washington did not seek any position in the
Continental Army. When approached by the Continental Congress to assume
command of the entire army, Washington argued against the notion. There
were others who were more capable officers than he. But, in the end,
Washington had the fortitude it took to last through the struggle with
Britain. Because he did not seek recognition for his accomplishments, he
was able to endure military, political, and other setbacks that plagued
him throughout the war. With a simple, straightforward faith in God and
the cause of the colonies, Washington achieved victory.

God wanted a Gideon, and God wanted Gideon. The important Bible lesson
about Gideon and the Midianites has very little to do with a military
victory. It has a lot to do with God’s deliverance and the way He makes
that happen. The whole point of God’s deliverance was to show His people
that it was God, not them, who delivered. That is why throughout Judges
seven, God kept downsizing the army. Judges 7:2, “The Lord said to
Gideon, ‘You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands.
In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has
saved her, announce now to the people, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may
turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’’ So twenty-two thousand men left,
while ten thousand remained.” Amazing. But God did not choose a
thirty-two thousand men strong army; He chose what eventually became a
three-hundred man army to defeat the Midianites, Amalekites, and other
eastern peoples.

God did not choose a strong, experienced military leader; He chose
Gideon. It’s typical of artists throughout the years to depict Gideon as
a powerful-looking strong-man type. Muscles bulging. Dashing figure.
Charles Atlas or Hulk Hogan or Arnold Schwarzenegger or someone. Given
Gideon’s self description, I wonder if he wasn’t actually a nerdy looking
character. Or at least wiry and unimpressive in stature. After all, he
said that he was the “least in his family.” This is who God chose.

God chose Gideon and gave him only three hundred men so that everyone
would know that deliverance comes from God. There are times when God
works from human abundance and times when He works from human weakness. I
think that God works from human abundance when His people are worshiping
and honoring Him. During the wars of King David’s men, God did not
require the army to be downsized. I think that God works from human
weakness in a couple of situations, neither being mutually exclusive.
First, when the situation warrants that God ensures that His people
recognize that He is the deliverer. In Gideon’s day, the people strayed
into idolatry. God drove home His point that no other god or people save
and deliver. Second, God uses human weakness when that is all there is.
The early history of Christianity is testimony to that. It was not VIPs
or armies that took up the call to spread the Christian faith; it was
fishermen and tax collectors and shepherds. The Apostle Paul gave up his
bid for human glory in order to become a humble servant of Christ and
apostle to the Gentiles.

Recall that I mentioned at the beginning of this sermon that the cultural
forces that we identify as dangers to our children’s spiritual well-being
are all too willing to devote quality time to teach our children to
treasure demonic values, and that the quality and quantity of resources
they are willing to pour into events and activities to pry our children
away from the saving truths of Christ give them a win most of the time
concerning influencing the generations. Going up against these cultural
forces in our day is no small task.

But don’t you hear God’s greeting? “The Lord is with you, mighty
warrior!” “Who me? You’ve got to be kidding! I don’t qualify as any
warrior, especially not a mighty one.” When you say that, then guess
what? God has found His mighty warrior. Not the proud, not the boastful,
not the arrogant. Just the right person to go with a small force to stand
between an ungodly world and some soul God wants to save. Why you? Why
me? Because knowing God means that we know that God delivers. “The Lord
answered, ‘I will be with you…’”

Rev. Charles A. Layne, pastor, First Baptist Church, Bunker Hill, IN