Taking God at His Word

Father, idols affect us in many, many different and very powerful ways, and we don't even think about it most of the time.

We're not even a category that we think of.

But Father, your word makes clear that the more that idols grip our heart, the harder it is for us to take you at your word.

So we ask, Father, that you would continue to show mercy and grace to us this morning and pour out the Holy Spirit deeply upon us

so that your word might grip us and we might take you at your word, that we might know Jesus, that we might know you, and we might be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Father, this we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Please be seated.

So I have a couple of apologies.

Last week I messed up my sermon in two ways.

One of the ways, those of you who are here, and by the way, if you've listened to my sermon online, you won't know this because Andrew fixed it.

But I got my 10,000 and 20,000 all mixed up, and I'm sure it was confusing to some of you that the analogy didn't make sense.

The other thing was, and pray for me all the time that I don't make those mistakes.

Some of you know I'll say Moses when it should have been Joshua or something else.

I can get things like that mixed up.

So pray for me all the time.

I know many of you do, and I really appreciate it.

The other mistake I made, it's sort of a mild one because I didn't talk about it in an inflammatory way,

but one of the things we talked about last Sunday was rape, actually, because it's in the biblical text.

And I was thinking about it while I was driving home that, I mean, that's not an abstract.

Like for me as a guy, I can talk about it.

But for women, many women, maybe even women who are here, that you might have experienced a rape.

And I should have probably just said a little bit about that just before I talked about it in case it was triggering anything.

Today, I know that there are people here who have been affected by genocide.

And we're going to talk about genocide a little bit this morning.

And some of you, if you're a guest, you're a bit surprised that a church would talk about such things.

But that's one of the benefits you get of preaching through books in the Bible.

You look at topics that, if it was up to me, I'd probably never talk about.

I'd probably just give you a few positive thoughts on leadership or attitude maintenance and send you off on your way.

But the Bible makes us look at things.

And the wonderful thing about the Bible is the same thing that catches many Canadians by surprise,

is that the Bible is so realistic about the world that it catches readers by surprise.

They're expecting something religious and spiritual.

Those of you who've seen the Netflix series, The Messiah, which I'm not recommending,

you expect the Bible to talk a little bit like him.

But the Bible talks about real life, but it's never cynical.

It's never cynical.

It talks about the real world in the context of the living God.

And it talks about the real world in a redemptive way that we would call out to him.

So today, we are going to be mentioning genocide a little bit

because the text talks about it.

And, you know, one of those things, we should just know that the Bible brings these things to our mind,

that we can know Jesus better.

So it begins.

We're looking at Joshua 6, verse 1.

Joshua 6:1

I announced that at the beginning.

Some of it, if not all of the text, will be up on the screen

if you don't have your own Bibles.

But it's really good to bring your own Bibles.

And this is how the story begins.

The 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.

Now, just pause.

Some of you who have been going through this series with me

know that it seems like every new story begins with something like that.

They do evil, and the Lord delivers them into the hand of some people group.

And so, well, first of all, just, I say it every week,

but it's important to remember, doing evil means in particular that they,

and we're going to talk about this more in a moment,

that they start serving other gods and goddesses, and they serve idols.

So they depart from the Lord.

And the giving to them is actually a profound expression of human freedom,

is that the punishment that they get is getting what they want.

The punishment isn't not getting what they want.

That's usually when people think about God, the God, the triune God of the Bible.

They think the triune God of the Bible is a big meanie who is the no-fun God,

no-pleasure God, no-joy God.

And he looks around and sees things that make people happy and says,

na-na-na-na-na.

No, that's not the God of the Bible, actually.

Like, this is a shocking thing, and the book of Judges will slowly unpack it.

But often his judgment is allowing you to have what you want,

like respecting your freedom.

But a lot of what we want will devour us.

And that's what happens here.

They go after the gods of the people, and the gods of the people,

the people who worship that gods, devour them.

Now, there's one other important thing here,

and I'm not going to spend a long time on it,

but this is actually one of the big ideas of the entire book of Judges.

And I might now put it in every couple of weeks,

because it helps you to understand the whole book of Judges

and every individual text.

In Canada, many people say that all paths lead to God.

But the Bible says, Christians would say, Jesus would say,

it is not true that all paths lead to God.

But it is true that the triune God uses many paths to bring people to himself.

And that's one of the things that you're going to see.

It's not that God constantly is locked into a particular pattern.

He uses a prophetess and a woman with a tent peg,

and he uses a warrior,

and then he uses a completely and utterly debauched person like Samson later on.

And he uses Gideon.

And the pattern keeps changing.

And it's the same thing, you know,

if we were to take some time and break up into small groups,

and those of us who are Christians,

we were to share how we became Christians,

we'd be surprised at the many different ways

that God has used to bring people to himself.

And that's part of the big story of Judges,

is that God doesn't keep working the exact same way.

He works different ways every time.

And so how is it going to be different in this particular time?

Well, let's start to read the story.

Verse 2 of chapter 6.

Verse 2 of chapter 6.

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.

For whenever the Israelites planted crops,

the Midianites and the Amalekites

and the people of the east

would come up against them.

They would encamp against them

and devour the produce...

I skipped it too quick.

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.

Now we're up on the screen.

It should be the right verse.

For they would come up with their livestock

and their tents.

They would come like locusts in number.

Both they and their camels could not be counted

so that they laid waste the land as they came in.

And Israel was brought very low because of Midian.

And the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord.

Now just sort of pause here for a second.

What's going on here is genocide,

attempted genocide of the people of Israel.

It's not that a foreign power has come in to conquer.

It isn't that a foreign power has come in

to merely live there, to occupy the land.

They're doing something very, very, very different.

And it's very significant.

I didn't plan it,

that just recently we've been remembering

the anniversary of the Holocaust.

There's been newspaper and other media outlets around that.

The closest I came to it was as a young kid,

10, 11, 12-year-old boy.

I was a Boy Scout.

And I remember being in the car one day

with my Boy Scout leader.

And I lived in an all-Jewish neighborhood.

And as I'm driving, I look over

and I notice for the first time

tattooed numbers on the arm of my Scoutmaster.

And I asked him what it was about.

And he got teary-eyed.

And his wife said,

well, and then she told me,

he was in the camps.

He is a survivor.

He was a survivor of the Holocaust.

And even just as relevant,

maybe more relevant in this particular case,

some of you might know of something

which is very familiar to Ukrainians,

is that in the 1930s,

the Soviet Union created a forced famine

in the Ukraine to punish the Ukrainians.

And as a result of that forced famine,

millions and millions and millions of people died.

And it's remembered by Ukrainians.

It's a double tragedy

because all of the leading lights

of North America and Western civilization

were praising Soviet Union

for being a great,

a perfect place to live.

At the same time that they were praising them,

they were creating a forced famine

to literally kill millions and millions

of Ukrainians.

So what's happening here in this story

is that Midian comes in,

they steal the animals,

they steal the food,

and after they've stolen

all they can carry

and all they can consume,

they destroy everything else.

They destroy everything else.

And this is very hard for us in Canada

to understand right now.

Like I'm old enough

that I remember

when there were certain fruits

you didn't get all year round.

Like I remember

when all of a sudden

it was exciting

that there was fruit in the stores again

in the spring.

But, you know,

for much of the world,

one bad crop means

hundreds if not thousands

of people die.

And this was an intentional policy

by the Midianites.

And its only purpose

would have been

to destroy

the people of Israel.

And that's the situation

which they're in.

So,

how is God going to respond?

So you see in the text up there

they cry out to the Lord for help.

It's all part of the normal pattern.

So how is God going to respond to this?

Well,

he breaks the pattern.

He does something

which is a little bit different.

He sends them a sermon.

Not what they were expecting.

Not what they were wanting.

But if you just pause

and think about it for a second.

I just said how kids

at a certain age

when they lose it

they just lose it.

Their poor little brains

aren't developed enough.

They just,

their brains aren't developed enough.

You know,

like

all you can do

is try to

comfort them

and quiet them

in some type of way.

But when the kids get older,

like every single one of us

who has kids

this is what we do.

It's not just that they

you know,

they mess up,

they do something

really, really wrong

and you have to end up

either, you know,

both disciplining them

and maybe rescuing them.

But the other thing

that every parent does

is you want them

to understand

that it's wrong.

And hopefully

you do that

in a good way.

I remember being

in a Starbucks

and a parent

was trying to discipline

her five-year-old kid

and the way she said it is

she's kept doing bad things.

It was in a Starbucks

connected to a chapter

of Indigo Books

and she kept going

and taking books

and sort of wrecking them.

And she said,

it's how she tried

to teach the kid

right and wrong.

You're making mommy unhappy.

I thought,

what?

I almost went over

and said,

that's not how you tell a kid

not to do something wrong.

You're making me unhappy.

You know,

anyway,

there you go.

I mean,

Lord have mercy

upon that parent

and the poor little kid,

however they're going to develop.

But the fact of the matter

is that we all try to explain.

And so what happens here

isn't what,

and nobody usually wants

to have that happen to them,

but at the end of the day

that's how we hopefully learn

how to be vaguely moral,

if not well,

you know,

more moral individuals.

And so that's what happens here.

God this time

doesn't just deliver them.

He sends them a sermon.

So here you see

verse 7 and 8.

When the people of Israel

cried out to the Lord

on account of the Midianites,

the Lord sent a prophet

to the people of Israel

and he said to them,

and here's the summary

of the message.

So we had a,

God sends a prophet

that wanders around

the people of Israel

and this is the summary

of his message.

Thus says the Lord,

the God of Israel,

I led you up from Egypt

and brought you out

of the house of slavery

and I delivered you

from the hand of the Egyptians

and from the hand

of all who oppressed you

and drove them out before you

and gave you their land.

And I said to you,

I am the Lord your God.

You shall not fear

the gods of the Amorites

in whose land you dwell,

but you have not

obeyed my voice.

Now,

this is very,

very,

very significant

what he says.

I'm going to put this up.

This was a very slow lesson

for Israel to learn

and obviously

they didn't learn

about the triune God

until Jesus came,

although all of the hints

of the fact

that God is triune

are all the way

through the Old Testament.

But unlike idols,

the triune God is love

and he loves ordinary people

like you.

Unlike idols,

the triune God is love

and he loves ordinary people

like you.

If you do a bit of research

about the gods

of the world at that time,

the reason they created

human beings

was to feed them,

not for the gods

to feed human beings,

but for the human beings

to feed the gods.

In a sense,

a human being

was just a type of slave

for the God,

a servant of the God.

But the Bible teaches

something radically,

radically different

and it's caught

in this scripture text.

I'll just put back

to the scripture text.

We lose the full significance

of reveal.

You know,

we go to a bank machine

and we stick our bank card

in the machine

and it knows our name

and it reveals

that it's the right bank machine

by all of its signs

and we just think of that

as being something

mechanical

and something automatic.

But,

if you understand

that from all eternity,

before there was any human being

that was ever made,

that God the Father

loved the Son

and the Son

loved the Father

and the Holy Spirit

is both the love

between the Father

and the Son

and the Son

between the Father

and the Holy Spirit

is a person

himself

and also is love

and that all things

were created

out of God's love

for human beings

and only

the triune God

can account

for the fact

that we value

love so highly.

The idols don't love

but God loves.

He creates all things

out of love

and it's out of love

that he delivers them

out of Egypt.

It's out of love

that he delivers them

constantly from their oppressors

and it's out of love

that he reveals himself.

Think of it this way.

When I do,

when somebody asks me

to do their wedding ceremony,

I almost always say,

how did you meet?

Everybody meets

somehow or another.

You know,

maybe some of you met

when you were in grade 5

or grade 6

or grade 7

or grade 8

or some of you met

far later than that

but everybody meets

the other some way

and in many cases,

I know it's a bit different now

because you can meet people online

but even then

there must be something

that's a little bit like that

is that what happens

when you meet somebody

that you're going to start,

you're going to fall in love

is the other,

for the whole process

to happen,

the other person

has to,

you have to reveal

a little bit about the fact

that you like the person

and they have to reveal

back to you a little bit

about the fact

that they like you

and a little bit

about who they are.

That's how it works.

I mean,

for my wife and I,

it begins,

we're sitting at the same

library table

and you glance over

and there's glances

and there's glances

and mine was the second

type of glance

not the first type of glance

and she glances back

and because I was

pathologically shy

around women

and the more attractive

the woman was,

the more pathologically shy

and embarrassed

and awkward I would be.

You know,

if there is a purgatory,

purgatory for me

would be showing

everybody films

of what I was like

in the presence

of such a woman

and that would be

purgatory for me

amongst other types

of things.

Amusing for all of you,

cringeworthy

and embarrassing

for me.

Anyway,

but eventually

at some point in time

despite my pathological shyness

it goes from glances

to high

to which

the other person

can either

give the very powerful

signals,

what is this creep

doing talking to me

or they can say

hi back.

Right?

And we don't think

about it much

but that's what happens

is you go through

a process of revealing

yourself to the other person

and the other person

revealing themselves

to you.

And that's what's

going on here.

That's what's going on.

That's what's so

completely and utterly

stunning about

the book of Exodus.

It's what's so stunning

about everything

in the Bible

and it's just so stunning

that we don't get it

because we think of this

as a mechanical

type of process

but what God does

is he said

listen

I delivered you

out of slavery

in Egypt

I deliver you

from your oppressors

and I revealed

myself to you

I made myself

known to you

to show you

that I love you

that I want to be

in a relationship

with you

and I want you

I'm hoping

that you respond

by my acts

of mighty love

and my love

of revealing myself

to you

that you would

reveal yourself

to me

and love me.

and instead

about not

worshiping other gods

I mean

if next Sunday

Louise came in

and said to you folks

one on one

drink coffee

by the way

George has

affections

towards another woman

he's in love

with another woman

as well as with me

every single one

of you would

side with her

and you'd be right

to side with her

because you know

that just doesn't

work with love

and so if you

think about it

within that context

that God is love

from all eternity

is out of the

overflow of his love

that he creates

and that human beings

in rebellion

against God

want to become

their own God

and turn against him

and all the things

that happen

and God delivers

out of slavery

delivers out of oppression

delivers us

from our sins

and delivers us

and delivers us

and reveals himself

in such a way

that we would

know who he is

just like

you know

at some point in time

Louise revealed

herself to me

and I reveal myself

to her

and because we're

finite human beings

that's a process

that goes on

for good

and sometimes

really well

and sometimes

not very well

for all of the

time that you're

together

and then God

says all I ask

is that you don't

worship other gods

and what does the

prophet say

but you have not

listened to my voice

you have not

listened to my voice

now what we're

going to see next

is we're going to

meet the first

Canadian in the

Bible

you didn't know

that but the

first Canadian

who could fit

into any coffee

I mean any

coffee shop

whether it's

Tim Hortons

or a hipster

place or something

like Starbucks

which isn't hipster

you'd

you could meet

this character

and his name

is Gideon

and here's

here's what

happens with

Gideon

remember the

prophet's been

going giving

this message

verse 11

God isn't

just giving

a sermon

he's going

to deliver

the people

of Israel

verse 11

now the

angel of

the Lord

came and

sat under

the terebinth

at Ophrah

which belonged

to Joash

the Abizrite

while his

son Gideon

was beating

out wheat

in the wine

press to

hide it

from the

Midianites

and the

angel of

the Lord

appeared to

him and

said to

him

the Lord

is with

you

almighty

man of

valor

now just

before I

go to

the next

verse

he's not

a man of

valor

he's hiding

normally when

you're going

to be

harvesting

bringing the

wheat to

that point

in time

you go to

something which

is like a

stage compared

to the floor

higher up

maybe not as

high as this

but nice and

flat and high

where when you

beat it and

then you throw

it up and the

wind will blow

away the stuff

you don't need

and the wheat

which is heavier

falls to the

ground and that's

how you separate

the wheat from

the chaff

wine presses

you dig

something down

in the ground

and it has

both a lower

part and a

higher part

but it's still

low and so

what Gideon is

doing is he's

not up there

on the threshing

floor he's

hiding in the

wine press and

trying to make

the whole thing

work where there's

no breeze and

he's doing it

not because he's

a mighty man of

valor but because

he's in fact

hiding from the

Midianites and

God is as we'll

see in a moment

in Gideon's

response God

is

is

is both

saying something

prophetic about

the future but

he's also saying

something that's

going to try to

get his attention

and bring something

out to develop the

relationship with

Gideon remember I

said to you that

the Lord does it

not it's not that

all paths lead to

God but the Lord

uses many many

different paths to

bring people to

himself the thing

that began my

journey that led

me becoming a

Christian was seeing

an advertisement on

a telephone pole on

Elgin Street

that's what first got

my attention

didn't happen any of

you probably that's

what happened with

me God uses

different things with

different people but

Gideon's response is

this verse 13

here's where we see

that he's a very very

typical Canadian

and Gideon said to

him

please sir

if the Lord is with

us if the Lord is

with us why then is

all this happened to

us

where all his

wonderful deeds

their fathers recounted

to us saying did not

the Lord bring us up

up from Egypt

but now the Lord has

forsaken us given us

into the hand of

Midian

how is this like a

typical Canadian

here's what the

typical Canadian

thinks

C.S. Lewis I think

it was in the 40s

wrote a an essay

called God in the

Dark and he was

referring to something

that he'd noticed

and as a classical

scholar he realized

that the way that

average English people

and Scottish and

Irish and Welch were

thinking back in the

40s was very different

than how most of the

world thought and was

very different than

how people had thought

throughout most of

human history and for

modern English people

and he's talking about

the 40s it's even more

true today God is on in

the dark in other words

God's on trial for the

average modern person

it's like this the

triune God listen the

triune God we have a

whole list of charges

against him he is

offended against us

he's homophobic he's

racist he's in favor of

slavery he's in favor of

power he hates

transgender people he

only wants to spoil us

and have fun he's

patriarchal he's this

he's that he's all of

these types of things

and there's we have

brought charges against

God and any human

being who wants to go

and try to defend God

is a reprehensible human

being who does not he's

not able to think he's

not aware of what's

really going on in life

but we have brought

charges against God and

God we are the

prosecutors we are the

judge it is like a show

trial God is guilty he

has no defense against the

charges that we can bring

against him for evil

homophobia denying women

the right to do what

they want with their

body opposed to people

being able to have a

doctor ask them to kill

them or us being able to

ask the doctor to kill one

of our loved ones God is

guilty and it is just what

everybody knows everybody

knows that God is guilty

and he has no possible

defense

that's what Gideon says

he talks like a modern

Canadian he talks like most

of the people that are your

neighbors and your

co-workers and maybe how many

of you maybe how some of you

think

you know the older I get

the more I believe that

Genesis 3 and Romans 1 is

empirically true if you go

back and read the beginning

of Genesis 3 it is that the

average human being desires to

be like God and when that

causes their life to get

messed up when Adam confronts

God confronts Adam Adam says

not my fault Eve

God speaks to Eve

not my fault

the snake

and that is

so much how we're hardwired

and if you go back and read

Romans 1 later on yourself

and after verse 16 and 17

which says sort of the theme

of the whole book you read

from Romans 1 18 to the end

of the chapter

the book talks about the fact

that we are innately

worshipers and we've exchanged

worshiping of God who

we

at some fundamental level we know

that the triune God exists for

worshiping other things and

and then one of the things

which is so significant is

when it gives at the end of

Romans 1 it gives evidence of

the fact that there is in fact a

God and that we are under his

judgment the way it describes

that the last little bit of it

is partly it is the reality of

evil

that every time we experience evil

on one level

it is God

we experience in a very very tiny way

God's judgment in advance

and the way we experience God's judgment

in advance is by actually experiencing

murder and lies

and hatred and sloth and envy and gluttony

and sexual sin

and sins of the mind

and selfishness

that in some way sin

is its own punishment

even though we choose it

and friends that is just so deeply

psychologically true

but we are like Gideon

who thinks that

the pain that we experience

as a result of the sin

that we willingly pursue

is somehow a sign that God

does not exist

that it is somehow his fault

and we don't see the darkness

that has come over our own mind

to understand that

all of that pain

is to help us to understand

many things

but one of those things

is that the world is broken

that I am broken

and even to be able to articulate broken

implies that there is something unbroken

someone who made it unbroken

in this broken world

and this wonderful message of the Bible

is the world is broken

you are broken

I still love you

I have delivered you

from the house of Egypt

I have delivered you

from your oppressors

my common grace

restrains your evil

and I have sent my son

to die upon the cross

for you

and we will talk about that

more in a moment

I have to be careful

of my time here

how does Gideon respond?

well he is

so first of all

it is very interesting

the angel of the Lord

who is this very interesting figure

in the Old Testament

it is not clear whether it is a theophany

which means an appearance of God

it is not clear whether it is an angel

who is a special angel

that represents the Lord

it is not even clear whether

in fact it might be

a pre-incarnate Jesus

and it is very uncertain

about what it is

in the Old Testament

but you will see that

the person speaking

is the same as the Lord

speaking all the way through the text

it is part of the mystery

of what is going on here

that is never actually explained

but in verse 4

so the Lord actually never defends himself

why does he have to defend himself?

he is love

and you know

here is the other thing

not only

is it only

the triune God

that can actually be a loving God

but it is actually only

the triune God

who can be good

you see

if there is only

a singular God

then

how can he be good?

there is just him

unless there is something

other than him

you can't actually know

if he is good

it is only

the triune God

that

you can really see

that God is love

and that God is good

that there is this goodness

and love

that has existed

even before there was creation

and even before there was the fall

he does not defend himself to us

he is going to redeem them

he is not going to defend himself

verse 14

and the Lord turned to Gideon

and said

go in this might of yours

and save Israel

from the hand of Midian

but then

do not I send you

and Gideon 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

and the Lord said to him

but I will be with you

and you shall strike the Midianites

as one man

in other words

even though the Midianites

are like locusts

that completely and utterly

cover the land

and completely overwhelm them

and even though the Israelites

have been humbled

and they've been in the process

seven years

into a genocidal process

so that they are deeply removed

deeply reduced

that God will make the battle

with Midian

as if

as if all of Israel

is fighting one man

that's what the original language means

as if all of Israel

is just fighting one person

and Gideon 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

please do not depart from here

until I come to you

and bring you

out my present

or my offering

and set it before you

and the angel of the Lord said

I will stay

until you return

I'm going to

sort of fast forward

through this next little bit

what you're going to see

if you go on and read

because I'm going to jump down

to a very very important part

of the story

what you're going to see here

is that God does

a remarkable miracle

Gideon is so paganized

so canaanized

that when he brings an offering

to the angel of the Lord

he doesn't bring an offering

according to the Mosaic law

what he does

is he brings an offering

as if he's going to be

worshipping Baha'al

or the Asherah

he brings a whole goat

and he brings enough bread

if you take 22 pounds of flour

and make bread

that's how much bread

he brings

and he brings this broth

and the angel says

the angel of the Lord says

put it all on a rock

and then Gideon does that

and the angel of the Lord

touches it

and a fire comes from the rock

and consumes the whole thing

and it's like a whoa moment

and then Gideon

who has both

within his heart

and his mind

is both a worshipper

of Baal

and Baal

and the Asherah

but he also knows

things about the Lord

and so he now worries

that he's going to die

because he's seen

the Lord face to face

and the Lord speaks to him

and says you're not going to die

and so Gideon is relieved

and makes an altar

saying the Lord is peace

and then the Lord says to him

you need to go to your father's house

and then we discover

that his father

is the custodian

and the sponsor

and the patron

of the worship of Baal

and Asherah

in that region

and he says to Gideon

you've got to go Gideon

and what I want you to do

and what I want you to do

is I'd like you to

because you're just worshipping me

there's no other gods

I want you to

go and tear down

the altar to Baal

tear down the Asherah

kill a bull

and significant

because bull is the way

the Baal is imaged

the image of the Baal

is a bull

and so I want you

to take a bull

and after you've cut down

the Asherah pole

and destroyed the altar

on top of the fortress

that helps to protect

the gods

and the goddesses

I want you to make

the Lord's altar

and I want you to

using the wood

from the Asherah pole

I want you to

sacrifice the bull

but you sacrifice it to me

and Gideon does it

but he's afraid

he does it in the middle

of the night

and the next morning

people come up

they see that the altar

is destroyed

they see that the Asherah pole

is gone

they see that the bull

has been all cut up

they do an inquiry

and the result of the inquiry

is that they go

to Gideon's father

because he's still

under the head

of the family

and they say to him

Gideon has to die

and even though

the dad is the patron

of Baal

and the patron

of the Asherah

the fact of the matter

is he's not going

to let his boy

die over this

I mean it's his boy

idols are one thing

your kid is another

right

so he says

if you could skip ahead

to I think it's verse 31

that would be very helpful

there you go

but Joash said

but Joash said

where we are

my own bible

but Joash said

to all who stood

against him

will you contend

for Baal

or will you save him

whoever contends

for him

shall be put to death

by morning

if he is a god

let him contend

for himself

because his altar

has been broken

therefore on that day

Gideon was called

Jeroboam

that is to say

let Baal

contend against him

because he broke

down his altar

I need to wrap

it all up

let me see here

oh back there

here's the thing

about idols

and of course

power is one

of the main idols

that we all face

power kills

to protect itself

love will die

for the beloved

one of the things

that struck me

when I was reading

this story

about Joash's

speech to the people

is he puts out

this very very

very stark

challenge

if Baal is a god

he can defend himself

now what struck me

the first time

I read this this week

and I don't know

if it struck any

of you

is that something

very similar

happens in the

gospels

what do three

of the gospels

record

that Jesus

is hanging

on the cross

and

he's all bloody

he's been

completely and utterly

whipped

he's surrounded

by soldiers

he's hanging

on the cross

he's dying

a criminal's death

and all the leaders

the intellectuals

the religious

the spiritual

types

the cultural

influencers

they all say

he saves

others

let him save

himself

come down

from the cross

show us that you

can save yourself

if you are God

if you are the

savior

now Jesus

doesn't come down

from the cross

he stays on the cross

and he dies

but we understand

that

not to be a

defeat of

Jesus

but to in fact

be his victory

a victory

which matters

to us

and we only

begin to

understand it

if we understand

that God is

love

that the triune

God is love

from all

eternity

the father

is love

the son

and the son

is love

the father

and the father

desires to have

ordinary people

like you and me

know him

so that we

will love him

and experience

his love

and we can

love him

not because

he needs love

he has the

love of the son

and the holy

spirit from all

eternity

but it is the

nature of love

to love

and to receive

love

and to give

and to be good

and it's the

very nature

of power

to sacrifice

others

so that no

power is lost

and so for

Baal

who's all about

power

for him not

to defend

himself

is in fact

an indictment

against him

but

the cultural

leaders

and the influencers

and the intellectuals

and the religious

leaders

who at the end

of the day

do not know

that God is love

but worship power

for them

what they want

to see

is a display

of power

and they do not

know

that they know

that if power

is real

that power

will act

to defend

itself

but they do

not understand

that if love

is real

love will die

for the beloved

many of you

heard the story

I'm just going

to tell part

of it right

now

my wife

and six

or seven

of my kids

at the time

were in a house

fire

caught on the

second floor

first floor

consumed with

flames

in the middle

of the night

Louise woke

up and she

woke up

the kids

and she woke

up her mom

and Louise

was able to

open a bathroom

window

which there

was enough room

about three feet

down into the

side

a shed

and I can tell

you right now

who was the

last one out

of the house

Louise

why

she opened

the window

she hands

the kids

out

she gets

the kids

out

and whenever

kid is out

she leaves

and if she

had died

not being able

to get all

of the kids

out

she would not

have viewed

herself as a

failure

because she

got all of

her kids

out

it's a nature

of love

to be willing

to die

idol

idol

worshipers

go to

great lengths

to save

their idols

but the

Lord went

to great lengths

to save

and deliver

you

think of

the lengths

that we

go

those of

us who

worship

beauty

the lengths

we go

as our

beauty

fades

I know

a woman

who asked

a doctor

to kill

her

because

she was

in

she'd

always

been

very

very

very

very

very

very

well

made

up

and

she

could

no

longer

look

beautiful

and she

wanted

to die

her idol

devoured

her

and we

worship

money

and the

money

starts

to fail

us

but we

don't

say

money

is

a

failure

no

we

save

it

we

say

no

no

no

no

the

market

will

correct

itself

it'll

work

it'll

work

it'll

work

it'll

work

and what

we see

throughout

this

entire

text

is that

God

comes

to

Gideon

when

Gideon

is still

worshipping

Baal

and Asherah

and here's

what we

learn in

the gospel

while you

were still

giving

yourself

to idols

Messiah

Jesus

died

for you

if you

go back

and read

the rest

of the

story

of Gideon

it's

after this

it even

always had

a remarkable

miracle

of the

equivalent

of how

many

bread

you

could

make

from

22

pounds

of

flour

and a

whole

goat

and all

the

broth

all just

taken up

in fire

and the

Holy Spirit

comes upon

him

and he's

able

with the

Holy Spirit's

power

to rally

the people

of Israel

to fight

against

Midianites

and still

Gideon

can't believe

that God

has actually

spoken to him

and promised

to him

and so

there's the

famous story

of the

fleece

that could

you make

the fleece

wet

and the

ground dry

and then

God does

it and then

he says

oh just

one more

time

could you

make the

ground wet

and the

fleece

die

and the

problem

is that

that's not

a story

about seeking

God's

will

he already

knows

God's

will

God's

told him

time and

time and

time again

you're

going to

go fight

Midian and

I'm going

to destroy

them

he doesn't

need to

know

God's

will

he just

can't

believe

that God's

word

is true

you see

the more

an idol

grips your

heart

the harder

it is to

believe

that the

Lord keeps

his word

friends

gathering

together on

the Lord's

day to

worship

together

is a

chance for

us to

say Lord

those idols

have gotten

really powerful

in my heart

this week

and I

have a hard

time believing

you keep

your word

and it's a

time for us

to remember

the gospel

because the

Lord has

given us

something far

better than

a fleece

he's given

us

Jesus

dying

on a

cross

and he's

given us

the resurrection

and it's

time for us

to come

and remind

of the

gospel

we have

the Lord's

supper

what do

we remember

the new

covenant

the fact

that he

died

for us

and it's

time for

us to

once again

come back

and reset

and say

Lord I

so need

to remember

what you

did for

me

on the

cross

that while

I still

worship

idols

and I

was not

even

thinking of

you

you died

for me

knowing

the depth

that idols

have on my

heart

you died

for me

and you

died for me

knowing that

even today

even after I've

come to a

faith in you

how powerful it

is for me to

return to the

idols of money

or sex

or of race

or of ethnicity

or of politics

or of ideology

or myself

or my family

or my house

or my car

or my looks

or whatever it is

that I give my

heart to time

and time

and time again

and you

knew

all of that

and still

you died

for me

still

you died

for me

not weighing

my

my wonders

but pardoning

my offenses

not

knowing how

religious and

spiritual and

pure I am

but knowing

how far I am

for that