Judges: Idolatry and the Normal Means of Grace

So Brian read Judges 8, the first eight or nine verses.

Thank you for willing to read those names.

That's not easy.

Now I get the wonderful task of seeing like what in the what in the world?

Like what in the world could this have to do with our lives?

Well, I mean, it certainly is a historical narrative.

I mean, it's a war documentary played out in the Bible for us to read.

But there's still a lot of stuff in it for us.

I want to begin with Anthony Bourdain.

Does anybody know who Anthony Bourdain was?

Unfortunately, he passed away.

He took his own life a couple of years ago.

I loved, my wife and I loved Anthony Bourdain.

So he was the host of a TV show called No Reservations as well.

Then he went on and he had another TV show called Parts Unknown.

He was an incredible, incredible chef, author, I mean, a creative genius.

One of the reasons I loved him was his honesty, his creativity.

Also just really idolized him, to tell you the truth.

I mean, I mean, the guy traveled to amazing places, ate amazing food with amazing people.

Like this is what he did repeatedly.

And to me, I couldn't think of like a more amazing life.

Like I just could not comprehend putting together a more amazing life.

And yet it wasn't enough.

So I think that's why when he took his own life for me, it was not only like really sad for him because I felt like I knew him at that point because I'd seen like all of his shows, which is like his personality kind of out there for you to know.

And so that hit home.

But then as well, it sort of broke down the idolization of well, if I had that, which is what we all do.

Like we could do it with you know his life, or we do it with a car or a romance or a job or a salary or whatever.

If I had that, then I would be okay, then I would be delivered, I'd be saved, I'd be whole, I'd be righteous, I'd be justified, I'd be at peace, I'd be happy.

This is how idols work.

Idolatry is woven throughout the scriptures over and over and over again.

We see and we talk about idolatry.

This is what we give our hearts to, yet these things have no power to actually deliver us.

Here's what we keep saying in our church over the last few years as we've been talking about idolatry.

You'll recognize this if you've been around.

Idols are anything we love too much that end up holding power over our hearts being at peace.

Because idols aren't God, but we position them in our hearts as gods.

So we're asking them to give us something that they were never meant to and they cannot give to us.

John Calvin said this the human heart is an idol factory.

Every one of us from our mother's womb is an expert in inventing idols.

So we jump into Judges 8 and we're gonna see some idolatry going on, a couple different types of idolatry.

Judges 8, I'll reread some of these passages as we go.

Judges 8, 1 through 3.

Then the men of Ephraim said to him, What is this?

So this would have been to Gideon, what is this that you have done to us not to call us when you went to fight against Midian?

So they say, Look, Gideon went and fought against Midian and did not, how dare he consult Ephraim?

So Ephraim's just offended.

How dare you go and do this and not consult us, Ephraim?

And they accused him fiercely.

And he said to them, What have I done now in comparison with you?

Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the grape of the harvest of Ebiazer?

God has given into your hands the princess of Midian, or Ab, Zeb.

What have I been able to do in comparison with you?

Then their anger gets him subsided when he said this.

Now here's what this means.

Point number one.

Our hearts are prone toward idols of status.

So Gideon, he goes and calls on Ephraim because Gideon's pursuing this enemy.

Pursuing Midian.

He's got to go and finish them off, is what's going on here.

And so he goes to Ephraim, some of his own people, like the people of Israel, some of his own people group, says, Hey, can you help us?

Will you help us?

And Ephraim, Joshua came from Ephraim.

So Joshua, so Ephraim has some status.

The leader Joshua came out of this tribe.

So Ephraim feels pretty good about themselves.

They have Joshua.

I mean, that's kind of a big deal, right?

It's like a little town getting like Michael Jordan coming out of a little town.

You forever feel good about yourself.

Joshua came out of Ephraim.

And so they have some status.

And how dare Gideon not check in with Ephraim?

Right?

They had status and they weren't consulted, so they were offended.

Their status idolatry was offended.

Status idolatry is this life only has meaning, or I only have worth.

If I am recognized and held in high esteem by others.

And if I'm not recognized and I am not held in high esteem, then life doesn't have meaning, or I don't have worth.

So that would be status idolatry.

1 John 5, 19 through 21 says this in the New Testament.

We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

And we know that the Son of God, so it'd be spoken about Jesus, has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true.

And we are in him who is true, in his son, Jesus Christ.

He is the true God in eternal life.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

So John is teaching us to refuse idolatry, but in the context of our secure status, already having status, we don't need idolatry status.

We already have status.

Verse 19, we're from God.

Verse 20, we know him and we're in him.

Verse 21, we are God's children as our identity.

So keep yourselves from idol.

See how that works?

Because our status is already secure, we don't need to go and look for our status in other places.

It really sets us free.

So Gideon and his 300 men, they cross over the Jordan River.

They're exhausted, but they're pursuing Midian.

They need to finish them off.

So now Gideon goes to this, these men of Sokuth for food.

His men need food.

Here's the conversation there in verses 6 and 7.

And the officials of Sokuth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunah already in your hand that we should give bread to your army?

So Gideon said, Well then, when the Lord has given Zebba and Zalmuna into my hand, I will flail your flesh with the thorns.

You wanted to laugh when Brian read it, and you didn't, but you wanted to.

I will flail your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briars.

Okay.

Alright, so you go, like, like how'd we get how'd we get there?

Like that's seems like a jump from verse 6 to 7.

Well, here's what's going on here is Socuth is uh a town exposed to Midian.

So they're playing it safe.

See, that's what they're saying.

They're saying, is Midian already delivered?

Because if they're delivered, I'm willing to help you out, but I'm not risking it.

I'm not gonna just like feed your men, and then Midian take you out, and now Midian knows I helped you, and now they come and take me out, and then Gideon hears that and says, Oh, if that's how you're gonna play that, I will come back, and I will flail your flesh.

Not a lot of Jesus love here, it's just the war narrative.

Alright, now Gideon goes on to Penuel and asks for help.

They deny him, and he says, Oh, you're gonna play it the same way.

All right, I'll come down and break down your tower.

Alright, so what's the point here?

Well, the point here is not Gideon's behavior, the point here is not like is Gideon acting like Jesus.

That's not the point here.

The point here is our hearts are prone toward idols of security.

Like we can pull the lesson here out of how these two towns are reacting to this situation.

So an idol of security, a security idolatry would say this.

Life only has meaning, or I only have worth, if I am protected from harm or loss.

And if I'm not protected from harm or loss, so you always reverse it, it helps us think about it.

If I'm not protected from harm, I'm not protected from loss, if I'm not actively living in that way, now all of a sudden my worth is challenged, or the meaning of my life is challenged.

So when we live in security idolatry, we tend to withhold from other people.

We guard resources, time, and energy.

I know that because I have security idolatry.

I've never had enough resources.

And some of you, as soon as I say that, you know what I'm talking about because you're the same way.

You've never had enough time, you've never had enough energy.

Now, some of you don't know what I'm talking about when I say that.

You think you're selfish, Russ, you're selfish, but you have status idolatry, and you know all about that.

We all have our own idolatry, we all have idolatry, we all are prone to idols, and we build these prisons around our hearts.

So Gideon takes the leaders of Midian, takes them out, he returns back to Socuth, he takes their leaders.

The text says, with them taught the men of Sokuth a lesson.

That would be those thorns and the flailing of the flesh.

He goes and he breaks down the tower and Penul.

And what we learn here, thinking about Ephraim and Sokhuth and Penul, these leaders of this people of Israel that wouldn't help the army of Israel is trying to carry out protecting their land and their people, and yet they're withholding help?

Like these leaders withholding help from another leader that's tried to protect them?

Point number three is this sometimes the people of God are a great disappointment.

Amen?

Anybody want to amen that?

Do you have that in your journal?

I mean, I've been around churches, I've been around churches for 30 years.

I've worked in churches for 18 years.

I know great stories.

Like really redeeming, delivering incredible stories of redemption and emotional healing, unbelievable stories of belonging.

And I know some horrible stories.

I mean, last night, Christian and I were at a party in Atlanta, and we see a lady we haven't seen in 10 years, 30 seconds into the story, unloaded on us, is just a horrible story.

A horrible story of involvement and ministry.

I know people being saved, healed, restored, freed, liberated, at peace, at rest, and I know people who've been wounded.

In church, okay?

In church, wounded, cheated on, belittled, shamed, guilted, backstabbed.

Hang around long enough.

Hang around long enough and you'll see it.

And it's not because there's something wrong with God, and it's not because there's something wrong with church, and it's not because there's something wrong with the gospel.

It's because we just put a whole bunch of human beings together.

That's why.

Here's the application.

Don't let humanity's sin, including your own, disillusion you about God's love for you.

Number two, watch out for your own pursuit of status.

This is how a lot of this wounding and backstabbing in church happens.

This is sort of idolatry.

Number three, watch out for your own pursuit of security.

And number four, God already accepts you in Christ, so see this stuff and confess it more.

So we have disappointing Christians to deal with, but we also have disappointing leaders to deal with.

These leaders are disappointing in this story.

I mean, it's sort of like just filled with disappointing leaders, behavior reactions to each other.

Again, I've been in church 30 years.

I've been in ministry on staff and churches for 18 years, and I would say in healthy, really healthy, vibrant, life-giving churches.

And I can honestly say eventually a leader will disappoint you.

It'll just come.

Now, this absolutely does not condone a leader hurting you.

That's not what I'm talking about.

A leader should never hurt you.

But what I'm talking about is a leader disappointing you or letting you down in some way.

Hang around long enough, again, hang around long enough, even here, I will disappoint you.

I'll forget to call.

I won't reply to the email in one day, it'll be three days.

And that's gonna disappoint you.

I'll be too fast on leadership or too slow.

I'll take one slant at the view on the issue, and you're gonna take the other slant of the view on the issue.

And that's not because I'm horrible or you're horrible, it's not because anything's wrong with God or anything's wrong with church, it's just because we're human beings.

My limits will be exposed, and you guess what will happen?

If you hang around in community long enough, your limits will be exposed.

And that's why relationships, community.

If you get along, by the way, if you get along in a community constantly with no tension, you don't have community.

Okay?

You have like it's just you is what you have.

You have you.

That's why you're able to exist like that.

But if you're in community, there's gonna be tension because you're with other people.

Here's the application.

Number one, the disappointment we experience from a leader's limits must send us all, all of us on to gaze all the more at Christ, the leader of all leaders.

That's the point, and that's the way how we exist within community in peace.

Number two, all human relationships require constant grace to each other because none of us are perfect.

So this disappointment and letdown intentions that we feel, I'm not talking about hurt.

Disappointments and letdown intentions.

Constant imputation.

It just takes me imputating to you, righteousness and belovedness you don't deserve, you imputating to me, righteousness and belovedness, I don't deserve.

It's the way in which human relations, it's it works in your relationships.

It'll work in your romance, it'll work with your children.

Imputation is the way in which human relationships function at peace.

Okay, so we go on to learn Gideon has countless wives, he has a concubine, he has 70 children, 70 children.

You thought it was hard, like two, and you're complaining.

70.

So the people ask this guy, this is the guy they asked to be their king.

And the text confuses us in Judges 8, verse 23, because he seems to say no, but then later in the chapter he names one of his sons Ambomelech, which means my father is king.

Judges 8:23

So either, and this is commentators who don't even know.

So either he turned down being king, but he really wanted to be king, or he turned down being king like they asked him to be king, but in some other way he stayed king in some way.

We're not sure.

Here's what we know.

Later in the chapter, in Judges 8, Gideon takes all the crescent ornaments that came from around the necks of the camels of the other leaders that he took out, and he takes those.

He takes the earrings from the spoil of war, he takes all of that, and he creates out of that an ephod.

Now, this is the sort of thing we read right over.

To be honest, it's the sort of thing, if I'm not a pastor and I study a whole chapter to be able to come before you, I read right over it.

So here's what an ephod is.

Here's a picture of it.

An ephod was part of what the high priest would wear.

See that kind of gold piece in the middle, the kind of that shield thing.

It has 12 stones.

The 12 stones, they represented the 12 tribes of Israel.

And ephod had a pocket that contained two different stones, Urim and Thummim, Tummim, apparently, something like that, which represented the point of all of it, is it represented God's direction for his people.

And now in the Old Testament, it's not true anymore, but in the Old Testament, the high priest was the one receiving God's direction for the people.

So now ordinarily the ephod would be with the high priest.

Gideon went the high priest.

And the high priest and the ephod probably was maybe in Shiloh, maybe in Bethel.

We're not really sure, but here's what we know.

Gideon wanted to be more than just a military leader.

And so he created this for himself.

Gideon wanted to have God's direction outside of God's providential means of grace to him.

And here's the point for us.

Point number four.

The Christian life is relationship with Christ and walking in the normal means of grace.

We don't have ephods anymore.

You don't need a priest.

I can be priestly to you, but you don't need a priest.

Jesus is your high priest.

You can go straight to God.

Praise God, that's the way it works.

So we don't have ephhods, we don't have high priests.

But we know this urge from Gideon.

And the urge is this to want something more than the normal means of grace.

To want something more than what God's already given to you.

Right?

This is our boredom with church.

This is our boredom with faith.

This is this is our just like hankering and wanting of a next revival high.

And in this sort of mentality and thought, Christ and his work for you is not enough.

You need more.

You need the next, the next moment, the next experience.

And so it's almost like a religious consumerism that we've accepted into the evangelical church.

This is consumerism of events of spiritual experiences.

Now take this for what you want it.

You can disagree with me at this point.

You're welcome to disagree.

You can disagree with me the whole time, actually.

But take this for what you want.

I feel like the focus on revival in the evangelical church, say in the last 150 years or so, because that's kind of where it has developed, hasn't been all good to us.

It can put an unfair pressure on the church.

It can put an unfair pressure on people to have a special experience, just like a next experience, rather than remembering that in Christ we have everything that we already need.

We already have what we need.

It's not needing the next experience, it's remembering what we've already been given to us.

He's already committed to you.

Always.

Many times, not always, but many times we keep looking for more, but we have everything we already need.

In Christ and Jesus, our looking for more can actually be religious idolatry.

Here's what I think this means.

There's nothing wrong with marking moments as a Christian.

You went to camp, one Sunday's, you know, unbelievable, that does something for you.

Some marking moment.

There's nothing wrong with a marking moment as a Christian.

But marking moments are in service to and fuel a normal Christian life of walking contently with Christ.

Not the other way around.

Walking contently with Christ in the normal means of grace should not try to fuel looking for the next marking moment.

Those are two very different things.

The normal Christian life is to pray, read the scriptures, seek out godly friends, love your neighbors, sit under the word in church, and receive communion as a weekly means of grace, as renewal.

See, we have a gift, we do it every week.

It's easy to forget it.

When we go to the table every week, this is our weekly renewal.

It's like revival built in every single week.

We don't have to separate out a week, a year for revival.

We don't need to necessarily go off on a retreat.

Every single week we get the chance to come forward with empty hands to come forward in renewal to say, I don't have anything to offer.

Everything that I have, I receive from God in Christ.

This is incredibly normal.

Right?

Isn't it normal?

It's every single week.

It can't become more normal.

And it is incredible, an incredible saving grace for us to have built in every single week as a means of grace to us in our walk with Jesus that's just daily, every day.

And maybe we have some marking moments, some revival highs along the way, but those are in service to walking with Jesus.

So we come and we receive because what we say every single week, and I'll say it as soon as I stand by the table here in a second, I'll say it right now for the pulpit, communion reminds us that we are acceptable to God, but not because of any work we have done, but because of the work that Jesus has done for us.

Let's pray together.

God, thank you for this good word, this reminder of how often we run to idolatry of status, security, and religiosity.

Help us to find our status in you, help us to find our security in you, and help us to find all that we need in Jesus, not in more religion and more experiences.

Help our very identities, the core of who we are, to rest in your love for us.

That all of our sin has been put upon the cross and all of your righteousness has been given to us.

We are fully forgiven, fully righteous, fully beloved in the gift of Christ.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.