Is Bigger Always Better?

And journeying with you.

We're in a series in our second week where we're talking about biblical community, what it means to move beyond just sitting in a row and moving to circles, having face-to-face conversations, encouraging one another and helping one another.

What is it about us guys that feel that causes us to feel so competitive and regardless of our age, at the drop of a hat, we'll just bow up and get ready to wrestle or compete in something.

There's just something about us guys that want to do that.

One of the guys I went to seminary with, we carpooled to seminary, and he had a job where he worked in an office, and he would tell me all the stories of the guys that worked in his office, which begged me to ask the question, do y'all ever work?

And he would say, we would, he said, they would start jawing at each other.

These are like he was 26 or 27 years old at the time, you know, 20s and 30s.

And he said, he said, before you knew it, they were out on the front lawn in front of the office wrestling in the grass.

Grown men.

And we all get to an age where we realize that that competitive nature is way beyond what the physical body can handle.

My oldest son, you know, I've got two boys, and it's just nothing to wrestle.

You know, even when Abigail was little, I would, I would wrestle her because I could beat her.

And so I remember one time Josiah grabbed a hold of me, and I and I thought in my mind, this stage of my life is done.

Because I could feel if he just, if he had his way, I would be done.

And so there's this boyish part of us.

We want to show our might.

We think that that bigger, stronger is better.

It's just a way of our thinking and our life.

A two-door truck doesn't satisfy me.

I want a four-door truck.

And listen, I don't want just a four-door truck.

I want a four-door super cab truck.

I don't, two-car garage is not enough.

Let's add a third and let's add a fourth.

I mean, we could go on and on in regard to that and talk about how the world says bigger is better.

We're gonna keep up with the Joneses.

We're gonna we're gonna follow along.

It's not just us, it's not just a personal thing.

It happens on a national scale.

How many of you remember the 1980s arms race between the U.S.

and the Soviet Union?

It's not enough that each country had three bombs that would literally obliterate the rest of the world at one time.

We're gonna keep adding bombs to the arsenal because we've got to be bigger and better than the other country.

We've got to do more.

It happens in businesses.

We know of the scandals and the CEOs that says we've got to have explosive growth.

We've got to be bigger, we've got to produce more money.

And so CEOs are in prison now because they've cooked the books and they've robbed money from investors because of greed and that something inside of us that says bigger, faster, stronger.

It happens in churches.

It happens, it happens in spiritual houses.

You know, bigger is better.

Mega church phenomena.

And let me let me, I don't tell you, I am not against big churches.

I'm not against megachurches, but there is there is a danger at times where we can put a pastor on a pedestal and they become a celebrity, and and we're pursuing growth at the expense of ankle-deep discipleship and growing at a pace that honors God and helps make disciples.

And you will find that pastors will burn out, they'll crash and burn.

Their character at some point will be exposed.

And not it's not just them and their family, but it affects the whole church, it affects the whole body.

And so I am not against growth.

I am not against mega church.

Uh I'm not against mega churches.

I've served in a couple of mega churches in in youth ministry.

I I want our church to grow.

I want churches to grow, to grow.

I would never want to put a lid on the growth of this church.

We want to reach people, we want to impact this community, we want to have a global impact.

But here's what I think, here's what I believe.

In order for us to grow bigger, we've got to grow smaller.

In order for us to have the impact that I think God wants us to have, we've got to grow smaller.

We've got to grow smaller.

We've got to take steps to move toward biblical community.

Where your name is known, and where you have relationships, where somebody is willing to miss you and hold you accountable.

Somebody cares about you.

The old cheer song, you know, where you walk in and let's sing it together.

Everybody knows your name.

We say this around Church at the Grove.

Everybody should be known.

They should know and be known.

They should love and be loved.

They should celebrate and be celebrated, and they should serve and be served.

And so that's what I think God wants for us.

And we're going to be in Judges.

We're going to be in the Old Testament, going to Old Testament these three weeks, uh, in this series on biblical community called Breakthrough.

Uh Judges chapter seven.

Judges is the seventh book of the Bible.

Going back to the beginning, to the Old Testament.

It's the seventh book of the Bible.

We're going to be in chapter seven of Judges.

Looking at a character by the name of Gideon.

You're welcome to follow along on the church app.

There's notes there.

You can follow along in your Bibles.

You can look at the Bible app on your phone.

And so we're looking at the life of Gideon.

Last week we spent some time in Exodus 17 looking at Moses, and we said that breakthrough, breakthrough in life's battles come when others lift us up.

We talked about Aaron and her lifting up the arms of Moses so Joshua and the Israelites could win the battle on the battlefield against the Amalekites.

And so breakthrough comes in life's battles when others lift us up.

And so today it's a little different, but similar, similar focus.

God uses small groups full of weak people to bring breakthrough in our lives.

God uses small groups full of weak people.

And when I say weak, that's not demeaning.

That's weak from the standpoint of all of us living in our humanity, living in our flesh, and we are broken because of sin.

Going back to the beginning, we suffered the consequences of the sin of Adam and Eve that started in the garden when they chose their way over God's way.

And so I don't mean weak to be demeaning to you, demeaning to your spirituality, demeaning to you physically, demeaning to you emotionally or mentally.

It's just this humanity.

In our humanity, God uses small groups full of human, weak people to provide breakthrough and bring breakthrough in our lives.

And so the book of Judges is an interesting book because it's full of chaos, sin, and rebellion with little bright spots of revival and renewal sprinkled in the book.

But the last verse of the last chapter, Judges 21, 25, you don't have to worry about looking there.

It sums up the book of Judges.

In those days, Israel had no king.

All the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.

That kind of sums up the book of Judges.

I think it kind of sums up the world we live in.

People are pretty much doing what they think is right in their own eyes, and we live in a broken, messed up world.

But at the middle of this book, or in the early chapters of this book, and throughout the book, you see characters like Samson, like Gideon, these judges, men and women, Deborah among them, men and women who who sought God and were given leadership by God to lead his people.

And Gideon is found in this section in chapter 6.

Gideon is found threshing wheat.

Now, let me tell you about about Gideon.

Anybody ever watched Captain America?

Anybody ever seen Captain America?

Alright, so what's what's Captain America's real name?

Steve Rogers.

Steve Rogers.

So so before Captain America, it was Steve Rogers.

That's Gideon.

That's what I picture Gideon like.

I mean, he just, I mean, I, if I could just shrink, you know, I mean, Steve Rogers is just this tiny little wimpy guy.

But he had some kind of courage inside of him.

Remember, he would fight all the time?

And he would be just getting, you know, just taking a beating.

And he would just get back up, and what would he say?

I can do this all day long.

Well, Gideon was like Steve Rogers, minus the courage.

Because Gideon has found he's threshing wheat, not on the hill.

When you threshed wheat, what you were doing is you were separating the kernels of the wheat from the chaff, and they would throw it up.

They would always do it on a hilltop because the wind would be blowing and blow the chaff away, and the meat and the main part of the kernel of the wheat that you wanted to use in producing food, it would fall back down because it had some weight to it.

Gideon is in hiding in a low area, trying to thresh wheat so he can't be seen by the Midianites because he's a scaredy cat.

He's a scaredy cat.

And God comes to him and says, Hey, you're going to lead my people.

You're going to lead my people.

Look at Judges 6, 14 through 16.

He said, Then the Lord turned to him and said, Go with the strength you have and rescue Israel from the Midianites.

I am sending you.

I am sending you.

Now this is written to, he's speaking to Gideon.

But listen, you're all Gideons.

You're all Gideonites.

You're all Gideons today.

And when I mean, when I say that, you're you're not, uh there's this group of men who give out Bibles called the Gideons, one of the most respected groups and ministries I've I've ever known and been around.

That's not what I'm talking about.

We're all we're all Gideons.

He's saying, I am sending you, but Lord, Gideon replied, How can I rescue Israel?

My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family.

The Lord said to him, here's can we just say this together, this next line?

The Lord said to him, I will be with you.

Man, they're right there.

Can I just tell you the Lord says he'll be with you?

You want to do great things for the Lord, he'll be with you.

You don't even know what those great things are, God is with you.

You feel downtrodden, you feel discouraged, you feel depressed, you you feel just just enslaved to anxiety and trouble.

God says, I will be with you.

Jesus, before he left this earth, now listen, that is the cutest baby in the world that's walking out of here.

I'm not preaching, I'm not competing with that, okay?

So that's cuteness.

That's cute.

Babies are welcome in here.

They're welcome.

It's okay.

Um, but y'all, I know that I know nobody pays attention when the baby starts cooing, you know, and making noise.

So I just, you know, let's acknowledge it.

It's like a, it's like a it's like a group of kids, uh five years old playing baseball.

And the plane flies overhead, the umpire just says, everybody pause.

Y'all stop, everybody stop.

And all the kids are.

So he says, all right, now let's play ball.

I will be with you.

And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.

God picks the least likely to accomplish what he wants to accomplish.

And Gideon says, I God, I need a sign.

He's not a great man of faith.

I remember when God called me to ministry.

I I couldn't even talk without stuttering.

I was so nervous.

Even in my early years of youth ministry, I there were times that I would stand up and speak, and it would be obvious that I I had a stuttering, speech impediment issue.

And I and I I didn't like it.

I wanted to do ministry.

It wasn't the preaching part that attracted me, it was the impact of lives.

And God, God said, I'll be with you.

I'll walk you in.

And I just remember hungering and thirsting to grow as a communicator and a speaker, and begging God to help me get over the anxiety and the nervousness associated with my problem with speaking without stuttering.

And over time, I just feel like God brought healing and grew me at least to the point that I could speak in a way that communicated a little bit.

And so Gideon needs a sign.

He's not a man of great faith.

And we know some of us know the story.

We've heard of the stories.

I didn't grow up with these stories.

My wife grew up with these stories.

I learned them as an adult, but he takes this fleece and he lays it out before God.

And he says, God, would you take, would you keep the fleece dry?

He said, would in the morning time, would you keep the fleece dry while moisture and dew fills the rest of the ground?

And he gets up and God answers his prayer, and the fleece is dry while the dew has settled on the rest of the ground.

And that's not enough.

Gideon says, God, let's try this again.

He's not a man of great faith, but but he says, God, if you are calling me to do this, would you let's do the opposite, God.

Would you uh pour out your dew or moisturize the fleece?

I'm gonna lay the fleece out, keep the uh the ground dry um while the fleece is wet from the dew.

And he walks out there, and it's it's that's the case.

It's it happens exactly like he requests.

And so so you see, Gideon um begin to take little steps of faith.

He's always needing assurance.

And and and here's what I'm learning: God is is is using these signs to give him a little confidence so he can lead God's army.

And so finally, Gideon's found he's in charge of an army of 32,000 soldiers.

And they're camped just a little ways away from the Midianites that have 135,000 soldiers.

Now, 32,000 versus 135,000.

They don't have any planes, they have no bombs, no technology.

Those are not good odds, are they?

That's those are not good odds, but but but what we learn in this story is God uses and shows us, he shows himself sometimes the most powerful through the few, the weak, and the willing.

And so, God, here's what's funny um the temptation is to have more soldiers and have more technology and more power.

But what God wants to show us is that sometimes it starts with one or a few that he will put his power on display the greatest through.

I mean, the nation of Israel and their history up to the modern day is amazing.

Don't mess with Israel.

And they are one of the tiniest countries in the world.

But you look back at modern history and ancient history how God uses this small nation of people to display his power.

And so it's not always bigger is better.

God wants us to be a people made up of small communities that put his power on display.

Small groups expose sometimes our weaknesses, but they deepen our dependence on God.

Let me say it again.

Small groups.

So when we talk about biblical community, we call them community groups here at Church at the Grove.

But it can be a serve team, it could be a group of people that get together to enjoy some fellowship.

It can be organized or it can be spontaneous.

But what I what I'm talking about is relationships where you're circled up, not just sitting in rows.

You're serving together, doing life together, loving on one another.

It might be that you're you're online for a season, but you're hungry for community.

And sometimes our weaknesses are exposed, which we don't like that, especially us guys, but it's in that that we deepen our dependence on God.

Now let's look.

Judges chapter 7, verses 2 and 3.

Judges 7:2

The Lord said to Gideon, You have too many warriors with you.

Wait a minute, God.

We're only at 32,000.

They're at 135,000.

You have too many warriors with you.

If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength.

Therefore, tell the people hey, whoever is timid, whoever's afraid, may leave this mountain and go home.

So 22,000 of them went home, leaving 10,000.

And it just gets better and better, doesn't it?

Still too many.

So God says, Gideon, we're gonna reduce it farther down.

So he says, I'm gonna I want you to all go down the stream.

Go down to drink, get a drink of water.

Here's what I want you to do.

I want you to watch how all the men drink the water.

Some of them are going to put, they're gonna get down on their knees and they're gonna put their face down into the water, and they're gonna lap up the water like a dog would drink water.

Some of them are gonna take their hands and they're gonna cup up the water, and then they're gonna drink it while they're looking up.

And so they get down to the water and and Gideon begins to count the ones who are who are drinking with their hands up to their mouth, numbers 300.

And God says, Those are your army.

That's your army, those are your men.

Now, a lot of theologians, a lot of preachers will talk about the significance of how they drank the water.

This is my opinion.

That is insignificant, other than that's just how God chose to reveal the 300.

And so, the 300, so Gideon's like, God, you're choosing me.

I am the weakest in my clan, the weakest in my family.

I am Steve Rogers without the courage.

And you're gonna use me, and you've given me a small army of 32,000.

You've sent uh 22,000 home.

You give them freedom not to fight, and then you've reduced it down to 300.

God, what is the deal?

Small groups can expose our weaknesses, but they deepen our dependence.

Here's what I found all throughout the Bible God wants us to depend on Him.

He has all the power.

He is the one that provides.

He's the one that wins the battle.

Not us.

Not in our might.

I know when we talk about small groups.

Some of you say, well, it's a big deal for me to be at church in the first place.

You want me to get together with a small group of people where I can't hide, and they're going to ask me about my feelings.

That's not, number one, that's not what we do in small groups.

We just we build relationships, friendship, support.

Yesterday, I preached a funeral for a guy by the name of Charlie Johnson.

And Charlie and his wife came to the church probably two years, two to two to three years before the pandemic.

And they immediately got involved into a community group.

And so we went back to the church where they lived most of their life over in Lawrenceville, Lilbourne.

It's called Colonial Woods Baptist Church.

And Charlie had expressed that.

He got a cancer diagnosis that was terminal, and he passed away six weeks or so later.

He said, I don't want treatment.

You know, I don't want to put my family through a long ordeal.

And so he said, he had said, I want to go back.

And so his church family was there.

But you know who was there?

You know who walked them through the six weeks that were the toughest?

His community group.

There's eight, eight or ten Church at the Grove people that were at that celebration of Charlie's life.

He knew the Lord.

I know exactly where Charlie is.

Charlie's better off than any of us in here right now.

And so that group rallied around him, supported him, did provided meals for him and his family.

They're going to continue to support Candy, his wife, and the two daughters that they have.

And so whatever it is that holds us back from taking steps to get into community, it might be pride, it might be just outright disobedience, it might be fear.

You might say you're busy or I just don't can't fit it into my schedule.

Then you're too busy.

I'm telling you, life's too short not to have some people that will support us and encourage us.

And so, Judges 7, I'm I mean, I'm I'm gonna I'm I'm running out of time.

Judges 7, 9 through 11, that night the Lord said, Get up, get up, go down to the middle night camp, for I've given you victory over them.

But if you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purus.

So let me just tell you what happens.

Gideon goes down with his servant to the edge of the Midi night camp.

And he hears that so this is Gideon who's still saying, God, would you give me one more sign?

I need more assurance.

That's all of us.

And he and he they overhear a conversation between two Midianite soldiers where one of them says, I had a dream that we were defeated by that small army of Israelites.

And so Gideonite says, Oh man, that's that's the sign.

The fleece wasn't enough.

You know, the the second fleece wasn't enough.

I mean, he's not, he's just, he wants this constant um assurance.

And then verses 15 and 16 in chapter 7, when Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed and worshiped before the Lord.

Then he returned to the Israelite camp and shouted, Get up! For the Lord has given you victory over the Midianite hordes.

He divided the 300 men into three groups and gave each man a ram's horn and a clay jar with a torch in it.

If anybody says, Hey, I need you to help me go into a fight, man, we're gonna we're gonna go into a fight.

And you're like, Yeah, come on, let's bring it on.

And if they hand you a clay jar and a trumpet, run.

I mean, what how crazy is that?

Okay, he's reduced us down to 300 and hands us the trumpet in one hand and a clay jar with a lamp inside the other, and so they take it.

All three groups blew their horns and broke the jars.

They held the blazing torches in their left hands and the horns in their right hands, and they all shouted, A sword for the Lord and for Gideon.

See, God uses small committed groups to put his power and strength on display.

That's what he does.

He uses small committed groups to display his power and strength.

And so they blow a horn, they break the pots, the jars, and there's this this there's a lamp inside, there's a light inside of the jar.

And the Midianites are waiting, they wake up in a panic, and and immediately they start fighting each other and killing each other.

Some run because they're overwhelmed with fear.

And then all of a sudden, Gideon and those 300, man, hey, a little courage.

And so they call some of the guys back that had been sent away, and they continue to chase after the Midianites to defeat them.

It's a beautiful picture, I believe, of how the light of Jesus shines the brightest through his brokenness.

The light of Jesus shines the brightest through his brokenness.

Isaiah says in Isaiah 53, he was despised and rejected.

A man of sorrows acquainted with the deepest grief, who turned, we turned our backs on him and looked the other way.

He was despised and we did not care.

Yet it was our weak, it was our weaknesses he carried.

It was our sorrows that weighed him down, and we thought his troubles were a punishment from God.

Look at what it says, verse 5.

Talking about Jesus, Isaiah, Old Testament.

He was pierced for our rebellion, and he was crushed for our sin.

He was crushed, like a broken jar, shattered.

But it was through the breaking of the jar, the broken body, that the world has been changed.

Maybe your life has been changed.

And sometimes we go through brokenness.

We go through suffering.

And it's in that suffering, it's through the battle, the illness, the loss, the unexpected news, that in the middle of that, that the light of Jesus that is promised will shine the brightest.

So if you're discouraged, if you feel a bit broken, if you feel weak, it's in the place that you are that Jesus might show up the greatest.

There's a couple of practical applications.

Big gatherings and big events do not always lead to great influence.

Now, I love, I'm gonna tell you, I like it a lot more when more of y'all are here than not.

It's a lot more fun.

But I you know what I like more?

I like it more when I hear that that you're gathered in community.

I like it more when I hear stories like Charlie Johnson's, where the community group rallies in the midst of loss.

I like it more when I hear how there's support, there's shepherding, there's care in a community, in a group.

Sometimes we've got to realize that the identity that God wants us to put on display is not might and power.

The identity is through small groups and weakness, and identity in that setting sometimes can lead to greater influence.

Identity is what leads to influence, not strength.

It's identity in Christ, it's who you are in Jesus.

The apostle Paul says, he the apostle Paul says he he had a thorn in the flesh.

He had some kind of weakness, and we really don't know what it was.

People speculate what it was, but here's what he says three different times I beg the Lord to take it away.

Each time he said, My grace is all you need.

My power works best in weakness.

So now I am glad to boast about my weakness so that the power of Christ can work through me.

That's why I take pleasure in my weakness and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, troubles that I suffer for Christ.

For when I am weak, then I am strong.

And finally, God wants you to be in an intentional, committed biblical community.

Serve team, community group.

Next week, we're gonna give you specific groups and opportunities.

And we're not limiting it to the groups that we share with you.

You might say, hey, that doesn't work out on my schedule.

Then we'll help you get a group that fits your schedule.

There's community in serving our children and kids grow.

There's community in serving the next generation, middle school students and high school students on Wednesdays.

There's community in welcoming people, serving coffee and snacks.

There's community in those things.

Don't miss out on the community.

But maybe your first step, man, that's a big one.

Maybe that's too big of a step.

Maybe your first step is a small step to Jesus.

Small step to Jesus.

Can I ask you to bow your heads with me?

Whether you're online or whether you're here in the room physically, the first step that you need to take, and it's probably the most important step, is to step toward Jesus.

And it's really, it's it's profound, but it's simple.

It's big.

It's not easy, but it's simple.

We say it's as simple as ABC.

Admit that you need Jesus.

Admit that you are weak and admit that you have this human sin issue, this flesh.

I am a sinner and I admit it.

And then believe.

Believe and trust in what Jesus has provided in his life, in his death, and his bodily resurrection.

You say, I believe.

I believe he died for me, and I'm saying yes to Jesus.

And then C is to confess him as your Lord and Savior.

And if that's you online or in the room, either way, either way, you you can respond and let us know so we can encourage you.

One of the ways you would respond is to simply text.

Start to follow all together.

Start to follow to 9700.

Start to follow 9700 if you're saying yes to Jesus.

And if you're here in this room or you're online, you need to take another step, a step toward community.

I want to encourage you to come back next week, tune in next week, look as we share all the options for you to take a step toward community.

You don't have to wait on us.

You can ask.

We want you to take a step beyond just knowing God and take a step toward finding freedom through biblical community.

Breakthrough comes in biblical community.

We don't want you just to say yes to Jesus, say yes to the community that God has for you.

Father, would you work?

Would you speak?

God, would you continue this morning to work and speak in us and then speak and work through us?

It's in Jesus' name we pray, and everybody said together Amen.

Amen.