What A Mess: Gideon | Rev. Vicki Harrison

I have a picture of a room. Do we have that picture? Start out with that. There we go.

So if you have a teenager or if you've had a teenager, then maybe this looks

familiar to you. Does this look familiar to anybody?

So I have three young adults. My second child, I'm not throwing her under the bus, but I am.

This is clean compared to Rosie's room.

She would admit it.

But, you know, there's a certain messiness sometimes for some teenagers.

Not all. Some of them are neatniks. I know that.

But sometimes their rooms get so messy. It's like layers and layers of messiness.

That when we as parents ask them to clean it up, they don't even know what to do, right?

It's like it's so overwhelming. They can't do it on their own. It's just too much.

They need help. They need us to go, well, let's start with finding all the cups.

And then let's try to find the forks, right?

I mean, you're right. Let's pick up all the dirty laundry and let's put it in the laundry.

They need us to help guide them because it is so overwhelming for them. It is so messy.

They need guidelines and boundaries.

So today is week two of our sermon series, What a Mess. a study in the book of Judges.

And the period of Judges looked kind of like that messy bedroom, but worse.

Total mess, total chaos. In fact, there were so many layers of mess,

they didn't know which way was up and which way was down.

And it was a 350-year period in the Old Testament in which people did what was

right in their own eyes. And we talked about this last week.

Whenever we do what's right in our own eyes, it doesn't go well because we're

so selfish and we do not have a good inner compass.

And so things really just kind of move into a state of chaos.

And that's what happened in the book of Judges.

We need direction. Specifically, we need God's direction.

And as we walk through the book of Judges, we can see the chaos and the destruction

that comes from not following God's way.

You know, God's people had fallen into this really ugly state of idolatry and sin.

It was horrible.

And they were sinning against the Lord, but they were sinning against other people.

Now, if you remember, if you were here last week, then you'll remember there's

a very distinct cycle that we see in the book of Judges.

And I have that on your sermon notes so you can draw this out,

especially if you weren't here last week because this is very important.

We see this over and over again. So if you start on the right side,

what happens, Israel might be doing okay but the judge dies and then Israel

falls into this period of sin and idolatry.

They worship other gods. They do all kinds of horrific things.

God lifts his hand of protection. He lifts his hand of protection,

and one of the foreign nations around Israel conquers them, and they become

oppressed. They become enslaved by that nation.

And then, after a while, they get tired of that.

So they cry out to the Lord, right? They cry out to the Lord,

and then God raises up a judge.

And the purpose of those judges was to save the people.

They were called to defeat the foreign power that was oppressing Israel.

And then once that power was defeated, Israel had peace.

And so Israel's delivered, and Israel begins to serve the Lord.

They remember their God. as long as that judge was alive there was peace after

that judge died the whole cycle begins again.

And this happens 12 different times.

So there's a lot to the book of Judges. I do hope if you haven't read through

it all, that you would take some time and read through it.

It's not that long because we are truly just skimming the surface.

We're talking about the three most well-known judges.

The first one is Deborah. We talked about her last week. This week we're talking

about Gideon, as Wally mentioned.

And next week, Pastor Roberto will be speaking on Samson.

Okay. So I want us to open up our pew Bibles.

239. 239 in the pew Bible. Judges chapter 6.

Judges 6 · chapter mention

Judges chapter 6. So the story of Gideon is actually quite long.

Judges 6 · chapter mention

We're going to be skipping around a bit, but I still want us to follow along in scripture.

I think that's more effective than me just kind of telling you the story.

So we're going to start in Judges 6, verses 1 through 4.

Judges 6:1–4

This is the word of the Lord. The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord,

and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.

Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters

for themselves in mountain clefts, caves, and strongholds.

Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites,

Amalekites, and other eastern peoples invaded the country.

They camped on the land, and they ruined the crops all the way to Gaza,

and they did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys.

They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts.

It was impossible to count them or their camels. They invaded the land to ravage it.

Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help. Now let's stop there.

So here we see that cycle, right?

The previous judge, Deborah, has passed away and the Israelites once again forget their God.

They do evil. He lifts his hand of protection.

This time it's the Midianites who come and conquer the Israelites and the situation

is really, really horrible.

The Midianites were strong and they were vicious.

There were so many of them that it was impossible to count them.

It was even impossible to count their camels.

I find that funny. That's an interesting detail.

They didn't just conquer the people. They oppressed the people. They ravaged the land.

So I want you to picture this. They destroyed all the crops.

They killed all the livestock.

The Israelites were absolutely destitute, okay? They were destitute.

They had no food. They had no animals.

So I want you to just know things were really, really bad.

So they cry out to the Lord.

Why is it that we wait until things are really, really bad to cry out to the Lord?

Don't we all do that?

And of course, God hears the cries of his people. We talked about that last week.

God always hears the cries of his people.

And he raises up a judge. But this judge is a little different.

This judge is not a mighty warrior. this

judge is not a wise prophet he wasn't

even very faithful he was weak he was afraid he was filled with doubt and his

name is Gideon so we meet Gideon a few chapter a few verses down in in chapter

six so we're still in our bibles here people page 239 and,

So we find Gideon and he's threshing wheat in a wine press, all right?

Now, we don't do a lot of wheat threshing, right?

Anybody who threshed wheat this weekend? So we typically don't thresh a lot of wheat.

So we wouldn't know that this was highly, highly unusual.

Normally, if you're threshing wheat, you want to do it outside because it's a really messy process.

It's yucky. You got to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Don't really ask me what that means. I just know it's messy.

You wouldn't do it in a wine press. But Gideon is scared to death.

He wants to be able to feed his family. So he's in this wine press.

He's hidden himself there.

And the wine press was empty.

And that tells us something. Because the grape vines have all been destroyed.

So there's no wine there are no grapes in

the wine press so there he is threshing the

wheat so let's look at verses we're still in chapter 6

let's look at verses 11 through 12 the angel of the lord came and sat down under

the oak of ophrah that belonged to joash the abiz right where his son Gideon

was threshing wheat in a wine press to keep it from the Midianites.

Now, when the Lord, when the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon,

he said, the Lord is with you, mighty warrior.

Now, just so you know, this is God having a sense of humor. All right.

All right. So calling Gideon a mighty warrior. And I'm sure Gideon just found it hilarious, right?

Verses 13 through 15. Pardon me, my Lord, Gideon replied.

But if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?

Don't we ask God that question sometimes? Lord, if you're with me,

why is all this happening to me?

So, Lord, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our

ancestors told us about when they said, Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?

But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.

And the Lord turned to him and

said, Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand.

Am I not sending you?

Pardon me, my Lord, Gideon said. How can I save Israel?

My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.

So Gideon knew he was just a regular guy.

He wasn't fit to lead anything.

God is calling him to defeat the great Midianites and force them out of Israel.

This is like taking a boy who did

not make his high school jv football team and sending him straight to the nfl

he was ill-equipped he was going to get clobbered and he didn't have the skills

and he knew it he wasn't disillusioned gideon is being a realist here so he asked god for a sign.

He asked God for a sign. He needed to be sure this was really God asking him

to do it. He needed to be sure.

I mean, he just couldn't believe that God wanted to use him, him.

So he brings an offering to God, and then he asks God for a sign,

and then he asks God for another sign, and then he asks God for another sign.

Nothing like being super sure that it's really God calling him.

He might have been a little OCD.

I don't blame him. But God is patient with Gideon, and he goes along with sign after sign.

Even though God was incredibly patient with Gideon, I just want a little warning here.

I don't recommend that we ask God for signs, okay? I think this is like a unique

circumstance in the text.

Just want to put that out there. If you look at the whole of Scripture,

from Genesis to Revelation, asking God for signs is usually not the best idea. It doesn't always work.

Most of the time, God wants us to step out in faith without a sign, amen?

And I know that's hard. I know it. Okay, let's get back to our text.

It's time for the battle.

So now we're going to go to Judges chapter 7, verses 1 through 3.

Judges 7:1–3

That's page 241. Just turn the page over.

It says, early in the morning, Jerobbal, that is Gideon, and all of his men

camped at the spring of Herod.

And the camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Morah.

And the Lord said to Gideon, you have too many men.

I cannot deliver Midian into their hands or Israel would boast against me.

My own strength has saved me.

Now announce to the army, anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.

So 22,000 men left while 10,000 remained.

So Gideon wakes up. He's finally confident that God has called him to lead this army.

And he gathers his troops and he has 32,000 men. And I'm not sure what he's thinking.

He might've been like, wow, look what God did. Or he might've been like, oh my goodness, 32,000.

It's nothing in face of the 100,000 Midianites where you can't even count their camels.

But what we know is that God had other ideas.

So he tells Gideon that this is too many men.

With this many, God says that Israel will take the credit.

And so he has Gideon tell them that anyone who's super scared can go home.

So 22,000 go home and Gideon is left with an army of 10,000 men to go against

the huge Midianite army, which was over 100,000.

No, God knew their hearts. God knew their hearts.

God knew that if they had 32,000 men and they won, even though it was God's

victory, they would take the credit.

Maybe not out loud, but in their hearts, they would be thinking,

look what I did. Look what I did.

How often do we do this right

we say look at how god

has blessed me but yet in

our hearts we're thinking look what i did look what my hard work earned and

god wanted to make sure he was going to make sure that in no way could the israelites

think that this was their victory it's god's victory.

But then God says, you know what? 10,000 men? That's still too many.

Let's see what happens. Chapter 7, let's go to verse 5.

So Gideon took the men down to the water, and there the Lord told them,

separate those who lapped the

water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.

300 of them drank from cupped hands, laughing like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

And the Lord said to Gideon, with the 300 men that lapped, I will save you and

give the Midianites into your hands.

Let all the others go home. So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home,

but kept the 300 who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.

So now Gideon is left with 300 lappers.

I'm not sure what to think about that. And it's with these 300 that God is going

to defeat this massive, strong Midianite army.

300. That's nothing. Look around you. That's about the number of people in this sanctuary.

It's nothing. Nothing.

You ready to go up against an army of 100,000?

It sounds absolutely crazy, right? But it's God's kind of crazy,

and I think that's always the best kind of crazy. So let's keep...

Before we move on in the text, I think you can guess how this ends, right?

Gideon takes his 300 men, and he thoroughly defeats the Midianites.

And it wasn't that simple, of course. God has all the 300 blow their trumpets

at the same time and it confuses the Midianites.

And before long, the Midianites take their swords and they're fighting each

other and it allowed the Israelites to come in and defeat them.

Not because of their strength. Obviously not because of their strength because

the Israelites had no strength.

It was all about God. It was all about God. It was about his power, his might, his plan.

In our worldly way of thinking, the odds were totally against them.

But the odds are never against God.

He's not just an odds defier. He's an odds smasher.

So jd walt who writes the wake-up call for seedbed some of you read that every morning.

A couple years ago he did a study on the book of judges and he wrote this about

this passage it says this i wonder what you are facing right now,

and just how overwhelming the odds against you may be.

You are likely tempted to try to win the war in the way the world would just tell you.

The war must be won by trying harder, by digging deeper, by building security

and strength and all the other things.

Perhaps someone is telling you that all you need is more faith,

that somehow you are not believing enough.

And let me be emphatic about this next statement.

All of that is wrong. You know what we learned from Gideon?

It's that none of this stuff, it's not about our strengths, It's about our weaknesses.

It's about allowing God to work

in our weaknesses. That's not something we feel very comfortable with.

It's not about the quantity or the quality of our faith either.

What does Jesus say in Matthew 17 20? Let's look at the scripture.

Let's read this together. He replied, because

you have so little faith truly I

tell you if you have faith as small

as a mustard seed you can say to this mountain move from here to there and it

will move nothing will be impossible for you nothing you see this isn't so much

of a story about a man who stepped out in.

Scared. He dragged his feet as so many of us do.

This is a story about our God.

In whom are we placing our faith? In whom are you placing your faith?

I think one of the fascinating things about this story is that as it progresses,

Gideon stops asking for signs.

You know, he simply trusts God and he obeys him.

Even when God had asked him, well, this is the way we're going to defeat the

Midianites. I want all your men, your 300 men, to just start blowing their trumpets.

And Gideon could have been like, but God, this is ridiculous.

This. We don't need trumpets. We need weapons.

But he didn't. He didn't argue. He just obeyed.

And that is what God asks us to do. I'm not saying it's easy.

I want you to think about your own circumstances. I want you to think about

what is going on in your life right now.

How is God asking you to trust him to have faith in him could it be that you're

trying to handle the situation from a worldly self-reliant way I don't blame you I do that all the time,

but keep in mind our God is a God who smashes the odds he can take a small bit

of faith and use it to move a mountain.

But we have to be sure that the faith, that our faith is in him and not in ourselves.

So what is it that you need to give to God?

What is it that you need to surrender to the Lord today? You've been holding onto it.

You've been thinking, I can just take care of this myself.

It's time to surrender it to the God.

For whom nothing is impossible. It's time to allow God to work in your weaknesses.

This goes against everything we've ever been taught in our lives.

Surrender. Surrender.

Jesus, we come to you today and we recognize that we are dealing with hard things.

And we've tried to hold on to those and we want to give it to you and I just

pray for each person here that we can truly surrender,

our needs, our burdens, our worries, our anxieties, our problems to you.

That we stop trying to handle it in our own power.

That we give it to you and we trust you with it. we lay it at the throne of

your grace and we don't pick it back up,

for we know that you are a good God and a powerful God and nothing,

nothing is too hard for you so we pray this in the mighty name of Jesus Amen.