Northside Church - Sydney
Superheroes: Life Lessons from the OT Week 3: Gideon
You're listening to another great message from Northside Community Church. Come with me back in time to Jamesville, Wisconsin, and the date is May 31, 1899, and anybody been to Jamesville, Wisconsin, I was checking with Paulette, Ben Dixon Brown earlier, her home state is Iowa, the state next door to Wisconsin. Well, on this particular occasion, back in 1899, there were three men meeting together in a hotel having a real good meeting, discussing a vision that they believed God had given them, and the vision was huge in terms of its potential impact. They thought on America only, but it turns out on the entire western world. These guys had two things in common, they were all traveling salesman and spent a lot of time in hotels, and they all had a great love for God, and a desire to see his good new spread as far and wide as possible. Some of you are probably a step ahead of me. What happened on this day was the inaugural meeting of an organization we've come to know as the Gideon's, and these three men, I have their names here, Samuel Hill, John Nicholson and William Knight's, they met in this hotel in this little town in Wisconsin, and they believe God had given them this vision to place a Bible in the room of every hotel in the United States of America. Well, of course, their vision as we know has gone much wider than the US, and it's impacted virtually every part of the western world, who has read a Gideon's Bible in a hotel or a motel somewhere, who hasn't, oh, don't worry, it's okay, we understand, you probably had your own. Well, I mean, the obvious question is, well, why do these guys call themselves the Gideon's? Well, in the words of these three men, it's because they could identify in their ministry with this character Gideon. They thought the vision was huge, the vision God had given them. They felt incredibly inadequate, but through his strength, they did achieve the vision. And you know, guys, that's a great summary of the life of Gideon. He was an ordinary man, a very humble man, a very reluctant superhero, but he was one to achieve greatness for God and for his people. And in the time we have this morning, I simply want to highlight Gideon's life with God based on three things he said, three statements he made during the course of his life. I think these three things will give us an insight into the kind of relationship Gideon had with God, and will certainly give us an insight into how we can relate to God and now walk with him. I think we'll be impressed by his honesty, by his vulnerability. And I hope we're going to be impressed and inspired by his courage. Look, the first comment from Gideon we're going to look at comes from an incident recorded earlier in the sixth chapter of Judges, not the one that Jane read to us a little bit earlier. It's the moment when Gideon receives his call from God to be the one to rescue the children of Israel from the constant attacks of the nasty neighboring nation of Gideon. I know I'm going to always adore alliteration. I'm going to, I know that, I love that sort of all words that start the same. From the text in here in Judges chapter six, we get the, we get the impression that Gideon was a very frightened farmer. Here he is, stretching the wheat, not outside in the field where you'd expect, but indoors in the winepress. Why is he doing that? Because he was afraid that the Midianites who surrounded his area may see him, may come and plunder his crops and maybe do damage to him and his family. So I guess understandably, this guy's a little bit scared, he's a bit frightened, trying to go about his work as a farmer indoors, which is no mean feat. And then in verse 12 of chapter six, the angel of the Lord appears to this man, as so often happened in the Old Testament times. And I love the words of the angel of the Lord. The angel says to Gideon, this frightened farmer, the Lord is with you, brave and mighty man. Now, I've been around Del Carnegie circles for many, many years. I think this is what we call in Del Carnegie terms, giving a person a fine reputation to live up to, you know, you kind of place a title, a mantle on somebody's shoulders, in the hope that they'll grow into that expectation. It's a great leadership principle. Also works in reverse, by the way, you keep putting somebody down and they'll, their self-confidence will be diminished. So it's almost comical what happens then, of course, Gideon says, what, who are you talking about? You mean me, me, brave man, brave and mighty man, you're talking about me, wow, I don't kind of see myself like that, but he soon regains his composure, does Gideon. And in the 13th verse of the sixth chapter we have, Gideon's sheepish comment to the Lord's servant, or the Lord's angel, and this is what he says. If I may ask, sir, if the Lord is with us, or what's happened to all the wonderful things our Father told us the Lord used to do, ouch, just a little bit of a reality check for the angel of the Lord. I mean, isn't that an incredibly honest, very human response in the face of hardship and setback and disappointment? Lord, you say you're with us, fantastic, if that's the case, how come there's so many things going wrong, what's that all about? If you say you're with us, you see, what was happening with Gideon and the nation of Israel, they will be coming preoccupied with their circumstances rather than focusing on their convictions, their theology, the things they knew deep down they could really hold on to. They will be coming more preoccupied with their circumstances rather than the convictions that had got them to where they were. I will remember how encouraged I was, inspired really, many years ago, I was introduced to a simple three-word formula which is designed to keep your focus on God, particularly in your circumstances, become very adverse and very difficult. And this three-part formula, which some of you have heard me share in other settings, has really got me through some tough times. The three words are fact, faith and feeling, fact, faith and feeling. And look guys, the facts of the gospel are there, they're there for all time. God stepped into history at a certain point. He gave us Jesus Christ, Jesus showed us how to live life. He showed us the kind of relationship you can have with the Father. He died on the cross for our sins. He was raised to life, the living Christ comes to us in the power of the Spirit every day and says, "I will never leave you or forsake you." Nothing can separate you from my love. They're the facts of the gospel in a compressed form. And then there's the faith. By faith we embrace these facts. It takes a faith step to embrace the reality of Jesus Christ. But once you've made that decision, and it is a decision, it's not just like some kind of what it's a real decision to invest in a relationship with God the Father through Jesus the Son, those two things remain constant, or at least can remain constant. Now I've done that over the years as so many of you have, resulting in meaning in life, purpose, joy, sense of fulfillment, that's some of the things that the gospel delivers. However, at times I don't always feel all that strong in my walk with God and know it to you. There are times of doubt. There are times of disappointment. There are times of sadness, times of despair, times of just wondering, "What's it all about?" My feelings, your feelings, they fluctuate. Do they not? You know? Up and down. Under the right circumstances they go all over the place. But friends, our feelings are the least reliable of the three components of this little three-word formula. Fact, faith, feelings. In other words, how I'm feeling at any one time need not have a bearing at all on the facts of the gospel. Need not affect at all my faith investment in God through Jesus. Need not affect those at all. You can go up and down, can't trust feelings. So here in the sixth chapter of Judges, against the backdrop of a long history of God's faithfulness over many generations, Gideon receives the message, "The Lord is with you." And his natural response at the feelings level, because of his circumstances, his natural response is to ask, "Well, if that's the case, if you're with us, how come so many things are going wrong?" And very graciously, God just gently responds to Gideon. Doesn't rebuke him. That's him. Give him a smack in the head and he just gently, gently reminds Gideon about the facts and the faith. That's what he does. And in verse 14 of this sixth chapter he says, "Go with all your strengths and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I, myself, am sending you." That's God's way of saying, "Listen, Gideon, press forward in me. You have my promises. You have my strength. You have the memories of how I've worked with you in the past. You will prevail. Press forward in my strength." And look, friends, I wonder if this theme keeps recurring here at Northside, in the passage we're looking at. It keeps recurring all the time. Sam preached on this last week at the night service, powerful sermon. It keeps recurring. I wonder if it's God's way of reminding us of the fact that he is with us during these tough times because some of you I know are going through some very tough times right now. There's some very tough pastoral situations unfolding within our church family in the area of health, in the area of employment. We've had a number of our men lose their jobs in the last couple of weeks, and some of you are facing big health issues personally within your family. And there are relationship struggles and difficulties in that area as well. And I wonder if because this thing keeps recurring, it's the Lord reminding us, "I am with you. Be not afraid. Do not see me through your circumstances. See your circumstances through me." And there's a big difference. Don't lose sight of the facts of the good news. Don't lose hold of the faith you know has got you to this point in the past. That was God's word of Gideon. I think it's his word to us today. I really do. Well, there are two more comments from Gideon. I want to just look at it very quickly, touch on before we're through. The first is from the reading that was brought to us by Jane. It's Gideon's expression of apprehension following God's challenge. He was going to be the leader, the rescue of the people. And his words, "Oh, you say you decided to use me to rescue Israel. You say you've done that Lord, but I want proof. I need proof. I just can't go on what you say. You've got to show me." Of course, what follows is the incident that Gideon is probably best known for, the so-called fleece test. And we've all done that at some time or other. "Lord show me a sign, I just need to get confirmation of what I'm feeling you want me to do." It's a very natural response, a very human response. We can all identify, "Mind you, this is an area of Gideon's life that could really arouse feelings of envy and even downright jealousy within us." I mean, how do you like something as spectacular as this, if you're seeking God's guidance? I mean, he got his sign all right, didn't he? You know what happened? The fleece, a little bit of wool put out on the ground, first test, hit that with all the Jew you can, but leave the surrounding area dry. God said, "No problems." I'm really trying to get your attention, Gideon, it's going to happen. And of course Gideon, wow, look, just bear with me, just one more time, just one more time. Like tonight, make the fleece dry around the surrounding area wet. Did you do that? Just need to get that. It happened. How would you like that? In terms of confirming God's guidance in the big decisions we face, should I leave this job? Should I take this job? Should I make this move? Should I be in this relationship? Should I go ahead with this treatment? Should I serve in this particular area, ministry, whatever, these are the things that we wrestle with. And many of the times when we'd love clear direction, really, yes, go that way. But friends, can I be very honest this morning and say, you know, that sort of moments don't come all that often. Most of us even get good, strong Christians, you can go through a lifetime, okay? A lifetime. And the number of times you get a 100% yield edge guarantee confirmation, you might be able to count it on two hands in a lifetime. I say this based on my mixing and moving in Christian circles all my life, you know? I mean, I can trace, I can trace in my own personal experience, defining moments, defining moments when it was crystal clear what God wanted me to do. And one of them, no prizes for guessing was my call to the ministry. Some of you know that story, I've got time to give it now. But like, I would have been crazy not to have responded to that call. I can't imagine what my life would be like now. If I hadn't responded to the crystal clear, crystal clear call from God, Graham, you ought to be a minister. It was just so clear. This was my decision to marry Beev. That was a call of God. Bix was a little bit of hormones and stuff as well. But the two combined beautifully together, she was in the first service, I'm sort of expanding on the point in this service because we would have embarrassed her in the first service. But she got off somewhere, I don't know. The decision to go to my first church, I was offered many churches around Australia. It was this crystal clear God wanted me to go to Brooklyn Park Church of Christ in South Australia. It was just so like a light beam. As was the call to the Marian Church, the next big call of mine. As was the call to come here to Northside. As was the call of God, which I shared with a number of you who were in leadership at the time when we were challenged to go into a partnership with a developer to produce this beautiful ministry and conference center. And those of you who are with me on that journey will know how strong that call was. Powerful. Friends, you notice that these relate to significant moments, significant turning points in my life. And I praise God for the clarity of his call at those points. But you know, like for the rest of the decisions in my life, under them, every month, dozens every week. You know, that's that's largely that they're largely just huge steps of faith, just huge steps of faith with as much information as you can get the blind faith drawing on the guidance of your spiritual mentors as much as you can, getting as much peace as you can through prayer and through the reading of the scriptures is it's a process is not just like, Oh, God, you know, blind faith is a process involved in seeking God's will. But that's how it is for most of us, most of the time. And in one sense, we can envy guys like Gideon and Moses, Joshua, because they got the flash of light, you know, but you know, in another sense, we can be a little sad for them because we have something they didn't have. We have something these Old Testament characters never had. We have a clear record of the life of Jesus Christ. His teachings, his example, his witness, if you like, he's like one giant fleece in terms of the guidance we need on how we should live our lives, how we should forgive, how we should respond to situations of justice, the pathway we should walk on. He's the giant walk this way. Here's what he's what God wants you to do. Follow Jesus Christ. That's the idea. And friends combine all this with the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And you soon realize we have a clear advantage over some of these Old Testament guys. God had to get their special attention. We have Jesus Christ. We see his life and witness, we be in touch with him day by day three prayer. So the final utterance from Gideon, I want us to consider this morning, Gideon's ultimate victory cry, a sword for the Lord and for Gideon, the real battle cry, isn't it? You see, Gideon went on to achieve a great victory for God and for his people, despite his initial fears, despite his apprehension and his need for a sign, despite his sense of inadequacy, despite his focus on feelings rather than on the facts and on the faith, Gideon achieved a mighty victory for God. He became a super hero. He had a decisive win over the vast forces of Midian, even though his army was reduced to just a few hundred guys. And that's another story in itself. If you're not familiar with that one, check it out in Judges 7, all the process they went through to get the army from thousands down to 300 strong fighting men, it's an incredible story. But you know, that assertion, that battle cry, a sword for the Lord and for Gideon, that was ultimately the signal that God was in control. He had the final word and it was good. And he always does. Has the final word and it's good. Look friends, I don't know exactly where you are today. I know where some of you are, because I'm working with you through pastoral situations. But you know, we can all receive tremendous encouragement and inspiration from Gideon. You might be at the point, "Well, if the Lord is willess, how come so much is going wrong?" That might be you this morning. It might be God, I need a sign. I'm really torn as to what to do. I need a sign that I hope we can all eventually get to the point where it's a sword for the Lord and for Gideon, because you can take the analogy of the sword as far as you want to. Sword of the Spirit. You know, the word is the sword of the truth and swords cut through things. Swords cut through disappointments, they cut through heartache, they cut through sadness. They cut through anxiety. The sword of the Spirit does all of that, a sword for the Lord and for you and for me. It's God's ultimate victory cry and friends it's what got Gideon through. His circumstances still remain pretty tough, but he knew ultimately he had victory. And that's what we get from this guy, get into Gideon, Judges 6 and 7, get into it this week. It's a great passage. will inspire you as it's inspired me.