Our pastor, Micah Mercer, very kindly edited out my pre-sermon fumbling around with the music stand, the microphone, my coffee, and myself. The sound is occasionally a little low, but he has done a great job of making me look as good as possible. It's just under 30 minutes, which is standard for our church these days.
This was our second service that was exclusively streamed, with only about eight people actually in attendance. I found it very challenging to preach to such a small congregation, even though I knew that many of our regulars were watching on YouTube, as well as my parents and a friend or two back in Kansas.
As for the sermon itself, I intentionally wrote it for an audience who has read Judges 6, 7 and 8 at some point. If you haven't read it, you should, whether before or after hearing and/or reading this sermon. I touch on the major points (as I see them), but I do not tell the story in a linear way. It came to me in a sort of looping way, and I attempted to deliver it as I received it.
A church member told me that she appreciated the way I got into Gideon's head, and Maxine told me that it is entertaining to watch me preach (in reaction to Gideon's panic mode). I felt pretty good about this one. It had been about 18 months since the last time I preached, and when I offered to preach this Sunday, I had no idea how busy my life was about to become. COVID19 was still a fringe thing happening in China, my semester was supposed to happen in classrooms rather than Zoom, and my family was all healthy. The week before I delivered it was crazy with getting my department geared up for virtual teaching, and I wrote more of it than I care to admit the day before. But God works through brokenness and poor plans, as I can attest, over and over.
Who is Gideon to Us?
Judges 6-8
And
the LORD turned to him (Gideon) and said, “Go in this might of
yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”
And
he 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.” Judges 6:14-16
Lord
God, open our ears to hear your Word. Holy Spirit, refresh us with
good news. Jesus, be our way. Amen.
When
I read Hebrews 11 and 12 about the cloud of witnesses, I did all
right up until chapter 11 verse 32. When the author gets to Gideon,
and tells us that he doesn’t have time to explain why, my first
thought as a university professor is, “Did you do the readings at
all? Because it feels like you kind of remember him from Sunday
School when you were a kid, that story about how he defeated a swarm
of an army with just 300 men.”
Who
is Gideon to me? You see, when I go back and read Judges 6, 7 and 8,
where Gideon’s story happens, I don’t see a role model, I see a
mess. A coward, a doubter, a complainer.
An
Angel of God came to Gideon, not even asking anything, but telling
him, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” Gideon’s response
is to question this assertion: “If the LORD is with us, why has all
this happened to us?”
He’s
talking about Israel being oppressed by Midian for the past seven
years. The Midianites would come in like locusts, steal all the food
and livestock they could find, and cause no end of trouble. More men
than you could count, the Bible tells us.
Gideon
knew the stories of how God had brought the people Israel into the
promised land, and how God had given the land to them. He had
probably learned them as a child the same way that my son has learned
about Greek myths. But more than that. Recently God had sent a
prophet, unnamed in this story. We think of prophets as people who
tell about the future, but this prophet told of the past, drawing
attention to the present. The prophet said,
“This
is what the LORD, the God Israel, says: I brought you up out of
Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I snatched you from the power of
Egypt and from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them from
before you and gave you their land. I said to you, ‘I am the LORD
your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you
live.’ But you have not listened to me.” (Judges 6:7-12)
So
the stories and the prophet had to have been in Gideon’s mind, but
he still didn’t quite believe them. He basically says to the Angel,
“What has God done for us lately?”
Gideon
seems to believe that the Angel is God’s emissary, yet he doesn’t
believe what the Angel is saying, and has the nerve to put God to the
test!
Jesus
is quoting Deuteronomy 6:16 when he says, “Do not put the LORD your
God to the test…” Not only is Gideon’s behavior contrary to
scripture, it seems contrary to common sense! I like to think that if
I had met an angel and heard God’s voice speaking to me, I would
listen! I would obey!
Gideon’s
doubts are so strong that it takes three miracles to get him to agree
to the mission God has for him!
That
said, Gideon does go on that mission. In Judges 6:34 we read that the
Spirit of the LORD takes possession of Gideon, and that’s when he
calls the troops together. This is Gideon’s big faith moment, the
one that echoes back and forth through scripture, from Moses before
him, to David after, and into Pentecost, when the Spirit of God was
on the whole crowd, and on us today. That’s where Gideon shines.
Not because he is brilliant, but because he does God’s will.
Then
we come to the part of the story in which Gideon seems to do all
right. This pattern seems familiar, because after our mountain top
moments we all tend to behave well. For a while, anyway. Gideon
follows the LORD’s instructions in assembling the army. The LORD
doesn’t want him to lead too many troops into battle, because the
LORD doesn’t want Israel to say that they won the battle by their
own hand. The LORD should get the glory. So Gideon decreases his own
army size from 24,000 to just 300 men.
Gideon
leads his 300 men into the most unconventional battle since the walls
of Jericho had fallen, many years before. His troops carried
trumpets, and torches in clay jars. I will give Gideon some serious
faith points for this one: it’s hard enough to risk your own life
on something that seems so foolish, but leading 300 other people into
what seems like certain death is a serious leap of faith.
The
battle goes according to the LORD’s plan: The Midianites are
routed. They have been tormenting Israel for seven years, and Gideon
with his 300 men chase them relentlessly across the country. Finally,
Gideon is a Bible Hero that does what we expect him to do.
But
as I continue reading, that good feeling starts to fade. This is a
war, and wars are ugly. But Gideon’s story turns dark, and it never
seems to come completely back into the light. There is the usual
bloodshed and carnage of war, and at one point Gideon is presented
with the heads of two Midianite generals. The Old Testament doesn’t
talk much about feelings, but at this point I imagine that Gideon is
flooded with that feeling of being The Avenger. The bullies who had
tormented his people were all dead fleeing, from an army not even a
tenth of their size.
Also
Gideon gets his revenge on those who do not help him along the way,
whipping the uncooperative leaders with desert thorns to teach them a
lesson. Our coward, Gideon, has become the kind of hero that we cheer
for in the movie theater.
Our
hero Gideon drives the Midianites out of the land. Afterwards, the
people ask Gideon to rule over them, to be their king. Gideon gives a
lovely speech that seems to embody the ideals of the Kingdom of
Heaven. He says, “I will not rule over you, neither will my son;
the LORD will rule over you.” (Judges 8:23)
If
we stop reading there it feels like a pretty good story, in spite of
the blood and gore. If Gideon’s story had stopped there, and he had
gone back to his farm, it would have been a much happier ending.
Gideon
does not take the throne, but he does ask for a tribute. A payment,
for services rendered. He makes a request, very politely, which the
people willingly fulfill for him. Gold. A portion of the plunder
taken from the dead bodies of their former oppressors, the
Midianites.
God
had not wanted Israel to take credit for the win, so God made Gideon
send away all but 300 of his soldiers. But one thing got in the way
of that plan: Gideon was still there, with the 300. And Gideon was
willing to take credit for the win, rather than give it fully to the
LORD.
He
was also willing to take a tribute of 43 pounds of gold. In chapter 8
verse 27 we read, “Gideon took the gold and made an ephod from it,
and all Israel prostituted themselves to it there, and it became a
snare to Gideon and his family.”
Who
is Gideon? On my scorecard, Gideon does not do so well. He is slow to
get into the game, with a weak start. He scores some big points in
the first half, but he finishes poorly. The LORD’s goal of ending
the Midianite oppression was successful, but I suspect that very few
of you would wish to be like Gideon. So tell me, why does the author
of Hebrews say that Gideon accomplishes so much through faith?
Maybe
the answer is that God asked everything of Gideon, and used what
Gideon gave.
God
called Gideon a mighty warrior, and told him to save Israel from
Midian’s hand. Gideon doesn’t directly say “no,” but he
questions. He tests. He humbly asks for proof.
And
when he gets that proof, he believes! He knows that he has been
speaking to an Angel of God! But then in verse 23 we read the
following:
But
the LORD said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not
going to die.” (6:23)
Now
it’s not just an angel talking, it is the LORD Himself. And Gideon
thinks that he is going to die. That’s what happens when God gets
right up in your business. It’s scary.
So
Gideon is jazzed! He wants to serve! He’s so excited that he builds
an altar to God right there and then. He was probably searching for
rocks, and stacking them up, and telling himself, “I just met an
Angel of God! And God talked to me! How cool is that?”
Then,
that very night, the first instructions come. God tells Gideon to
tear down an altar to Baal and an Asherah pole, and build an altar to
Jehovah, the LORD. To you and me, that seems like an easy choice,
especially after talking to an angel of Jehovah. But it’s actually
a very risky move. Baal and Asherah are the local gods. People took
their gods seriously. The men of town showed up the next morning and
demanded Gideon’s life for tearing down those idols.
Jesus
gives us clear instructions: to lay down your life, pick up your
cross, and follow. Gideon had to know that he was risking his life in
this action. He was testing God again, but this time if God failed
him, Gideon would lose his life.
Gideon
comes through the best he can. I can imagine what was going through
his head as he gathered his servants together to tackle this project.
“This is crazy! My friends and neighbors are gonna be seriously
angry! And my Dad! Oh, Dad’s gonna kill me! Oh, God, you’ve
proved yourself to me, but this is crazy!” Then as he and his
servants are tearing the altar down, “Oh, please God, don’t let
me get killed over this! This is crazy!” Then as he waits for
morning, because I’m pretty sure Gideon didn’t sleep that night!,
he was probably thinking to himself, “That was crazy! God told me
to do it, but it was crazy! What have I done?”
When
that crowd of angry men shows up at his door, maybe Gideon is
resigned to his fate. Maybe he thinks this day will be his last.
Maybe he has given up hope.
It
doesn’t matter. God is sending Gideon to drive out the Midianites,
and God has no intention of letting Gideon get killed in a minor
skirmish.
So
God wakes the faith of Gideon’s father Joash. Joash is a big man in
town, with many servants, and a lot of land. Including the land with
the Baal altar and the Ashtoreth pole. Joash’s faith has been
slumbering as he focused on being a leader in his community, but
Gideon’s actions, driven by God, wake up Joash’s faith! He comes
to the defense of his son and his God.
He
confronts the crowd of angry men, saying, “What kind of god is Baal
that he needs you men to defend him? If Baal is real, he can defend
himself. In the meantime, anyone who touches my son Gideon will be
dead by morning!”
Now
hope soars in Gideon, and he is thinking, “Thank you, God! You were
right! I AM your warrior! You ARE with me!”
Who
is Gideon to us now? He is clearly the up and coming hero. Gideon has
witnessed God at work in his life, and he is open to the Spirit of
the LORD.
So
Gideon does his hero work, driving out the Midianites. When God tells
him to decrease his army of 24,000 down to 300, he probably thinks,
“Really? Just 300? Well… God saved me before, I guess God can do
it again...” Gideon sends away 23,700 men. He is obedient, but I
think he is doubtful.
We
don’t get to know Gideon’s thoughts directly. The Old Testament
rarely lets us know what people were thinking, but God knows. And God
must have seen doubt in Gideon’s mind, because God says to Gideon,
“If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant
Purah and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be
encouraged to attack the camp.” (7:10-11)
Gideon
accepted the offer for a tour of the camp, so he must have been
afraid. Where does fear come from? Doubt. When you doubt that God
will come through for you, you feel fear. God can see your doubt,
like God saw Gideon’s. And if you listen to God, as Gideon did, God
will give you a little tour of reassurance. Gideon’s tour reveals
that the Midianites have been dreaming of being destroyed by Gideon
himself! And with that, Gideon’s fears are gone!
When
God tells Gideon to arm his men with only torches and trumpets,
Gideon is probably thinking, “The LORD has got this! Only trumpets
and torches? No problem!”
What
is Gideon to us now? The Hero, with a capital H!
The
pursuit lasts for days, and Gideon’s troops are riding high on a
string of victories. I think this is when Gideon’s thoughts begin
to change from “I am on God’s side,” to “God is on my side.”
It’s a small change in word order, but a huge change in meaning.
As
it happens, this is where we notice something missing: no more
conversations between the LORD and Gideon. The last one was when the
LORD gave instructions for the trumpet and torch attack. From here on
out, Gideon still talks about the LORD, but he no longer talks with
the LORD. Not according to the book of Judges, anyway.
Maybe
that’s the change that lets Gideon casually accept the severed
heads of his enemies. When God was on Gideon’s side, Gideon became
the punisher, whipping men with desert thorns. The executioner,
killing prisoners in cold blood. And he knew that it was good,
because he was totally sure that the LORD was with him, backing him
up.
Who
is Gideon to us now?
Gideon
has not completely lost sight of the Kingdom of Heaven, but his
vision is becoming ever more blurry as he moves forward, ahead of the
LORD, rather than with the LORD.
In
the end, Gideon gets the outline of the big picture. He doesn’t
allow the people to crown him King. But he accepts their gold, and
their praise. He has seventeen sons, for he had many wives, and a
concubine in Shechem bore his son Abimelech. Judges 9 follows the
tragic fruit that grows from these seeds.
Gideon
died at a good old age, surely still believing that God was on his
side. After all, he had accomplished what God had set out for him to
do: to deliver Israel from the Midianites.
Maybe
you recognize yourself in some part of Gideon’s journey. God is
most definitely calling you to see his Kingdom.
Maybe
you are still listening to the unnamed prophet, and turning the ideas
over in your mind. Or maybe you are in the middle of the conversation
with the angel.
Maybe
God has answered your questions and consumed your offering, opening
you to God’s Spirit. Maybe you have made the first moves, in spite
of your doubts and fears. Maybe you’ve already routed the armies.
Maybe
you’ve decided that God is on your side, rather than you being on
God’s side.
So
what is Gideon to us? To me? To you?
Let’s
revisit our memory verse from January, Hebrews 12:1, “Therefore,
since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…” Gideon
is part of that cloud of witnesses. As we’ve seen today, Gideon is
not a textbook example of practicing faith. Rather, he is an example
of one way that the LORD works with faith in real life.
Gideon’s
faith was not enough to make him perfect. You do not have to dive
deeply into the Hebrews 11 cloud of witnesses to see that NONE of
them had enough faith to be perfect.
Yet
Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount, “You must therefore be
perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect, or you will never enter
the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matt 5:48) That’s after telling us to
love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us! Gideon is like
the poster child for hating your enemies!
So
who is Gideon to us, especially within this cloud of witnesses? And
not just Gideon, either. These past few weeks as Micah has led us
through Hebrews 11 and 12, he has pointed out how the people who make
up this cloud of witnesses had problems. They were broken, imperfect
vessels of God’s perfect faith. Each of them had a vision of God’s
plan, some clearer than others. And each had a desire to make God’s
vision a reality. But each of them, in their own fallen way, twisted
and tweaked God’s plan, and poked at it, and bent it to make it a
better fit for the world in which they lived. They tried to combine
the Kingdom of the LORD with the reality that they were accustomed
to.
Still,
at heart, each in their own way had faith. They all felt assurance
for what they hoped was real. Though their feet were planted in the
world that we are so familiar with, their eyes were on God’s
Kingdom. Having babies at 90 years old. Rising from slave to
Pharaoh’s right hand man. Going to battle with torches and
trumpets, attacking 20,000 men with a force of 300.
This
cloud of witnesses.
What
does a witness talk about? Usually not themselves. They talk about
what they have seen or experienced. This cloud bears witness to God’s
faithfulness. They bear witness to the fact that God used them in
spite of their flaws. They bear witness to the grace of God, the
forgiveness that flows freely, the undeserved love, and the
protection of God. And they bear witness that when God plans for
something to happen, it will happen.
In
the here and now, we don’t face armies of invaders stealing our
food. We don’t face being enslaved, sawn in two, or being
persecuted in any serious way. Don’t get me wrong, there are
Christians today who face real persecution. But not us. Not here.
Our
battles are smaller, but in a way just as impossible on the surface.
Jesus calls us to be peacemakers and healers, even when there is a
virus that pushes us apart, labeling an entire ethnicity as lepers
and enemies. Jesus calls us to love our enemies.
We
all feel the need to be avenged for every insult and disrespect; it
is a deep part of us, our sinful nature. But it is our calling to be
on God’s side, rather than assume God is on our side.
The
urge to gossip, to put down the weak and blame the poor. Society
tries to convince us that this is how we survive, by putting
ourselves first, throwing the other guy under the bus.
Maybe
stopping to listen seems ridiculous to the world. Maybe forgiving
someone who hasn’t even asked is the equivalent of attacking a
larger army with nothing but trumpets and torches.
Maybe
forgiving yourself is as hard as tearing down the altar where
everyone in town worships.
The
author of Hebrews tells us that this cloud of witnesses, including
Gideon, are pointing us towards Jesus, the founder and perfecter of
our faith.
That’s
who Gideon is.
Lord
God, thank you for giving us faith, for using us and loving us,
though we are broken, misguided, and all but blind to your glory.
Make us worthy to join your cloud of witnesses. Amen.
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