TEXT: Judges 6:1 - 7:25
TITLE: God is Bigger than the Fight
SERIES: God is BIGGER than… (part 2)
TOPIC: God’s power; God’s might!
OCCASION: Burnside Christian Church, October 12th, 2008
PROP.: Fighting an enemy with God’s help assures victory!
INTRODUCTION: The Rocky Movies. What I loved about them was you KNEW who was going to win! They were predictable! You knew exactly how they were going to end! And maybe that’s why I liked them! Rocky was going to face a battle that seemed larger than He was! He was going to get hit. He was going to bleed. But in the end he was going to be victorious!
This month we are in a series that I pray will inspire you to remember that our God is BIG! He’s Bigger than ME. He’s Bigger than the STORM in your life.
And today, I want you to know: GOD IS BIGGER THAN THE FIGHT!
Before we begin…there is something you need to know:
you need to know:
1. There are different kinds of fights!
In the sporting world, there are a wide variety of fights out there…
--Boxing
--wrestling
--kickboxing
--Fencing
--Karate
We even have
--thumb wrestling
START TRAINING TODAY!!! (picture of thumb exercise)
--Each fight has it’s own set of rules for what determines a victory. You can’t show up to a wrestling match with boxing gloves.
--For each type of fight, you have to train differently! Training for one type of fight will be totally different for training for a different type of fight.
IN THE WORLD OF THE CHRISTIAN…there are many different types of fights as well.
--Fights with yourself - For some, there is a war waging inside of them. They struggle with self esteem issues; or with fighting off an
addiction or bad habit, or temptation. Every single
day, is a battle.
--Fights with circumstances - In this case, a long-term illness could be something you fight day in and day out, a job that is
demanding…a poor economy…OR broken
relationships…
The third type of fight is what we will be focusing on today…the third type of fight you will face in life is…
--Fights with people (fighting for truth) - Conflicts will arise; disagreements will occur. Whether it be because you’ve been wronged or because you are standing up for what’s right…
And this brings us to our text for the day…
Judges chapters 6 & 7
While you’re turning there…Let me just say that if you find yourself in a fight; a conflict; a trial; a difficult enemy - that God is BIGGER than anything you will face in this life!
Turn in your Bible to the book of Judges. If you have ever thought the Bible was boring, if you’ve ever thought the Bible was dull, it might just be because you’ve never read through the book of Judges.
Allow me to show you how the book of judges fits into history.
This book follows the book of Joshua. In Joshua, you learned about the Israelites finally taking residence in the promised land (in the land of Canaan). Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt…Moses died and Joshua took over. And Joshua leads the people into the promised land. But Joshua did not destroy all the enemy nations living in Canaan. And so Israel is constantly being attacked by the enemy nations still living in the area. In judges you learn about the leaders who kept fighting these enemies of Israel within Canaan.
And so throughout the book of judges, we see God calling judges - or leaders - who will defeat the enemies of Israel.
In chapter 6, we’re introduced to Gideon. And we learn that things are bad for Israel!
Let’s read Judges 6:1-4
1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys.
Verse one of Judges chapter 6 explains a LOT! The nation of Israel finds herself in trouble again. They are being persecuted by the Midianites! Why? Because they “did evil in the eyes of the Lord!”
So the nation of Israel needed to be rescued. Rescued from the Midianites.
Well….Who were the Midianites?
The midianites were a nomadic people who dwelled in this area (just east and south of the promised land). This is where the Midianites came from. The land of Midian is where Moses fled after he killed an Egyptian, remember?
And the Midianites would wait until the people of Israel had finished planting their crops and they would sweep down upon them stealing their crops and herds and destroying what they couldn’t take with them. This went on for 7 years and it was getting old. So God’s people cried out to God to rescue them from this enemy.
But the nation of Israel not only needed to be rescued from the Midianites…but they also need to be rescued from the lie of immorality! They were worshipping false gods. They were practicing things that God despised!
And so God first called Gideon to lead the nation of Israel out of military oppression and secondly BACK to the moral standard God expects of His people.
FINDING GIDEON:
So God comes to Gideon while Gideon is threshing wheat in a wine press to keep it safe. And God lays out his plans for Gideon.
--Gideon is less than confident in God’s plans. He says to God, “I’m the least in my family…my clan is the weakest in Manasseh..”
--Gideon was a farmer! Not a warrior! And yet, Gideon was being called by God to fulfill His purposes!
GIDEON’S FIGHT:
GIDEON WAS FACING AN IMPOSSIBLE ENEMY! The enemy was large! The Bible describes the armies of Midian as Locusts saying that it was impossible to count the number of men and camels!
By human standards, the odds of victory weren’t good! But remember, GOD IS BIGGER THAN THE FIGHT!
Maybe you’ve felt like Gideon. You’re facing insurmountable odds. You’re enemy is big! And you’re not sure how to win!
T.S.: I believe that Gideon’s story will offer some insight to you and to me on how we are to win the fight we find ourselves facing…
First of all…
I. Make sure God wants you to fight! (6:
When you are facing opposition, it is wise to seek God’s counsel to see if this is an issue you should pursue!
A. Gideon made sure!
--Gideon’s sacrifice confirmed: 6:17-22
As soon as God comes to Gideon with the request to take a stand against this enemy, Gideon’s response was: (Chapter 6:17) “Give me a sign that this is Your will…”
And the sign that Gideon received was that his sacrifice was consumed with fire when the angel of the Lord touched the sacrifice with his staff in his hand
So Gideon sends out the word and gathers his army! Men come from Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali. (6:35)
And even as men are coming to him to join the fight; Gideon is making sure that this is still God’s idea to fight.
--Fleece: 6:36-40
And so Gideon places a wool fleece on the ground and asks for a sign!
--If there is dew ONLY ON THE FLEECE, and not on the ground, then I’ll know.
And so it was! But Gideon wants further confirmation…so Gideon says:
--If the FLEECE IS DRY and the ground is wet, then I’ll REALLY know!
And God does it!
(You might be thinking “HOW DARE GIDEON!?! What is Gideon doing???“ Doesn’t Gideon know that the Bible says, “Do not to put the Lord to the test!” What’s up with that? You are correct. The Bible does say not to test God. (Deut. 6:16, Matthew 4:7)
LISTEN…IT’S NOT OK TO ASK GOD TO PROVE HIS EXISTENCE TO YOU! He’s done that! Look around at creation! IT IS DEFINITELY OK TO SEEK GOD’S WILL! 1st John 4:1)
All along the way, Gideon was seeking God’s will; God‘s approval. And time and time again, God showed Gideon what His will was!
--Dream (7:10-14)
As if Gideon hasn’t had enough proof of God’s will…God provides a third sign as confirmation. He tells Gideon to go to the edge of the Midian camp and Gideon does.
There he hears two Midianite men speaking. Chapter 6 verses 13 & 14:
“Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. ‘I had a dream,’ he was saying. “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the camp with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.” His friend responded, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.”
Are you getting the picture? GOD WANTED GIDEON TO FIGHT THIS FIGHT! It was God’s will!
Well, there’s a good lesson to be learned:
B. Make sure God wants YOU to fight!
Let me ask you something:
Have you EVER turned one of these….into one of THESE?
Have you ever made a mountain out of a mole hill? Did you ever take something that wasn’t a big deal and magnify it into a big deal? If you are in the middle of making something BIG out of something NOT big…back up and get some perspective! See what God had to say about it first!
MAKE SURE GOD WANTS YOU TO FIGHT BEFORE YOU DO…
--Pick your battles carefully
--Choose to let some battles pass
GET OVER IT! LET IT GO!
ILLUSTRATION: Man…something happened to me that fired me up! It got me pretty worked up and I wanted BADLY to correct the situation! I wanted to confront the person and clear things up. But you know something? I came to realize (through the help of a friend) that it just wasn’t that big of a deal! I was making something out of nothing! I just had a personal vendetta against this person. And I had to let it go!
PROVERBS 20:3 It is to one’s honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel.
Let me be perfectly clear: Does God want you to fight with each other? With those in the church? NOPE! So if your fight is with someone sitting with someone in this building I can tell you right now…GOD DOESN’T WANT YOU TO FIGHT!
MAKE SURE GOD WANTS YOU TO FIGHT!!!!!
II. Fight the way God wants you to fight! (7:1-8; 17-22)
There’s a wrong way to fight. Then there’s God’s way to fight.
GIDEON’S EXAMPLE:
A. He Used the men that God wanted!
Gideon was downsizing!
--32,000 down to 10,000 down to 300
After Gideon did his recruiting, he had 32,000 men. God told Gideon that he had too many men! 32,000 sounds like an awful lot! But we’re told in chapter 8 that the army of the Midianites had 135,000! Even with 32,000 men, Gideon was outnumbered 4 to 1!
But God wanted to make sure that everyone knew it was by GOD’S POWER that the enemy was defeated!
So God tells Gideon to send anyone who didn’t really want to fight home. IMMEDIATELY 22,000 men went home! Think about the moral blow this would have been to 10,000 men left behind!
But God wasn’t done. He again told Gideon to take the men to get a drink of water. And God would separate them based on how they were drinking the water. 9,700 men got on their hands and knees and drank water like a dog would drink from a bowl. 300 men cupped water with their hands and brought it to their mouth. God used the 300 and sent the 9,700 men home!
Gideon NOW had his army! A whopping 300 people! 300 against 135,000! Those odds were horrible. It would roughly be like taking EVERYONE in this church building today and going out and having a battle with the entire city of Peoria and Quincy combined. Not great odds. Not a great chance of success. And that’s exactly the way God wanted it!
You see, with God, there is no such thing as CHANCE or LUCK. Only a God is who is mighty and powerful enough to win any fight. And when you make sure that God wants you to fight and you are fighting the way God wants you to fight…VICTORY IS YOURS!
Gideon also
B. Used the weapons God wanted
--To the outsider, it had to look like Gideon was off his rocker! He showed up to a battle with 300 men, NO SWORDS…only a bunch of torches, trumpets and clay pots.
--But Gideon was fighting the way God wanted him to fight!
Why? Our text tells us the reason!
Chapter 7:2 “The LORD said to Gideon, "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her”
So that whoever heard of this story would know just how BIG GOD IS! So that there would be NO mistaking who was responsible for the victory! So that when the nation of Israel would sit around the camp fire at night retelling this tale - TO GOD GOES THE GLORY!
YOU
How does God want you to fight?
--In a stand for truth…It’s vital that we fight the way God wants us to fight! The weapon of choice is LOVE! It’s ALWAYS love!
I’ve seen a lot of people standing for what was true and what was right…but it wasn’t because of love!
-- WHAT LOVE IS NOT
a. Love is NOT tolerance!
--Don’t misunderstand me this morning. I’m not suggesting that by tolerating sin you are showing love to a lost world! We are called to take a stand for what’s right! And that doesn’t mean we silently sit by and ‘tolerate’ the wrong. But you can stand for truth and still be loving!
ILLUSTRATION: blowing up an abortion clinic is not showing love! Protesting on the street corner with signs that scream “God hates gays” is not showing love. Yelling to lost ones “TURN OR BURN” is not showing God’s love!
LOVE HAS TO BE THE MOTIVE FOR WHICH WE STAND FOR TRUTH!
b. Love is also not legalism
Too many times, Christians have gone off to fight some personal crusade that they “felt” God was leading them to fight!
The reality is that their fight was nothing more than legalism! Legalism is holding others to a high standard that God never commanded!
You see there are two extremes. Tolerance is being to relaxed. Legalism is being to rigid. There needs to be a balance between LOVE AND TRUTH! And that’s what makes Jesus so amazing! Jesus is the perfect balance between love and truth! He took a stand for what’s right and did it with perfect love!
MAKE SURE GOD WANTS YOU TO FIGHT
And then
FIGHT THE WAY GOD WANTS YOU TO FIGHT…WITH LOVE
LASTLY…
III. Fight for the right reasons. (7:17-18)
Make sure you fight for God’s glory! Not just to be right. Or to make the other person feel bad…but because you want God to be glorified.
A. make sure your motives are right
--in verses 17 & 18, Gideon makes sure that everyone knows WHY they are fighting.
“Watch me. Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!”
FOR THE LORD! That was the reason they were fighting. It was for God’s glory and God’s fame!
CONCLUSION: Just three more quick take home points and then we’re done.
Winning the fight requires three things:
1. Requires faith - in God. His plans. His timing.
2. Requires courage - The odds will be up against you. It will look bleak. It will look bad. Stand firm. Take courage! To GOD GOES the Glory!
3. Requires dedication - to the things of God!
In the fight that you find yourself in today; understand that God is bigger than the fight! He has the power and might to defeat whatever enemy you find yourself up against!
