"Hillside Faithfulness" (Judges 7)

watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S4ThogiTIQ&feature=youtu.be

Sunday, January 26, 2020

            If you weren’t with us last Sunday, we talked about Gideon.  An ancient Israelite, God called him to liberate God’s people from a growing threat.  A coalition of Midianites, Amorites, and other eastern tribes had assembled an enormous army with iron chariots and this force harassed the Israelites just as they were settling the land God had promised to their ancestor Abraham. 

            So, God called Gideon to be the one to lead the people against the Midianite coalition.  Gideon wanted no part of this, but he built an altar and the angel of the Lord engulfed that altar in flames.  That sign, though, wasn’t enough for the man who informed the Lord that he was from the most insignificant clan in his tribe and he was the least in his clan.  He asked for signs and God gave them.

            He asked that the fleece be soaked with dew overnight and the ground around it remain dry.  God did this.  He asked that the miracle be reversed – wet ground and dry fleece.  God did that.  Finally, out of dodges and delays, Gideon accepted God’s assignment.

I originally titled today’s message “Hillside Faith,” but the more I read and reread, the more I realized Gideon had little faith.  The bigger and better story is God’s faithfulness.  God said He would deliver His people and he would do it through Gideon no matter how thin Gideon’s faith. 

In Judges 6, Gideon negotiated with God, demanding signs and proofs.  In chapter 7, the time had come to put together the Israelite army.  Judges says there were so many Midianites they were like a cloud of locusts (6:5), over 120,000 warriors (8:10).  Meanwhile Gideon had 32,000 soldiers (7:3).  It was a fool’s errand, destined for bloody failure. 

“Too many!”  God said, “You, have too many.”

I imagine Gideon thinking, “Too many, right.  … Wait, what?  We have too many?”

God didn’t stutter.  “The troops you have are too many.  Israel will only take credit away from me” when they win (7:2).  In our lives do we take credit for gains when what we should do is thank God for His grace?

Following God’s lead, Gideon tells his soldiers, “Anyone who is afraid can go home.”  Actually, he says anyone who is trembling with fear may go, and 22,000 do just that.  Gideon should have gone with them.  With all the signs and confirmations God gave him, he was self-centered and terrified throughout the episode.  This sifting out of the fearful happened at the stream of Harod, which in Hebrew means “the spring of trembling” (7:1, 3).

Now Gideon has to face 120,000 bloodthirsty Midianite Commandos and their iron chariots with 10,000 men.  Still too many, says God.  God will do the sifting this time.  Every soldier is to go the “Stream of Trembling,” and God tells Gideon to watch how they drink.  Everyone who cups his hands and brings the water up is moved to one side.  They’re cut.  They won’t be in the army that will route the Midianites and deliver God’s people.  Those who lay down, put their faces to the water, and lap it up like dogs will be the ones who make up God’s army.  Of the 10,000 left, 300 drink in this fashion.  Three hundred! 

Remember the movie called 300!  that came out a few years ago?  Leonidas was the king of the Greek city-state Sparta when they faced the Persian invasion in the battle of Thermopylae in the early 5^th century BC.  Three hundred brave Spartans faced a vast onslaught.  All were killed as they heroically defended their homeland. 

Their feats of heroism have been told over and over.  The Hollywood film version lauds the sensual masculinity and dauntless resolve of the outmanned Spartans.  They fought with savage courage. 

We find a much different “300!” story when we read about Gideon’s troops in Judges 7.  Like Leonidas, Gideon had to face a well-armed enemy of 10’s of 1000’s of veteran soldiers.  The comparisons end there. 

God told Gideon, “If you are scared, do a reconnaissance and take along your servant Purah” (v.10).  In chapter 6, Gideon’s idolatrous father Joash stood between him a murderous mob.  Here in 7, Gideon’s servant Purah holds his hand while God leads him to not only surreptitiously reconnoiter the Midianites, but to do so at the perfect spot.  Among 100,000 Midianites, Gideon happens to overhear one tell another of a dream of crumbling barley bread that topples the tent of Midian.  His comrade says, “This is …  the sword of Gideon; … into his hand God has given Midian and the entire army” (7:14)!

At every turn, God reassures his faithless servant.  Gideon and his troops divide into three groups of 100 and come out of the hills above the Midianite valley encampment.  Each Israelite smashes the jar he’s carrying, and then each blows a trumpet.  In all the noise, the Lord throws the Midianites into such a confused, chaotic panic; they begin turning their swords on each other (7:22).  The Israelites don’t even have to fight.  They just pursue the shell-shocked enemy.

The outcome was never in doubt because this story began before Gideon was ever born.  This story began in Genesis 12 when God called a shepherd named Abram, changed his name to Abraham, and promised him that his descendants would live in this land as God’s people.

The sins and the mistakes of God’s people did not negate the promise.  God would work through his people flawed as they were.  Likewise, God works for his purposes in this community through us, his church. 

I want our church to grow.  I hope everyone here grows in Christ, matures spiritually, and comes into a deeper knowledge of God.  I hope our church as a body grows in a sense of our connectedness to Christians all over the world.  I hope we experience an expanding vision of God’s call on us as a group. 

            I also hope more people come to our church because they decide to turn to Christ after hearing the gospel here.  Most Sunday mornings, less than 90 people are in the building.  I’d like to get that to a range of 90-100 people.  And if that happens, then, I hope we grow to 120 weekly and then grow from there and so on.  I hope the growth is a sign that people here are turning to Jesus.  I hope a lot of baptisms accompany the growth.

            Having said that, hear me clearly.  Growth is not our goal.  Our design when we come together is to glorify God in Jesus Christ.  We want to follow Jesus, love others, and share hope in a safe, welcoming environment.  We pray growth will come out of following, loving, sharing, and welcoming. 

If growth were our goal, it would become an idol.  Idols command our worship, but our worship belongs to God.  When we worship an idol, we have robbed God of what’s his, and forfeited that opportunity to connect with God in a relationship of welcome and trust.  So, growth, we hope will be a byproduct of us living faithfully as a worshipping community.  Growth cannot be our ultimate goal.  Our one ultimate goal is to glorify God in Christ. 

I’ve been thinking about Gideon’s story since last year when a lot of people left our church.  People left when we made significant decisions they found to be too conservative.  Many of you did not like those decisions, but you stayed.  Others left because they thought other decisions we made were too liberal.  Many of you agree, but you’re here.  You stayed.  Some left our church because they were exhausted and disillusioned regardless of how the conversation turned out.  Many of you were every bit as discouraged, but you stayed with your church family, and committed to the future God has for us. 

I was discouraged by all the leaving.  But, each Sunday, when I saw those of you who kept coming back, I thanked God.  And I thought about Gideon.

My original thought in titling the message “Hillside Faith” conveys the idea that Gideon demonstrated amazing faith in the face of impossible odds and that we need to do the same.  We – the people of a small church facing institutional challenges as well as each of us personal challenges in our individual lives – need the faith of Gideon to face what’s before us.  Except the story is not Gideon’s faith, but God’s patience.  The God who dealt with Gideon as he was and delivered Israel through Him is the star of Judges 6 and 7.

That same God is the star of Hillside Church’s story.  God has planted this church in this community to bear witness to the salvation we have in Jesus Christ.  God’s purposes are served and God’s goals are accomplished, sometimes with our cooperation, sometimes in spite of our shortcomings.

When I was uncertain about our church’s future, I wrote a note that I’ve kept in my prayer journal since then.  It says “Gideon’s 300.”  If we were to more forward as a smaller group of people, we would do it in faith, and without worry or anxiety.  Studying Gideon’s story, I realized it is actually God’s story.  The focus is not on the three hundred or on our 70-80 Sunday morning worshipers.  The focus is on our God who is always faithful.

Before bed every night, Candy and I write down blessings in a notebook.  We’ve done it throughout our marriage.  The other night we looked back 2 years, the last Sunday of January 2018.  There were 140 people in worship at HillSong Church that Sunday morning.  I don’t know the first time Hillside will have that many people.  But it doesn’t matter.

What’s our goal?  To glorify God because He is always faithful.  However strong or weak our faith is, God loves us, and God works out his purpose in this community through us. 

I have been blessed to see God at work here.  Our faithful God goes before us.  We need not fear.  We step into the future humbly and boldly seeking his path, and sharing the good news of new life in Jesus Christ – new life available to all who come. 

Whatever you might be dealing with, God knows and God sees you.  God’s got you.  He will walk you through the valley, whatever valley you’re in.  He is faithful and we are his. 

AMEN

Hillside Refuge (Judges 6)

Sunday, January 19, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMMuzPPAj-g

            “All the Midianites and Amalakites and the people of the east came together, and crossing the Jordan River, they encamped in the Valley of Jezreel” (Judges 6:33). Don’t worry if you’re don’t who the Midianites, Amalakites, or people of the east are and if you have no clue where the Valley of Jezreel is.  I’m going to tell the story.

            It starts with some bad news.  The Israelites had been in the process of settling the land God promised to Abraham.  As they traveled from slavery in Egypt through the wilderness of Sinai, God gave the law by which they were to live.  That story is told in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  The story of settling the land starts in the book of Joshua and picks up here in Judges.

            God’s chosen people, the Israelites, are to live in this land and worship God.  The problem comes when they decide to worship other, false gods and live by the morality of other nations instead of worshiping the one true God and obeying him.  God withdraws his protection and other peoples – Midianites and Amalakites – move into the area and harass the Israelites. 

            As we hear this story, ponder this.  If you worship and follow Jesus, you are counted among the people of God.  Who or what in your life makes it difficult to trust God, to follow God, and stay true to His vision for you?  It could be people or institutions.  It could be temptations or addictions or bad habits or bad relationship.  Anything that seduces you into turning away from God is an enemy.  What enemy weakens your faith?

            The desperate Israelites cried out.  An unnamed prophet from God tells them, you’ve been unfaithful to the call of God (6:7-10).  But, God does more than just send a condemning word through the prophet.  In spite of all our sins, God still hears us when we pray.  Even when we are guilty of hurting others, debasing people, and breaking several of the ten commandments – even when we know that God knows we’re totally busted – even then, we can pray and God hear us and answer.

            After God sent the prophet, God’s angel came to Gideon.  The angel says, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior” (6:12).  What is Gideon the mighty warrior doing when this angel shows up?

            “Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites” (6:11).  Mighty warrior?  Gideon has to be thinking, you’ve got the wrong guy!  Gideon starts questioning.  Where are all God’s wonderful deeds that our ancestors talked about?  If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?  The Lord has cast us off” (v.12-13).  The angel called him mighty warrior, but Gideon spoke like a mighty complainer. 

            He was terrified of the Midianite warriors.  They dominated the valley.  He along with the other Israelites hid in the hills.  It’s hard to do any farming while hiding.  You end up beating wheat in a wine press, hoping the big bad Midianites won’t find you.  Mighty warrior?  Gideon was a coward.  But the angel of the Lord told him, “In this might of yours, go and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian.  I hereby commission you” (v.14).

            It’s amazing that the Midianites made Gideon tremble with fear, but he had no trouble talking back to the angel of the Lord.  You don’t get it, Angel of God, he explains. “My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family” (v. 15).  With God, that doesn’t matter.  Spoiler alert!  That’s the moral of the story.  The angel, speaking for God, says, “I will be with you and you will strike down the Midianites, every one of them” (v.16.).

            Again, knock-kneed Gideon, yellow with fright before Midian, boldly negotiates with the angel.  If this is truly the Lord, Gideon needs proof.  He tells the angel to wait right there.  I mean, who tells God, ‘hold on, I’ll be with you in a second.’  He runs and gets a goat and prepares an offering.  The angel consumes the offering in fire and then vanishes (v.19).

            Of course at this point Gideon totally freaks out!  “Help me, Lord God!  For I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face” (v.22).    “Shalom,” God says, “you shall not die.”  God calms the man and Gideon then does what Old Testament people do.  He gives God a new name.  He calls God “Shalom;” peace.

            Then the man goes into town and boldly rips down the poles offered to the false god Baal.  They’re called Asherah poles.  Gideon defies the false god tearing down his blasphemous altar. 

            Well, OK; Gideon sneaks out at night and does the deed under the cover of darkness and then runs home and hides in his dad’s house.  In the morning, when the people – Jewish people who aren’t supposed to worship false gods (#1 of the 10 commandments) – when they see their Asherah torn down and an altar to the Lord in its place, they aren’t happy.

            Who did this?  Gideon, son of Joash?  Bring him out here.  We’re going to kill him.  You’ve never heard of this Joash, hero of Judges chapter 6?  This is his finest moment.  He’s up to his neck in the same sins as the rest of the community.  He’s in trouble with God.  They all are.  But, when the community surrounds his house, intent on executing his son, he finds his courage.  He’s struck by a truth bomb and he drops that truth bomb on the heads of his idolatrous neighbors. 

            O, you want to fight for Baal, do you?  If this Baal is really a god as we have been saying he is, let him fight for himself.  They can’t really say anything to that.  The whole uproar dies down immediately, but there is one outcome we need to hear and heed.  Instead of killing Gideon, the people give him a new name, Jerubaal.  It means let Baal contend against him. 

            He was renamed Baal-fighter.  A lot of people in the community thought Baal was real and was a god of some sort.  They were calling Gideon god-fighter.  Earlier I asked, what relationship or institution or temptation or bad habit or addiction or mistake acts as an enemy to your faith?  Now, imagine you face that enemy and declare that it will not come between you and God.  Alcohol?  You will not ruin my walk with the Lord.  Past mistakes?  You will not come between Jesus and me.  Abusive family history?  You will not tell me I am worthless.  I am a child of God, made in the image of God.  Imagine you have mustered the courage to face your demons and turn to Jesus.  Those people in Gideon’s town would rename you “Satan-enemy” or “evil-fighter.”

            Sure, we want to be thought of as opposite the devil and we oppose all that is bad and evil and cruel.  But it’s also terrifying.  Here comes Satan to wreak havoc on the church!  What do we do?  Don’t worry!  We’ll all stand behind old “Satan-enemy” and he’ll take care of it.  They’re talking about you.

            Gideon hid high in the hills above the Midianite hoards with their swords and iron chariots.  He was safe in his hill side refuge.  We hide in a refuge to be safe from that which frightens us, to regroup, and catch our breath.  But, once we’ve recovered, we can’t stay in hiding forever.  God came to Gideon as he was hiding.  God met him in his refuge.  God called him as he was – lacking in confidence and cowardly. 

            The chapter ends with Gideon continuing to show his true colors.  In addition to his timidity, he was a negotiator.  OK, God, I’m going to do what you said, but I need proof that you’re with me (6:36).  God’s already said the only way this will work is I, God, will be with you.  Now Gideon wants proof! 

            Gideon’s going to lay some fleece out in the open night air.  If, the next morning, there’s dew on the fleece and the ground is dry, he’ll know God is with him.  God goes along with this farcical proposition.  The next morning the ground is dry.  The fleece is soaked with dew.  OK, Gideon, are we good to go? 

How about just one more little confirmation?  Gideon asks that the next night, the fleece be dry, but the ground wet.  The next morning, Gideon steps out of his tent and his socking feet squish as he steps one the wet, dew-soaked ground.  He dries his feet with the fleece that doesn’t have a drop on it.  Then he goes and rounds up an army.  He’s run out of tricks for God to perform.  It’s time to leave the hill side refuge and go face the mighty Midianites.  Next week, we’ll talk about that contest and how God can negotiate even better than Gideon.

For now, our time is up.  We must leave this Hillside refuge and step into the world.  We don’t go alone.  We are mighty warriors in the same way cowardly Gideon was because the God who went with him goes with us. 

What challenges await you in the week to come?  Are there people in your life make you turn mean? Or threats that shatter your confidence?  Or temptations that try to lure you away from God?  God’s got you.  God loves you and goes with you.  Even if you don’t feel His power, God’s love is more powerful than the evils we face. 

So, go from this refuge, you who are called Opponents of Satan, Enemies of Evil.  Go in the power of the Holy Spirit and face the world.  Share the good news of salvation.  Meet hatred with love.  And by the time the week is over and you’re tired and beaten up, then come right back here.  The Hillside refuge will be here and the God of Gideon will give you peace, shalom.

AMEN