THE NOBODY WHO SAVED EVERYBODY

 “THE NOBODY WHO SAVED EVERYBODY”

CONNECT Some years ago one of the best selling books was “The Search for Significance”. Many people search for significance in life. They wonder if they will ever be able to make a difference in the world. It is exactly these people who God has destined to be a “difference maker”. That includes you!

 

This is certainly true of a man called Gideon. He saw himself as nothing, but God saw him as a “history maker” God looked not at who he was, but he would become. Gideon was “The Nobody Who Saved Everybody!”

 

BACKGROUND Gideon would become a judge in Israel, and his story is told beginning in the Book of Judges. A judge was someone God would raise up to deliver His people. There is a pattern repeated in the Book of Judges again and again: sin, suffering, supplication, salvation. The people would sin; God would allow them to be overrun by an enemy; the people would cry out to God for deliverance; God would raise up a leader, a judge, to deliver them. The children of Israel were living in Canaan, the Promised Land, but not possessing it. 

 

In this episode, the Midianites, one of Israel’s ancient enemies, have taken control of the land and are stealing everything the Israelites have. They cry out to God and He promises to deliver them. Enter Gideon. 

 

MESSAGE: How does God take a nobody and transform him into a mighty man of God? He takes him through a series of steps.

 

THE CONDITION

 

Judges 6:11 Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites.

Threshing wheat in a wine press. What a miserable dry life. You have to hide the wheat or it will be stolen. A place that was intended for abundant wine has become a place of stale dryness and lack. This is where God finds his candidates for greatness. 

 

1 Corinthians 1:26–29 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.

 

If you hate where you are, God may be getting you ready for greatness.

 

THE CALL

 

12 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”

 

Jesus Himself comes to Gideon. Just as He comes to everyone. 

 

John 1:9 That was the true Light who lights every man who  comes into the world.

 

What was Gideon’s response?

 

Judges 6:13–16 Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

 

His first response is to blame God for his circumstances. 

 

14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”

15 So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”

 

His second response is to question his own ability. This is also a slap at God. He feels God has not treated him fairly when He was doling out gifts, abilities, talents, and favor. 

 

16 And the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.”

 

Jesus repeats the call and gives the secret to the victory. “I will be with you.” God never asks us to do it on our own. He will do the work.

 

THE COVENANT

 

Gideon finally realizes that a messenger from God is speaking to him, so he prepares a dinner as as an offering.  Jesus turns the dinner into a sacrifice that solemnizes a covenant.

 

Judges 6:20–21 The Angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. 21 Then the Angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.

 

Gideon realizes he has been with Jesus. 

 

Judges 6:22–24 Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord. So Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.” 23 Then the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die.” 24 So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it The-Lord-Is-Peace (Jehovah Shalom).

 

Jesus is our peace. He gives us His peace. We have peace with God through Jesus Christ. 

 

We are in covenant with God. This means that everything we have belongs to Jesus, and everything Jesus has belongs to us. Whatever you need Jesus will supply. 

 

Philippians 4:19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

 

THE CHALLENGE 

 

The Lord now challenges Gideon to exercise his faith by tearing down his father’s idols. 

 

Judges 6:25–26 Now it came to pass the same night that the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it; 26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down.” 

 

When the men of the city got up to worship Baal the next day, they saw the idols destroyed and sought Gideons’s life. But his father stood with him and for him. God may test us by asking us to take a stand against our family, our friends, our culture or our traditions. This is to strengthen us for the battles to come.

 

Judges 6:34–35 But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him. 35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

 

Gideon responds and is filled and anointed by God. This is the key to his victory and our victory: being filled and anointed with the Holy Spirit!

 

Luke 24:49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.

 

Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit…

 

Ephesians 5:18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,

 

1 John 2:20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.

 

1 John 2:27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

 

When he is filled, the people join him to fight in the strength of the Lord. 

 

THE CONFIRMATION

 

Gideon asked for confirmation with the two fleeces and God answers. God never minds an honest question. There is nothing wrong with getting a confirmation of God’s direction. This can come as a Scripture, a overwhelming sense of peace, a word from another person, a sermon you hear, etc. The Lord is looking for obedience once we know His will. 

 

THE CAMPAIGN 

 

The Army The first thing God does is shrink Gideon’s army of over 30,000 to 300! Why? God wanted everyone to know the victory would be by God alone. God then gave Gideon a dream promising victory and all the people responded. 

 

Vision gives purpose and direction. Without a vision the people cast off restraint.  

 

The Weapons Trumpets, Pitchers, Torches, and Shouts. 

They blew the trumpets of war, broke the pitchers so the light of the torches would scatter the darkness, and they shouted the victory. So we must blow the trumpet in Zion, the church, that we are in a spiritual war.  We must allow the Lord to break us so that His light can shine out of us to scatter the spiritual darkness of this age. And we must shout the victory of the Lord over all His enemies!

 

The Battle The details will go on for several chapter. There too many details to cover for our purposes here. 

 

The Victory When the Army did as God directed, the enemy began to kill each other. When we as the church stand up, our  enemies will turn on each other and the battle will be ours.

 

Exodus 14:14 The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.

 

THE CROWN 

 

After the enemies are defeated, the people seek a ruler. They offer Gideon a crown. 

 

Judges 8:22-23 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, both you and your son, and your grandson also; for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.” 23 But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the LORD shall rule over you.”

 

Gideon rejected the earthly crown, but embraced a heavenly one.

 

1 Corinthians 9:25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.

 

2 Timothy 4:8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

 

James 1:12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

 

1 Peter 5:4 and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.

 

This is the heartbeat of all of us: Lord, rule over us and let us labor for an imperishable crown. This is how a nobody can save everybody. 

INSPIRATION (From People magazine) Private Desmond Doss walked into the bloodiest battle of World War II’s Pacific theater with nothing to protect himself save for his Bible and his faith in God. A devout Seventh Day Adventist and conscientious objector, Doss had enlisted as a medic and refused to carry a rifle.

 

The fighting took place on the hellish Maeda Escarpment in April 1945. The battlefield, located on top of a sheer 400-foot cliff, was fortified with a deadly network of Japanese machine gun nests and booby traps. The escarpment, nicknamed Hacksaw Ridge for the treacherously steep cliff, was key to winning the battle of Okinawa. The mission was thought to be near-impossible, and when Doss’s battalion was ordered to retreat, the medic refused to leave his fallen comrades behind.

 

Facing heavy machine gun and artillery fire, Doss repeatedly ran alone into the kill zone, carrying wounded soldiers to the edge of the cliff and singlehandedly lowering them down to safety. Each time he saved a man’s life, Doss prayed out loud, “Lord, please help me get one more.” By the end of the night he had rescued an estimated 75 men.

 

President Harry S. Truman presented Doss with the Medal of Honor on Oct. 12, 1945. He was the first conscientious objector to receive the honor. He spent the first five years after the war recovering from his injuries, and ultimately lost a lung to tuberculosis. His injuries prevented him working full-time, and he devoted the rest of his life to working with his church.

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