The Unexpected Call of God
The Book of Judges • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 2 viewsThe Call of God sometimes catches us by surprise. But God does not like to do what is expected. He likes to take the unlikely and make them a champion for Him.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Facing the giants. David and Goliath is one of my favorite Bible stories because a young shepherd boy with a heart of faith boldly and confidently takes on the giant in the Lord’s name then soundly defeats him.
David did the unexpected: lil’ shepherd boy versus military champ. The odds could not have been worse or could they. When you go in the name of the Lord you are the majority. Psalm 27:3–4 “Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.”
And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abi-ezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.
And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?
And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.
And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.
And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me.
Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again.
And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it.
And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.
Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.
And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God! for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face.
And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.
Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah-shalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites.
I see some principles about God’s calling that help us understand that God isn’t looking at outward appearances or social standings when choosing his leaders.
D. God’s call on Gideon was not one he expected.
P. We ought to be willing to answer the call even when you find God’s calling on you unexpected.
T. How do we know God’s call is really God’s call on our lives. I see five principals in Gideon’s call that may help you ascertain God’s calling in your life.
Surprise - You may be surprised how God addresses you as he works to prepare you for his call.
Solution - Gideon pointed out the oppression and absence of God in his nation and God pointed to Gideon to be the solution as he promises to be with Him being a deliverer for Israel.
Sorry - Gideon offers excuses I am poor and the least, but God doesn’t care. Often those are marks of people that God uses.
Solidified - Gideon offers a sacrifice to the Lord and God miraculously receives it.
Sign - Gideon builds an altar to remind him Jehovah-shalom gave him a message of peace.
1. You may find God’s call surprising.
1. You may find God’s call surprising.
Judges 6:11–12 “And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abi-ezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.”
Explain
The angel of the Lord
A christophany - pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the third of five appearances of the angel of the Lord.
Judges 2 as Israel is chided for their disobedience.
Judges 5:23 as Meroz is cursed for not joining in the battle against the Canaanites.
Judges 6:11 he appears to call Gideon to be his judge and deliverer of His people.
Judges 13 He appears twice to Manoah’s wife and once to him
The place: Orphah is debated
It is in the tribal allotment of Manasseh on the West side of Jordan. It is probably safest to say it was near Shechem as other suggestions have the city in other tribal allotments like Issachar near the Jezereel valley, Mount Tabor, and Mount Moreh which all are north of Mannasseh’s tribal allotment.
The place was in the tribal allotment of Manasseh’s son Abiezer, which means my father will help.
Gideon - who means feller, cutter down. God would use Him to lead the cutting down of their oppressors. He first needed to get Gideon on board though with his calling.
The angel of the Lord finds Gideon threshing wheat. Not in the threshing floor, but in the winepress.
He was trying to hide what little grain he had from the raiding Midianites.
Threshing floors were on hill tops where there was a good breeze to blow away the chaff.
The winepress was a sunken area into which the grapes were throne to be trampled underfoot to get the juice out of them. It was generally trampled in a vat cut out of stone the juice then ran down connected channels to a lower rock cut vat where the wine was stored and fermented.
There are findings of winepresses that were connected to storage cellars that could store up to 25,000 gallons of wine. These are described as the King’s wine presses and would have probably been built in 700BC roughly 400 years before Gideon.
The bottom line is Gideon was too chicken to use the threshing floor for fear of the Midianites taking what little wheat he had.
Yet, notice how the angel of the Lord addresses Gideon: The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.”
Notice the promise: The Lord is with thee.
Notice the Title: Thou mighty man of valour. Gideon must have been looking around thinking, who are you talking to?
Argue
God wants pure and holy vessels to do his work. True. But he makes broken down vessels usable in his hands.
Illustrate
Someone who thinks they are be all end all are probably not going to be teachable enough for God to use. Those who humbly seek God’s help and filling are those he can use. For he resists pride, and grants grace to the humble. (James 4:6)
Apply
The Lord may come and call you at some of your lowest times.
Gideon is pretty low. He is poor and the least. He is also in a low spot out of site trying to hide his precious grain from the thieving Midianites.
Matthew 23:12 “And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”
1 Corinthians 1:28–29 “And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.”
He is in a low spot.
Psalm 40:2 “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.”
We have the promise of God’s presence as well.
Hebrews 13:5–6 “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”
Matthew 28:20 “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
We are also called mighty men of valour in that we are conquerors through Jesus who loved us.
2 Corinthians 2:14 “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.”
Romans 8:37 “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”
It doesn’t matter your background, my friend. When you get Jesus in your heart and he is your Savior, He cleanses your sins away and gives you eternal life.
Education or not he can use you. Be teachable and learn all you can.
Past struggles. Those things you may have struggled with may be the thing God wants to use to help other live victorious. 2 Corinthians 1:3–4 “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”
2. You may be the call’s solution.
2. You may be the call’s solution.
Judges 6:13–14 “And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?”
Explain
Gideon questions:
Gideon asks God the famous why question. God why are you allowing the oppression of the Midianites in our land. Seven years, God. We’re starving. How is God with me when we are barely making it?
I remember the miracles my Grandpa told me about and his grandpa told him, but I’m not seeing it Lord. God has forsaken us.
The LORD tells him to go in his strength and he’ll save Israel from the Midianites hand.
God’s ways are not man’s ways. I’d have been like duh Gideon, you guys have gone after every idol in the region and you are wondering why you are oppressed. You broke my law Bozo.
That’s not how God addresses Gideon. He gives him a vision with some surprising title: Mighty man of valour and then presents Gideon as the solution to his questions. I want you to be my Savior for Israel.
That had to be a shocker for Gideon as he stood holding his wheat dumbfounded in the winepress.
God is taking Gideon where he is at. He doesn’t smash him to bits. He builds his confidence and promises to be with him in the whole endeavor.
God asks the question: have not I sent thee? God is seeking for Gideon to trust Him.
Argue
Gideon seems glad to finally have an ear. I have been waiting to talk to the Lord about this. Okay, Lord, why are in this present distress?
We are many times experts at pointing out the shortcomings of others and failing to see our own. Gideon doesn’t even appear to recognize the sin problem. But we will find him later exercising obedience to God which shows faith. And God always honors faith. Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
Illustrate
The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God and the Church is famishing for want of His Presence. The instant cure of most of our religious ills would be to enter the Presence in spiritual experience, to become suddenly aware that we are in God and that God is in us. This would lift us out of our pitiful narrowness and cause our hearts to be enlarged.2
A. W. Tozer
Apply
When we are in present distress may we be examining ourselves to see if their sin that is the cause.
Don’t be quick to blame God for your problems. Often problems are the result of a sin problem as they are throughout the book of judges. Sin is a difficult path to tread for the child of God.
Proverbs 13:15 “Good understanding giveth favour: But the way of transgressors is hard.”
Psalm 111:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: A good understanding have all they that do his commandments: His praise endureth for ever.”
If we will exercise ourselves unto godliness instead of blaming God for our problems we will have a better understanding in some cases of our trials.
If Gideon would have remembered God’s covenant he would have understood the present distress was because of idolatry, infiltration, and intermarriage. When we recognize the sin problem we are better able to be a solution by God’s grace to address the problem.
3. Your excuses may be deemed sorry.
3. Your excuses may be deemed sorry.
Judges 6:15–16 “And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house. And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.”
Explain
Gideon has misconceptions about God’s calling. To Gideon God’s call must rely on these two specifications.
Prosperity: my family is poor in Manasseh
Gideon didn’t think God could use him because he wasn’t very rich.
Argue: God is not limited by our lack of material wealth.
Philippians 4:19 “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
Psalm 50:10 “For every beast of the forest is mine, And the cattle upon a thousand hills.”
Prominence: least in my father’s house
Psalm 39:5 “Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; And mine age is as nothing before thee: Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.”
How important you appear to other people doesn’t mean diddly squat to God.
Romans 2:11 “For there is no respect of persons with God.”
1 Peter 1:17 “And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:”
Argue: God doesn’t care if your scrubbing toilets or a CEO. He doesn’t care if your just a kid or a grandparent. God is looking for people that are willing to be what he asks them to be. So poor or rich, famous or a nobody that is nothing to God. He makes us what he wants us to be. Luke 12:37 “Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.”
Gideon’s misconceptions cleared by God
I will be with thee.
You will smite Midian as one man.
Gideon needed to hear God give him the vote of confidence. You will win because I am with you.
We need to get it through our thick heads if God be for us, who can be against us.
Argue
Gideon is probably wondering how he is going to gain the respect to lead an army against the enemy. That too will be answered as he shows courage to sanctify the Lord by cutting down the grove to Baal and throwing down his altar.
Obedience to God will garner respect from those who seek to follow the Lord.
Illustrate: My Pastor growing up showed meekness to his flock when they weren’t always the kindest to him. He was very gracious and forgiving.
Apply
Your excuses may not have to do with how much money you have or how popular you are, but God wants you to serve Him regardless.
What excuses have you been giving God. Remember Moses had his excuses too. Lord, I’m a nobody (Ex. 3:11). Lord, I’m not eloquent (Ex. 4:10). Lord, wonder if they won’t believe me. (Ex. 4:1)
Take my life and let it be, consecrated Lord to thee. Take my hands and let them move, at the impulse of thy love, at the impulse of thy love.
Take my will and make it thin, it shall be no longer mine; take my heart it is thine own, it shall be thy royal throne, it shall be thy royal throne.
4. Your call will be solidified.
4. Your call will be solidified.
And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me.
Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again.
And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it.
And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.
Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.
And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God! for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face.
Explain
Gideon offers a present to the angel of the Lord, whom he currently is unaware is an angel.
It is like Gideon needed a moment to get away from the situation then revisit it to see if what he saw was really reality.
I imagine the gift took Gideon 2-3 hours to prepare.
The angel asks Gideon to put it on the rock and pour the broth on the rock. He didn’t question God. He obeyed.
The angel of the Lord touches the rock with his staff and fire devours the meat and the angel of the Lord disappears.
Gideon is fearful of his life when he realizes he has seen an angel. God had called him and now he is fearful he will die.
I admire his reverence for the angel of God.
We lack respect in our culture, so we would do well to learn a little respect. Yet, at the same time if God called us out to do something he won’t take us out before we have done what he has called us to do as we walk obediently to Him.
Argue
Why Gideon offer a gift? He wanted to make sure he could believe what he was seeing and hearing.
He had to have some alone time to stop and contemplate and pray.
Illustrate
Apply
When you give a gift to God, it must be without strings attached. Gideon didn’t question the angel. He obeyed.
He gave sacrificially, so too when we give ourselves to the call of God in our lives he wants us to give willingly.
The example with Deborah and Barak a generation before: Judges 5:2 “Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, When the people willingly offered themselves.”
James 1:22 “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
When we come to God and he gives us the call may we do as Paul recommends. Romans 12:1–2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
5. You may set up some sign to remind you of the call.
5. You may set up some sign to remind you of the call.
Judges 6:23–24 “And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die. Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah-shalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites.”
Explain
Oh ye of little faith. The Lord called Gideon and now he is fearful of his life. I love the fact that God meets him right where he is at and helps him develop his faith: Thou shalt not die.
Gideon then builds an altar to the Lord.
While the altar of the Lord to be offered at was as Shiloh at this point, we do find in other Scriptures where the three tribes on the East side of Jordan built an altar that nearly started a civil war. (Joshua 22:10-34)
The practice was probably not advisable. Nevertheless, it was a testimony to Gideon and those who knew his story that Jehovah Shalom is peace.
So Jesus the Prince of peace calls us to be his soldiers in his army and valiantly fight for Him against the defeated foes, the devil and his angels. Ephesians 6:10–12 “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
Argue
Illustrate: My Plaque on the wall.
You may have had a life changing moment that directed the course of your life. Write it down. You can go back and remind yourself of God’s call and thank him for what he has done.
Apply
Have you made right with Jehovah Shalom the prince of peace. Romans 5:1 “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:”
Are you at peace with God tonight or at war in your heart.
Isaiah 26:3–4 “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on thee: Because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: For in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:”
James 4:6–7 “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Conclusion
Conclusion
God call may be surprising, You might be the solution to the problem you see, it may have some sorry excuses you need to set aside and be all in for Him. As you do God will solidify that call in your heart and take some time to set up some time or reminder. Write it down and stay faithful to what God has called you to do.
