Gideon’s story in Judges 6:1-7:25 tracks an unexpected leader with plenty of doubts who moves to surprising victory. God tells Gideon to cut his army down from thousands to a hundred to remove the opportunity of boasting “my own strength has saved me” (7:2). What happens from there is the lore of great stories that show the power of God bringing strength in weakness.
SERMON OUTLINE
“Follow me Gideon and I will make you a kinsman redeemer of your people.”
Where is God? Sitting under the great tree with us.
- the terebinth we all live under
- the danger of His being seen (Exodus 32)
- the story of His angels (Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua)
- the shocking story of John and Christ’s angel (Revelation 1:1; 19:10; 22:8-9)
What does God see? His people humiliating Him!
- the inexplicable worship of Baal and Astarte
- the bondage of fear and weakness and rebellion
- an Israelite man called to resist evil at God’s side
- Midianites and Amalekites coming back for more
How does God proceed? By offering His divine presence!
- person to person as one man
- makes peace with Gideon
- sanctifies Gideon and 10 more disciples
- finds a grain of faith to grow into a tree by His word
What is YHWH’s Purpose? To be seen as ‘I Am.’ (25x)
- to reveal Himself to the world by working through a few inadequate men “without me you can do nothing”
- “I am the way the truth and the life” with the Father
Gideon’s struggle to obey the Word Given
- even while clothed with the Spirit
- fleece, hesitancy, divided loyalty, crowd card)
- Paul to Timothy,”I am the chief of sinners”
DISCUSSION GUIDE
- Answer the question…where is YHWH (Jesus)? See Acts 17:27-28, Philippians 3:20-21, John 1:18 and 8:58, Hebrews 1:3, Matthew 28:20, and Ephesians 1:22-23. Surely he is in all of time and space and beyond. The church is His body!
- Who has ever seen God? See Exodus 33:18-23, John 1:18,1 Timothy 15-16, and 1 John 3:1-3. Only the Father, Son and Spirit dwell in the light as one God. Jesus reveals God in His risen humanity and all the redeemed will see Him and be like Him but only in their humanity. We will never be God!
- What do you think Jesus means when He says He is gentle and humble at heart? See Matthew 11:29-30. What shows us the humility of God? For example, His patience with Adam and Eve, His incarnation and humble circumstances in Nazareth. See how many humble situations Jesus tolerates.
- Describe the situation of Gideon without God. What difference would the active presence of God offer him?
- What kind of offering in terms of expense did Gideon give the angel of YHWH? What kind of response did YHWH give Gideon? Could what Gideon did be counted as true worship? See 2 Chronicles 16:9.
- Draw parallels between the Angel of YHWH’s discipleship of Gideon and his ten friends and Jesus’ discipleship of the 12.
- What does it mean that the Spirit clothed Gideon with himself? How does this gracious act parallel the indwelling of believers today with Spirit? See Galatians 5:13-25 and Luke 9:23.