Sermon Tone Analysis
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Text:
Text:
Focal Passage:
Focal Passage:
Theme: He was a farmer who really enjoyed his trade.
He had no desire to be anything more than a farmer.
He never had political ambitions, nor did he dream of becoming a military leader and yet God had a different plan for Gideon’s life.
Theme: He was a farmer who really enjoyed his trade.
He had no desire to be anything more than a farmer.
He never had political ambitions, nor did he dream of becoming a military leader and yet God had a different plan for Gideon’s life.
Date: 07/23/17 File name: Judges_07.wpd
ID Number:
Date: 07/23/17 File name: Judges_07.wpd
ID Number:
Gideon was a farmer.
He had no desire to be anything more than a farmer.
He didn’t have political ambitions, nor did he dream of becoming a military leader and yet God had a different plan for his life.
The Gideon story in the Old Testament is unique in that it is the story of how God made a hero out of an unlikely person.
It’s not just a story of God’s deliverance of Israel; it is a story of how God transforms lives as well.
Gideon was a farmer.
He had no desire to be anything more than a farmer.
He didn’t have political ambitions, nor did he dream of becoming a military leader and yet God had a different plan for his life.
The Gideon story in the Old Testament is unique in that it is the story of how God made a hero out of an unlikely person.
It’s not just a story of God’s deliverance of Israel; it is a story of how God transforms lives as well.
God is looking for Gideons today — men and women of faith, who are willing to lay their fear aside and step out in faith with God.
We need Gideons in the school rooms and the locker rooms, the living rooms, and the board rooms.
We need Gideons in the academic world, the business world, and the entertainment world.
Gideon was one a Judge raised up by God to deliver Israeli from a group of people known as the Midianites and the Amalekites ().
The Midianites were a nomadic people who roamed the desert in what is now modern day Saudi Arabia.
They would wait until the people of Israel were ready to harvest their crops and they would sweep down upon them stealing their produce and herds and destroying what they couldn’t take with them.
The author of Judges compares them to swarms of locust ().
This went on for seven years () and it was starting to get a little old, and so the people cried out to God to deliver them.
“Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help.”
(, NIV).
God heard them and sends an angel to a young man who will lead His people, first out of military oppression and secondly out of moral oppression.
And that person was a man named Gideon.
The story of Gideon reveals three successive portraits of Gideon.
I. THE FIRST PORTRAIT: GIDEON THE COWARD
1. pretty much says it all ...
“The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.”
(, NIV)
a. Gideon is not exactly a picture of strength and courage here
1) he is hiding down in a winepress threshing wheat
b. normally wheat would be threshed on a high, open flat place where the winds and open air would blow away the chaff
open air would blow away the chaff
1) but Gideon was hiding in a winepress beneath a tree, threshing wheat with a stick, trying to save a little bit of grain that he had hidden from the Midianites
stick, trying to save a little bit of grain that he had hidden from the Midianites
2. this is not a picture of a courageous hero; it is a picture of a defeated, discouraged man, filled with doubts and fears
man, filled with doubts and fears
a. not only was he in the winepress physically, but spiritually and emotionally
1) Gideon appears to be a timid and bitter man
b. while being challenged to deliver Israel, he says to the Angel of the Lord, “Pardon me, but if the Lord is with us, why has such disaster overtaken us?
Where are all his miraculous deeds our ancestors told us about?
They said, ‘Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’
But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.”
me, but if the Lord is with us, why has such disaster overtaken us?
Where are all his miraculous deeds our ancestors told us about?
They said, ‘Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’
But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.”
ILLUS.
Max Ander, in his commentary on Judges writes that this Wine Press ought to right be called a Whine Press because that’s what Gideon is doing — whining to the Lord.
right be called a Whine Press because that’s what Gideon is doing — whining to the Lord.
3. two things contributed to Gideon’s cowardice: bitterness and timidity
a. Gideon is living a life of frustration
1) he was bitter with God for not coming through for him or his people
b. in addition to the bitterness, Gideon felt that he had nothing to offer to help improve things
things
1) he didn’t have the skills and power to turn things around he thought
2) he tells the Lord’s angel in :“But Lord, how can I deliver Israel?
Just look!
My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my family.”
look!
My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my family.”
c.
Gideon tells the angel “You’ve got the wrong guy.
You need a hardened warrior to do this.
I’m just a young, scared farmer.”
do this.
I’m just a young, scared farmer.”
4. Question: Are you hiding down in a winepress threshing wheat and afraid to go public with your faith in God – afraid to attempt the tasks that God wants you to do?
with your faith in God – afraid to attempt the tasks that God wants you to do?
5. the second picture of our hero improves somewhat.
A coward who had a personal encounter with God becomes…
encounter with God becomes…
II.
THE SECOND PORTRAIT: GIDEON THE CHALLENGER
1. it was one thing to meet God in the secrecy of your winepress, but quite another thing to stand up for the Lord in public ways
to stand up for the Lord in public ways
a. Gideon’s faith first began to make a difference right at home — where it should
1) he cleaned up the idolatry of his own family — that night the Lord said to him ...
“That same night the LORD said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old.
Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”
(, NIV)
2. it’s not enough however to tear down our idols if we do not consecrate the Lord in our heart, minds and souls as Sovereign Lord
heart, minds and souls as Sovereign Lord
“Then build a proper kind of altar to the LORD your God on the top of this height.
Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering.”
(, NIV)
a. Gideon is faithful, but he is also still fearful
1) Gideon took ten of his servants and did just as the Lord had told him
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