Gideon (Judges 6-7)
Delivered on Sunday 13 May 2007 in St Gregory's, Tredington
Gideon - Judges 6-7
I also delivered this sermon a week later at a church in London, for Vocations Sunday.
If I asked you what the good news is, what would you say? You might say that the good news is that Tony Blair is resigning...
But what is the good news about God? In one sentence? Perhaps that's something you could think about for yourselves this week. What do you think is the good news about God, in one sentence?
Here's my sentence: the good news is that God gives, so we don't have to rely on what we have. God gives, so we don't have to rely on what we have.
Gordon has asked me to speak to you about vocation today. Vocation is not just about vicars and lay readers. 'Vocation' simply means 'calling'.
There are some things that God 'calls' all his people to do, for example, to show hospitality to each other and to strangers, to share our faith, to love one another as he loves us.
There are also things that not everyone is 'called' to do. Not everyone is called to be a vicar, or a doctor, a fireman, a full-time child-carer, a farmer. We are going to look a bit at Gideon's specific vocation, and then at ways we might try to listen to what God is calling us to be and do. Always we must remember: it is about what God gives, not what we have.
Our story begins under a tree. An angel of the Lord came and watched Gideon as he beat the wheat in the wine-press, to stop the Midianite soldiers coming and taking it from them. It was seven years since God had allowed the Midianites to conquer his people, as a punishment for their wickedness.
If God wanted to save his people, you'd expect him to call a great general and thousands of men to be soldiers, to kick the Midianites out of the land.
But instead, the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, the weakest member of the weakest family in his tribe. Have you ever seen the Mr Muscle adverts, the little weedy man with big black glasses and arms like sticks? That's Gideon.
The angel of God appeared to this weedy man, the weediest man in all Israel. And said to him, 'The Lord is with you, you mighty warrior.'
Gideon wasn't a mighty warrior. But he didn't even notice the angel called him that. He got stuck on the first part of what the angel said: 'The Lord is with you.'
'No he isn't!' Gideon cried, 'if God is with us, why has all this happened to us? Why doesn't God do wonderful things, like he used to in the old days? God isn't with us: he's cast us aside.'
Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever felt that God doesn't care, that he's cast you aside? Have you ever felt that he doesn't have a purpose for you, that you're useless to him?
Well you are not useless to him, at all. If you think you are, you need to read the story of Gideon, the most useless man in the whole of Israel. If you think you're useless, you are not, because vocation is about what God gives, not what you have. You need to pray and listen, to discover your vocation.
Back in our story, Gideon is having a go at the angel, who replies, 'Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the Midianites; I hereby commission you.' This time Gideon realises what the angel is calling him. 'Who, me, mighty?! Look at me! I'm no warrior! How can I deliver the people of Israel?!'
Gideon was quite right. He was no mighty warrior. He was no five-star general. 'How am I supposed to do this?' Gideon asked. 'How am I, the weediest man in all Israel, supposed to lead an army against the Midianites?! That's ridiculous!'
Sometimes we might feel like that when God calls us to do something we can't. Perhaps you find it difficult working with children, and God is calling you to help with Sunday School.
Do you remember my one-sentence summary of the good news? God gives, so we don't have to rely on what we have. When God calls us to do something, he doesn't just leave us to get on with it. He gives us the gifts we need to follow that call. He called Gideon, the weediest man in Israel, to defeat the Midianites. Gideon won, not because he was an amazing general, but because he trusted an amazing God.
Let's look at that part of the story now.
Gideon mustered up an army of 32,000 men. That sounds pretty impressive, but the Midianites had 120,000 men. That's odds of just under 4:1. But God said, 'Gideon, you have too many men. If you win with that many men, you'll think you won in your own strength. Send away all the men who are frightened.' 22,000 men left Gideon's army, leaving him with odds of 12:1. I can hear Gideon muttering to himself, 'Thanks, God! Still, at least we have 10,000 men left.'
But God spoke again: 'Gideon, you still have too many men.'
Can you see the disbelief on Gideon's face? He was following God into battle, but God kept reducing the number of men in his army! But he still trusted that God would be true to his word. So, he took the men down to the river to drink. All those who lapped water like dogs were allowed to stay, the rest were sent home. That left Gideon with 300 men, and odds of 400:1.
Let me try and put that into some sense of proportion for you. Imagine this church is packed full of people, and double it. Now, it's all you lot, against me. Who do you think would win in a fight? I'd have no chance.
But these are the kind of odds that God is happy with. That way, we know it's God, not us, who wins the victory. Gideon won, because of God's strength, not his own.
Gideon trusted God, because he knew that what is important is what God gives, not what we have. He knew that if God called him to do something, God would give him the gifts to do it.
Perhaps God is calling you to do something, but you aren't listening because you can't do whatever it is God is calling you to do. Perhaps God is calling you to offer hospitality to others, but you never know what to say to people you don't know very well, so you are ignoring that call. It may be something else.
You need to know, that what is important is what God gives, not what we have. God uses our weakness to show his strength. When God calls us to do things we are no good at, he does it so we know it is in his power that we do them, not our own.
I would encourage you, as you listen to what God is saying to you, not to ignore his call if it is to do something difficult, or uncomfortable. If God is calling you to do it, he will give you the gifts to do it, it will be in his power that you can do it.
But how do we know what God is calling us to do? Gordon has also asked me to share with you some of my testimony, the way I discerned God calling me to be an ordained minister.
My call came one morning in November 1997. I literally woke up, and knew what God was calling me to be. Before I had wanted to be an accountant, now I knew God wanted me to be a vicar. I was 14 at the time, and didn't tell anyone for a long time. To be honest, I hoped the feeling would go away, so I could get on with being an accountant!
That is one of the ways we can test God's call: patience. If you feel God is calling you to do something, one way to test it is to wait. If the feeling doesn't go away, and especially if it gets stronger, as mine did, you need to think seriously about it.
A second way is reading Scripture. It is absolutely vital that you test your vocation against what Scripture says. If you are a woman and you feel called to be ordained, like Susie, you need to wrestle with the passages in Scripture about women in leadership. I think they say it's ok, but you need to read them for yourself. Perhaps you're married and have fallen in love with someone else, and feel 'called' to divorce your spouse and marry that other person. I would urge you to think and pray long and hard about any such things, given what the Bible says.
A third way is prayer. I regularly prayed, by myself at first, but with other people later on, that God would make clear to me whether or not this was what he was calling me to be. As you can see, he did.
A fourth way is speaking to other Christians. It is rare that people hear the voice of God in their head audibly, as if from nowhere. At least, it's never happened to me. But I have heard the voice of God audibly, spoken through other Christians. That includes vicars, and normal people like you and me. As I was thinking and praying about ordination, I spoke regularly to friends, young and old, impetuous and wise, and listened to what they told me about myself. Almost unanimously they told me I should consider ordination.
These four ways help us to discern vocations: patience, reading Scripture, prayer, and talking to other Christians. Each of them involves time, testing, and other people. We are to test vocations, but not God. Don't say things like, 'God, if x happens then I'll know you're calling me to y.' Actually, you'll find it still isn't enough. If you look at the story of Gideon for yourself, you'll see that it wasn't enough for Gideon either. Because there's always the niggling doubt it might have been a coincidence. If you pursue your vocation in these four ways—patience, Scripture, prayer, talking to other Christians—then you will have a much better sense of your vocation.
Finally, many vocations are not once for all. Many people find they have different vocations at different stages of their life. This listening process, listening to what God is saying to you, is life-long. You never know when God might call you to do something else. And you never will know, unless you listen.
Gideon, the weediest man in Israel, listened to God's call, and had faith, although he wobbled a bit too. He had faith in what God gives, not in what he had. Will you listen to God's call, will you have faith in what God gives, and not in what you have?
Amen.
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