Super Heroes: Gideon Judges 6:11-18 0/05/02012

Sermon 8-5-12 judges superheroes Gideon Judges 6:11-18

11 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. 12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior. ”13 “But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.”14 The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”15 “But Lord,[a]” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family. ”16 The LORD answered, “I will be with you , and you will strike down all the Midianites together.”17 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”And the LORD said, “I will wait until you return.”

Week two of the series

Before we get started…Gideon sees and angel or is it the Lord
Theophany - not uncommon for humans to be confused
Would we know what to say?
Lets just accept it as that and go on.

Finish the story of Gideon
What in the world do you do with this?

This is craziness
Cross over songs
All music is God’s music
God is great beer is good, people are crazy – Billy Currington

Gideon embraced fear, doubt, worry
1. Hiding from the midianites because he was afraid
2. A mighty man of valor

3. My clan is the weakest
4. I am the least- fred smitty vs pioneer high

5. Breaks down the altar of Baal. Cuts down the ashera pole at night

6. Test one- wait until I come back
7. Test two – the wet fleece
8. Test three – the dry fleece

Quote- Ralph waldo emmerson
“A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will come out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming.”


Something is missing in this story for it to receive superhero status
The theme of sacrifice-
Gideon is afraid
So he wants to take the easy way
He wants to be comforted along the way

Sacrifice
We have lost this theme in our lives
We want to take the easy way
It is one of the sins of our age

Kenda creasy-dean
Moralistic therapeutic deism

1. A god exists who created and orders the world and watches over life on earth
2. God wants people to be good, nice and fair to each other as taught in the bible and by most world religions
3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about ones self
4. God is not involved in my life except when I need god to resolve a problem
5. Good people go to heaven when they die

God is a god of granting wishes and handing out hall passes
He has become the god of the easy way.

The story of the gospel is a story of suffering love
Though we humans tend to lean away from it, there is no Christianity without a cross
How do you live this out in your life?
What are we modeling for our families? Our children?

Sometimes you have to do what you have to do
You have to step up to the plate and do the right thing.
Quote from wm bridges book –
Quote from wm bridges book
The words of Julius Cesar, describing how he handled an unexpected, simultaneous attack by an enemy at three different points on his flanks while part of his troops were crossing a river and another part were setting up camp………….
“everything had to be done at once”

Do you suppose Gideon’s parents were proud of him?
What are the three most important things that you would like for your children to learn?

1. Honor god- love your neighbor
2. Work hard
3. Do the right thing
4. Then, enjoy life……….

Ok, Gideon was a mess, that doesn’t really help me, does it?
If God can use Gideon, god can use you
Its not about you being or feeling worthy

Communion - People that wont come for communion because the don’t feel worthy
Do you want your children to not feel worthy?

I am not advocating bad behavior or neurotic behavior
but obviously god uses anybody.
Don’t wait until you are perfect.
Don’t stop working on your stuff, but god looks past your stuff

Meaning of life story- creasy dean pg 84
Robert fulghum author of everything I needed to know I learned in kinderg
Seminar on greek culture – professor asks – any questions
What is the meaning of life – people laugh

Finds broken mirror. Plays game. Shine light into dark places
Later in life saw this as a metaphor………..

You may be broken, but God can use you.



Author Robert Fulghum tells this story of one of his professors, a wise man whose name was Alexander Papaderos:
At the last session on the last morning of a two-week seminar on Greek culture, Dr. Papaderos turned and made the ritual gesture: “Are there any questions?”
Quiet quilted the room. These two weeks had generated enough questions for a lifetime, but for now, there was only silence.
“No questions?” Papaderos swept the room with his eyes.
So, I asked.
“Dr. Papaderos, what is the meaning of life?”
The usual laughter followed, and people stirred to go.
Papaderos held up his hand and stilled the room and looked at me for a long time, asking with his eyes if I was serious and seeing from my eyes that I was.
“I will answer your question.”
Taking his wallet out of his hip pocket, he fished into a leather billfold and brought out a very small round mirror, about the size of a quarter.
And what he said went something like this:
“When I was a small child, during the war, we were very poor and we lived in a remote village. One day, on the road, I found the broken pieces of a mirror. A German motorcycle had been wrecked in that place.
“I tried to find all the pieces and put them together, but it was not possible, so I kept only the largest piece. This one. And by scratching it on a stone, I made it round. I began to play with it as a toy and became fascinated by the fact that I could reflect light into dark places where the sun would never shine–in deep holes and crevices and dark closets. It became a game for me to get light into the most inaccessible places I could find.
“I kept the little mirror, and as I went about my growing up, I would take it out in idle moments and continue the challenge of the game. As I became a man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child’s game but a metaphor for what I might do with my life. I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of light. But light–truth, understanding, knowledge–is there, and it will only shine in many dark places if I reflect it.
“I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places of this world–into the black places in the hearts of men–and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of life.”
And then he took his small mirror and, holding it carefully, caught the bright rays of daylight streaming through the window and reflected them onto my face and onto my hands folded on the desk.