Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Do we have to be perfect before God can call us to fruitful service?
Happily, the answer is no. In the case of Gideon, God's call came to an unremarkable man with character flaws. That means that God's call can come to you and me as well. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Way before Israel had kings, they had judges.
The stories of those times remind us that we've been down this road before. Pastor Lutzer, tell us about God's call to Gideon and his call to you and me. Well, first of all, God's call to Gideon, you're absolutely right, Dave.
Gideon was flawed. As a matter of fact, he ended up, I think, worshiping an idol of all things. If God were to only call those who are perfect, he'd have nobody to serve him. Now, that doesn't justify sin.
It doesn't justify idolatry, of course. And God's call to you and to me and to all who are listening is very different. We're not asked to physically tear down altars, et cetera, but we are asked to represent Christ in a world that has lost its way. And we here at Running to Win are deeply committed to getting the gospel of Jesus Christ to as many as we can. Now, at the end of this broadcast, I'm going to be introducing you to a word that you perhaps have never heard before. I want you to stay tuned because it is understanding this word that may determine your reward in heaven.
You be sure to stay tuned. You'll notice verse 15, Gideon asked, how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my family. I am the youngest.
How are you going to use me? It's amazing how in the Bible, God often chose the youngest of the family. David, for example, was the youngest.
Gideon was the youngest of the family. And God says, look, he says, I have an answer for that too. The Lord answered, I will be with you.
Verse 16, and you will strike down all the Midianites together. The issue is not your family line. The issue is not whether or not you were born in a Christian family. Gideon wasn't born in a family that loved God, but God says, I'm calling you and I'm going to be with you. Resources will come if you open your life to God for ministry. Resources will come with the call. Well, it was an unexpected call. It was an encouraging call. And then the call was confirmed in verse 17 and following.
Now I need to just tell you this story because it would take a little too long to read it, but here's what happened. Gideon said, I need a sign. He said that in verse 17. He said, because I don't know whether or not you're speaking on behalf of God. Remember at this point, he does not know that he's talking to the Lord or even an angel. He just thinks that this is some remarkable man who happens to come and watch him.
So I said, I need a sign to know that you're from God. He said, you stay here. And the man said, I'm going to stay as long as you want me to. Gideon goes and prepares a meal. I mean, we're talking about taking a young goat and fixing the whole thing to eat. He takes 35 pounds of flour and makes unleavened bread.
I think that'd be quite a loaf personally. And then he takes some broth and he gives it to the man and he says, eat this. And what the man does is say, follow my instructions. And so Gideon does what the guy wants and they put this on a rock and then the angel touches it with his staff and immediately a fire flares up and everything is consumed and the angel disappears. Gideon believes that he has seen God, which is true that he has, and he expects to die because in those days it was believed that if you ever saw God, you're dead. Well, this was a manifestation of God. Nobody can see God directly. And so the Lord came back to him and said, peace, do not be afraid.
You're not going to die. So Gideon builds an altar onto the Lord. Do you think Gideon should know by now that this was a God thing?
I think so. But later on in the next message in this series, we're going to talk about his fleece. You know, Gideon is known for that fleece that he put out and whether or not it was wet or whether or not it was going to be dry. And many people think that, that they should use fleeces today.
And I'm going to discuss that in the next message because that's a very important thing and oftentimes misunderstood. I've known young women who have said, you know, if he calls me before 10 o'clock in the evening, I'll assume that he's God's man. I should marry. Bad idea.
Bad idea. But yet there are all these fleeces out there to somehow find a sign. So Gideon's got this thing, a little bit of insecurity anyway, and so he wants to find a sign. Now, this time God gave him something remarkable, but if you want me to tell you what I think of the fleece idea, you're going to have to come back next time. Now, when Gideon began to have doubts, now he could always point to two things. First of all, he could point to the flames, the very charcoal on that rock that said, yes, I know that this is of God. And then he also built this peace altar. And so he says, I've got two things.
I've got the objectivity of my experience as well as the subjectivity. What do we have today? We don't see angels.
I've never seen one. We don't see people coming to us and disappearing except in our dreams. I bet that happened a couple of times. Sometimes maybe in those dreams I disappear for all I know. I have to tell you this. I dreamt the weirdest dream last night, but I think I've dreamt in years.
There's no way that I could possibly tell you about it. The things that my mind puts together in the most crazy absurd ways staggers me when I wake up in the morning. Well, what have we got? Well, we have the objectivity of God's word. We know there that God has certain qualifications for leadership. We also have subjectivity, the peace of God.
But I believe that if we were to skip to the New Testament, another important element to confirm the coal is the body of Jesus Christ. The fact of what others think. So important because you know there are some people who are called to preach, but apparently nobody is called to listen. There are some people who may think that they have a specific call, but it's the body that says yes. And that's part of our responsibility as a pastoral staff to get to know our sheep and to say, you know, I think that you have upon your life God's call. And what you have to do is to perceive it and to pursue it because we help one another in understanding this. So his call, Gideon's call, was confirmed.
But oh, the last characteristic is, was this call challenging or what? I have to summarize. God says, Gideon, I want you to go and to tear down the altar that is in your father Joash's backyard.
Now, can you imagine what that means? An altar, this was an altar to Baal. If it's like the one that's been uncovered by archeologists in Hazor, it would be about 24 feet by 24 feet.
In fact, I remember seeing it a number of years ago. Maybe it's an altar that big because Gideon got 10 servants and two oxen to help him tear it down. And he did it in the night because he knew that if he did it during the day, he would be stopped and maybe stoned. And so he takes down the altar.
I say this with sensitivity, but when God calls you, sometimes it is against the objections of your parents. Well, the next morning, the townspeople are so mad. They came early in the morning.
Why? Because, you know, they had their devotions at the altar of Baal. Beat some people I know who belong to Christ. And verse 28, in the morning when the men of the town got up, there was Baal's altar demolished. And verse 30, the men of the town demanded, Joash, bring out your son.
He must die because he has broken down Baal's altar and cut down the Asherah, the pole beside it. And his father had kind of a change of heart, maybe because of shame, whatever. Then he said, no, he said, I'll tell you what, and this is really, this is really pretty good theology, I think, and kind of smart. He said, look, he said, don't kill him.
He says, if Baal is a real God, let Baal judge Gideon. That was a good idea. Many years ago, John Knox, who was a great reformer, was on a boat captured as a man responsible for just rowing the boat and being a slave, actually.
And in those days, of course, the big argument was regarding images and so forth. And somebody took an image and put it to him and tried to get him to kiss it. And he took it and he threw it into the water and said, let it swim. Let it swim.
If it is a God, if it is some kind of a blessed image, it can swim in the water. And that helped people to understand that it is possible for you to stand against idolatry and not have anything happen to you. And nothing happened to Gideon.
That's the story, folks. Now, how does this change our life? How does it change my life? Why is it that every one of us here today is going to leave changed by God's power if we let God change us?
A couple of life-changing lessons. Number one, the altar of God and the altar of Baal cannot coexist. You say, how do you know that in the text?
I left out this bit of information that I'm giving you now. When God says, Gideon, I want you to tear down the altar of Baal. God says, I want you to build on that spot an altar, a new one to Jehovah.
And that's what he did all in one night. You see, the simple fact is, as long as you've got all these altars out there, people wouldn't mind if he had an altar to God. That was not the thing. What really got the townspeople angry is when he tore down the altar to Baal.
That's what really makes people upset. Why? Because the God of Jehovah and the God of Baal cannot coexist. You can't have two altars in your life, one to paganism and one to God and somehow think that you're going to get by. Why?
Because a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. As Joshua said, if God is God, serve him. You say, what are these altars? I don't have anything in my life.
I don't have any stones that I've put around. Well, it could be sports, because the Bible says that we should love the Lord our God with all of our heart, with all of our mind, with all of our soul. Now, that means that we can become so absorbed in what is happening that basketball or football or hockey or whatever means a lot more to us than God could possibly mean to us. That's an idol. It could be sensuality. It could be some addiction that means more to you than God could ever possibly mean. All that is idols. It's no secret that one of the biggest temptations that men have is to stay in hotel rooms when they're traveling, because on television with cable television and opportunities for pornography and there you are, you're alone and nobody else is with you.
The temptation is strong and overwhelming. I know a religious leader who's well known in the United States, but I will not mention his name, who said that he does this. When he walks into a motel room, he goes into the washroom and he takes a towel and he puts it over the television set. And then on top of the television set, he puts a picture of his wife and children. Then he gets down on his knees and reads all of Psalm 119. And the very place the altar of Baal becomes as it were an altar to the living God. He defeats the altar of paganism right at its point by building, symbolically speaking, an altar to the living God.
We have to do that too. We have to ask ourselves, what are those idols that are so important to us, that are so ingrained upon us, without which we could scarcely live? And how do we tear down those altars that God might be number one? Because the altar of God and the altar of Baal cannot coexist. In fact, you can't really build an altar to God until you tear down the altar of Baal.
An idol is anything that stands between me and God. Remember Ezekiel 16, they've set up idols in their hearts. There's a second lesson and that is that Baal must go before the Midianites will go.
Now here's the problem. You see, they are under the servitude of Midian and they're paying homage and the Midianites are coming and stripping their crops and the whole bed. So they're crying out to God and they're saying, God, help us. Well, one of the reasons God wasn't helping them is because there were these kinds of altars to Baal in people's backyards. And so what God was saying to Gideon is, look, if I'm going to call you, if I'm going to use you, if I'm going to bless you, what you need to do is to take care of the altar that is in your own family, in your backyard. And that's where God always begins, is it not? Does he not begin with fathers who are devoted to God? Joash wasn't, at least until the altar was torn down and then he seems to have had a change of heart. But what impact did Joash have on Gideon?
It was obviously very negative. And what impact do we have on our children? Positive, negative, God-ward?
Do we as fathers lead the way in terms of our devotion? Perhaps, as we think of America, where all of our cures seem to not work, where the encroachment of pagan ideas begins to take over and people don't even recognize them as non-Christian or pagan. Maybe God is saying to us as a nation, to us as individuals, I will not grant you the victories that you seek as long as there's all that sin in your backyards. What do you think that there might be in your backyard that might be hindering the blessing of God?
Some altar that has to be torn down and replaced with devotion and worship and praise to almighty God. There's a final lesson and that is that the call of God always leads to new obedience, doesn't it? You know, there are some of you here who may not be in full-time Christian service, but God may call you to the various ministries of the church, just like we have hundreds of people who are involved in helping us, whether it's evangelism, explosion, whether it's being an usher, whether it's our camp ministry, children's ministry generally. God is laying his hands upon people, but what we need to do is to understand that whenever that happens, it's a call to brand new obedience, isn't it? Because we do want to be blessed by God and the very act of having that sense of direction that comes from God is a call for you and me to be obedient to his will and to his purpose. Now, I mentioned a moment ago that the angel of the Lord was Jesus, but Jesus was unrecognized by Gideon. We've learned that. There are some of you here who have never trusted Christ as Savior and what you didn't know is that God led you to this service, to this part of the service, to this part of the sermon, in fact, and God is calling you.
I'm not talking about everyone. I'm talking about those whose hearts have been strangely warmed by God and you believe that at this moment you need the intervention of Christ who died on the cross for sinners and who offers us today himself his eternal life. If we stop our foolish pride, which incidentally can also be an idle pride, and we give ourselves to God unreservedly and say, Lord, here I am due in my heart what I need. I receive you as Savior. I receive you as my sin bearer, no longer depending upon rituals or myself, but you alone. That is the gospel. And then God begins to work in our hearts and God begins to use us and to bless us.
And we begin to tear down all of the idols that keep us from his benediction and blessing. And it is tough, but I want you to know that it is worth it because God says, I will be with you through the process. I wonder if this poem could be a prayer. It's the prayer of my heart. I prayed it this morning, but I want it to be the prayer of yours too. The dearest idols I have known, whatever those idols be, help me to tear them from the throne and worship only thee.
Let's pray. Our Father, we want to thank you for this story. We want to thank you today for the courage of Gideon. And we ask, oh, Father God, that you might birth in our hearts a larger vision. First of all, call some people into ministry, maybe not leaving their vocations, but seeing that there's a work to do and that there's jobs to be done and people to be served. Do that, Father, according to your will, and then call others with a call of salvation. We pray that as their hearts are softened, they might trust Christ personally for themselves. And now, my dear beloved friends, I want you to pray to God. God is listening. Would you talk to him? Ask him to reveal to you the idols that keep you from his blessing. Things that you know right well have to be uprooted from your backyard. And tell him that you want them removed.
You speak to him now. Can you identify the idol that you're unwilling to give up? Would you at least be willing to be made willing? Father, we invite the blessed Holy Spirit of God to help us because we are so weak. We are so bound by our own sins. We pray today, Father, come in power and set your people free. Liberate us. Oh, Father, free us.
Give us a larger vision. But first of all, may we love your holiness. We don't naturally, but if you create within us a heart that loves you and that loves your righteousness, Lord, that's where it has to come from. So we invite you, Father, to do what we can't. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Between you and me, would you take out time right now and examine your own heart?
Ask God to help you to examine your own heart. Are there idols within your heart? Let me remind you of this, that idols always disappoint their worshippers.
No matter what idol you choose, you will discover disappointment unless that idol is God and we love the Lord our God with all our hearts and minds and souls. At the beginning of this program, I mentioned that I was going to introduce you to a very special word. That word is transmutation. Transmutation means that you take one substance and you turn it into another. Years ago, the hope was that you could take such things as iron and turn it into gold. Well, that became impossible. But there are some things that we can transmute.
Your child is sick. You take $50, you can't give them a $50 bill, but you can go to the drugstore and get some medicine. You have transmuted that $50 bill into something very different that is valuable. Jesus spoke about this when he said this, invest your funds in such a way that there will be those who will welcome you into everlasting habitations. Take your money and transmute it into an eternal plan. Jesus said that we should give and that we should lay up treasures in heaven. Well, all that to say that if you are thinking about contributing to the ministry of running to win, this is the month to do it because everything that you contribute will be doubled.
Very quickly, here's some info for you. You can go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Everything that you contribute will be invested for the cause of the gospel of Jesus Christ spread throughout the world. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60614. Running to Win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. Pastor Erwin Lutzer has concluded, When God Comes Calling, the story of Gideon, and the fourth of twelve messages on the topic we've been down this road before, taken from the book of Judges. Next time, we'll hear about Gideon's Fleece in a message on trying to read God's mind. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
