Growing in God: The Humility of Gideon

Series: Growing in God
Message: The Humility of Gideon
2/28/10
• The process of God with the Israelites is the same process we find ourselves in today
• God would deliver them, the people would follow God for a while then drift from God
• As their relationship would drift from God, they would fall into idolatry, sin, and find themselves overtaken and devastated by the pagan people of the land.
• It would not only affect their spiritual life, but their crops, cattle, food, shelter, and relationships with others.
• The favor of God would pass over them until they would repent.
• It took the enemies of the land to totally impoverish them until the Hebrew children would cry out to God again in humility.
• In order to grow in God we must remain in a spirit of Humility
Humility- the quality or condition of being humble; modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance, rank, etc
• I’m proud of my humility
• "Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself at all." Source: William Temple
• "Humility is like underwear; essential, but indecent if it shows."
Source: Helen Nielsen
• "If I only had a little humility, I'd be perfect."
Source: Ted Turner
1. Matthew 5:5
God blesses those who are humble,for they will inherit the whole earth.

2. Matthew 11:29
Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

3. Matthew 18:4
So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

4. Matthew 23:12
But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

5. Luke 1:52
He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble.

6. Luke 14:11
For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

7. Luke 18:14
For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

8. Ephesians 4:2
Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.

9. Philippians 2:3
Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.

10. Philippians 2:7
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges ;he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.When he appeared in human form,

11. James 4:6
But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say,“God opposes the proud but favors the humble.”

12. James 4:7
So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

13. James 4:10
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

14. 1 Peter 3:8
[ All Christians ] Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.

15. 1 Peter 5:5-7
In the same way, you younger men must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, serve each other in humility, for “God opposes the proud but favors the humble.” So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

 God cares about you
 God judges you not on how much you accomplish, but on whether you do things God’s way.
 Gideon-the cutter down
Judges 6:1 did evil in the sight of the Lord
1. Dwelt among the people when they should of destroyed them like God wanted
2. They intermarried with spouses of pagan nations that God despised
3. They served other god’s in idolatry, when God told them in the 10 Commandments , thou shalt not have any god’s before me.
Judges 6:1-10
Gideon-farmer, being called to deliver Israel from the Midianites
Vs 11-12 Gideon is threshing wheat at a winepress, in order to keep it hidden from the Midianites and God says, The Lord is with you, mighty man of valor
 When God titles anything He is prophesying his commitment to change it into that thing that He said.
 Gideon didn’t seem to valiant hiding wheat in a winepress, but he did what he had to do to make it happen
 Most of us want to know God’s plan for our lives, but we are not always sure how to find it.
 One common misunderstanding is that His plan will just fall out of the sky to us, like what we are doing now has no barring on what will happen in the future.
 If you are always looking around for the next assignment, we run the risk of ruining whatever we’re working on right now.
 God’s call comes while you are completely immersed in the challenge of the moment
 Gideon’s vision may have been limited at the moment, but he was committed to it.
Gideon’s Challenge: obtaining food and providing for the family in spite of raiders in his land, that were making the growing gathering, and preparation of food almost impossible.
Gideon’s Humility
1. He doubted that God was calling him and questioned where God and His mighty miracles were in all of this.
• He prepares the Angel of the Lord a meal, and the Angel waits, prepare ourselves
• The fleece: Wet and Dry
• A dream about a loaf of barley bread, and what others were saying… Judges 7:9-15
2. His feelings of inadequacy for the job-(par for the course when God called most men)
 Jud 6:15 I am the least in my father’s house and our family is the weakest of the tribe of Manassah
 Vs 16 surely I will be with you and you will defeat the Midianites as 1 man
Angel’s food-prepare ourselves
Gideon’s first assignment-tear down the altar of Baal that your father has set up and cut down the wooden image beside it.
 Stealth mission at night…didn’t want to be seen by his father’s house
 Next morning validated Gideon as he blew a trumpet as a call to arms, and the Spirit of God took possession of Gideon, and 5 tribes responded to the call as Midian moved into the valley of Jezreel.
Gideon now has 32,000 troops, but still is doubting and asks God to prove Himself
Gideon and the fleece, wet and dry… jud 6:36-40
The Great Church Split
Jud 7:1-8
 32,000- too many, lest you say you defeated Midian by your own strength
 God said tell them whoever is weak fearful timid, unwilling to fight and afraid to return home, 22,000 men left.
 10,000 remain but still too many, and God said bring them to the spring and let’s see how they drink and I will sort them out
 10,000 men drinking out of a spring, those that drink putting their face in the water, I don’t want, but those that cup the water in their hands and lap it like dogs…I’ll use that group.
Ok, but the only problem that presented itself was the fact that only 300 cupped the water in their hands and lapped it like dogs
 Gideon was supposed to go up against Midian armies that were too numerous like the sand of the sea, with 300?
 God was saying Zech 4:6 Not by might nor by your own power, but by MY Spirit says the Lord.
Another stealth mission
Judges 7:10-15,16-18, 19-22 NLT
The reason Gideon was a great leader was based on his low self-esteem of himself and letting God get the glory, he knew he needed the Master every step of the way.
1. He declined to lead until he was sure of God’s call through proof, (meals, fleeces, dreams of others)
2. depended on God at every turn (church split)
3. Turned from fear to faith in action
4. Used his God given gifts to lead others and said, Watch my example, 7:17
5. He humbly gives others credit that belongs to him 8:1-3,(what have I done compared to you?)
6. He gives God glory before and after victory and in the face of opposition 7:15, 8:3
7. He refused to establish a dynasty after fulfilling God’s charge 8:22-23 I will not rule over you and neither will my son, the Lord will rule over you. Just give me a gold earring out of the treasures you collected!= 43 lbs of gold-just give me some money!
Judges 8:28
 Gideon was a very humble man, for many different reasons, but God used him, and he grew in God because he trusted God’s word over his own,
 What seems like Gideon’s weakness, a low self esteem and a lack of courage, God used as a strength to be glorified by possessing the weak,
 2 Cor 12:9 now makes sense, my grace is sufficient for you, and my strength is made perfect in weakness.
 He created you in weakness, that He might be revealed strong.
1 Peter 5:5-7
for“God opposes the proud but favors the humble.”
If you have been opposed to Humility, then I want to respectfully encourage you to humble yourselves
So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.