WHAT DOES A HERO LOOK LIKE TO YOU?
John Wayne, Arnold Schwartzenaeger, Bruce Willis, Matt Damon? Luke Skywalker, Obewan Kenobe or Han Solo? Hebrews chapter 11 is a catalogue of the Heroes of Faith from the history of Israel in the Old Testament. But one stands out from the rest as a very unlikely hero – Gideon.

THE COUNTRY WAS IN A MESS
ISRAEL in the time of GIDEON
1 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help.
The nation of Israelites had rebelled against God. They were worshipping false gods. So God gave them into the hands of the Midianites in the hope that the Israelites would turn back to Him. God even gives Israel an opportunity to repent – but they refuse to listen
7 When the Israelites cried out to the LORD because of Midian, 8 he sent them a prophet, who said, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 9 I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 I said to you, “I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.” But you have not listened to me.’

TODAY = the world around
We live in a world which has certainly stopped listening to God. More than that:
13 ‘Pardon me, my lord,’ Gideon replied, ‘but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, “Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?” But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.’
Indeed it might seem to Christians today as though God has abandoned the world we live in and left us to fend for ourselves.
Looking at the dwindling numbers and the crises splitting the church to pieces some might think that God has abandoned his church as well. Certainly that is what our critics and indeed the devil would want us to believe.
AN UNLIKELY HERO
GIDEON
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.
Threshing floors were large areas of dirt or stone that were usually out in the open so that the breezes could be used to blow away the chaff. They would generally be used by the whole community. Threshing was done mostly in June and July, using a stick or by walking cattle over the sheaves. A winepress was a square or circular pit hollowed out of rock big enough for a few people to walk around in. Threshing activity in a winepress would be much less conspicuous than on a threshing floor.
When we first meet Gideon he is hiding in the wine press. Actually it is significant that Gideon was alone. Perhaps in that solitude and seclusion he was praying about the mess his country was in and all the difficulties they were facing. And there while he was alone the Angel greets him,
12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, ‘The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.’ The King James Version is “Mighty Man of Valour.” Mighty warrior? Mighty man of valour? Many other names would suit Gideon better. The best I have seen suggested is Gideon – “Super chicken!”
Gideon was hiding in the winepress. That reminds me of the apostles after Jesus had died all hiding in the Upper Room for fear of the Jews. Gideon the super-chicken. Scared, nervous, even cowardly. Gideon was discouraged, depressed, and doubting, But in his defence, Gideon had lots of good reasons to be afraid. The nation was under God’s judgment and understandably it did seem as though God had completely abandoned Israel.
13 ‘Pardon me, my lord,’ Gideon replied, ‘but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, “Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?” But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.’
So Gideon was afraid. He also knew his place in the world, and that place was at the bottom. He was just a poor boy, from a poor family.
Excuses – 15 ‘Pardon me, my lord,’ Gideon replied, ‘but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.’
So no wonder Gideon was surprised when God called Him in such a strange way. Unlike other heroes in the book of Judges, unlike Samson or Deborah, Gideon never expected to become a hero. But in God’s cosmic masterplan that was his destiny.
OURSELVES / NSBC
There is so much against us. We are so small, weak, almost insignificant. We may feel that way about our own lives. Inadequate and unable to achieve the things we long to do.
We may also feel that way about North Springfield Baptist Church. Small in numbers. Stretched financially. Stretched for energy with these premises to maintain and so many things we are seeking to do. 2 services every Sunday. 2 sessions of Toddlers. 5 hours of Haven Café and 2 hours of Drop In. We may feel small and weak. Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1 are for us.
27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him
FROM LOSER TO HERO – GOD’s CALL
GIDEON
12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, ‘The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.’
Mighty warrior. Mighty man of valour. God saw the hero in Gideon. God did not just see Gideon as he was. God saw the man he could make his to be. God was going to turn Gideon the loser into Gideon the mighty man of valour! God sees the hero in each of us. All that would be necessary would be for Gideon to learn to trust in God instead of trusting in his own strength. Faith would drive out fear and make a mighty warrior out of a superchicken.
But first, Gideon had a question.
13 ‘Pardon me, my lord,’ Gideon replied, ‘but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, “Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?” But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.’
Gideon asked his question. God doesn’t mind questions, as long as they are asked out of faith and not just to be awkward. Doesn’t the mess the world is in show us that God has given up on us altogether? The answer is implied rather than stated. If God had actually given up on Israel, he wouldn’t be sending Gideon to go and save them now. Gideon, you may feel weak and powerless, but no, I haven’t given up on Israel. On the contrary, you are going to bring them salvation! God had not given up on Israel, and God has certainly not given up on us!
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 ‘Pardon me, my lord,’ Gideon replied, ‘but 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, leaving none alive.’
The question Gideon asks is “How can *I* do this?” The answers are simple. “Am I not sending you?” And “I will be with you.” Of course in his own strength Gideon could not save his family and his town and his whole nation from the invading Midianites. Gideon could not – but God can! When God sends us and God is with us, everything is possible!
Here are God’s promises to Gideon. At least four promises.
‘Go in the strength you have. Am I not sending you? ‘I will be with you. You will strike down all the Midianites,
And as we face all the challenges the world puts before us – God makes the same promises to us.
OURSELVES
The story of Gideon is one of many in the Bible which demonstrate to us that God delights to use ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things for Him.
‘Go in the strength you have
2 Corinthians 12 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
We need to put our trust in God and in His mighty power!
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”
Am I not sending you?
1 John 4:4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
‘I will be with you,
Romans 8:31 If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
You will strike down all the Midianites,
The Midianites aren’t oppressing us. But the general principle is there. When God tells his people to do something – He will make it happen. We just need to put our trust in God. As William Carey founder of the Baptist Missionary Society once said, “Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.”
FIRST STEPS TO FREEDOM
GOD GIVES A SIGN
Rather cheeky!!! “Give me a sign” when he had already seen an angel and God had spoken to him!
17 Gideon replied, ‘If now I have found favour 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.’
19 Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.
20 The angel of God said to him, ‘Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.’ And Gideon did so. 21 Then the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared. 22 When Gideon realised that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, ‘Alas, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!’
GIDEON BURNS HIS BRIDGES
23 But the LORD said to him, ‘Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.’
24 So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
The whole nation had drifted into worshipping the Baal’s. Even Gideon’s own family!! So it took a great deal of courage to build an altar to worship the one and only Living God, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of Moses and the Law, the God of Israel. But Gideon names the altar, “The Lord is Peace.” In the middle of war, Gideon nails his colours to the mast and proclaims for all his family and the whole town to see, “The Lord is peace.” We will have peace again – and Yahweh the God of Israel is going to bring us that peace! Even if everybody else was worshipping false Gods, Gideon stands up to be counted for the one true God. From loser to hero. Superchicken to Mighty Man of Valour. An example for us to follow – Gideon the Mighty Warrior!