Living for Christ
is a Confused and Confusing Age
A Study of the Book of Judges
Sermon # 8
“It Is Hard To Finish Well.”
Judges 8:22-35
When we hear the names of some people we
forever associate them with one terrible mistake they made. When we hear Richard Nixon’s
name, we don’t think of his Presidency we think of Watergate; when we hear O.J.
Simpson’s name, we don’t think of his years as a top athlete, we think of him as
the person accused of murdering his wife. There are of course, multitude of others we
could name.
Even in the Bible not every one who started
out well ended well. In fact Dr. J. Robert Clinton, a professor at Fuller Seminary who did
a study of male leadership in the Bible, determined that only 30% of them finished well. [Paul Stanley and J. Robert Clinton. Connecting: The Mentoring Relationships you
Need to Succeed in Life. (NavPress)]
Even the Apostle
Paul had a niggling fear that was present with him, the fear of ending his life badly, in
1 Corinthians 9:27 (NLT) he said, “… I fear
that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.”
In Judges 8 we come
face to face with the last chapter in the life of a man who knew one of the greatest
victories of faith set down in the word of God. Gideon with 300 men dependent on God had
won a victory over a force of 135,000 Midianites. Unfortunately, Gideon great triumph
would be followed by his greatest mistake.
Today I want to look
at three principles drawn from Gideon’s experience that can help us to end well.
First, No
Matter How Glorious Our Profession It’s Consistency That Counts! (vv. 22-23)
“Then
the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, both you and your
son, and your grandson also; for you have delivered us from the hand of
Midian.”(23) But Gideon said to them, “I
will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you.”
After his great victory over the forces of
Midian, the Israelites came and said to Gideon, “Rule over us…
for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.”
(v. 22). We should
note immediately that they gave Gideon credit he did not deserve and they failed to give
God the credit he did deserve. From that they moved on to make a request with was outside
of the will of God. They wanted Gideon to be their king, an idea they had borrowed from
their pagan neighbors. The problem is that Israel was a theocracy, Israel had a king if
they would just acknowledge Him, God was their king.
Of course their
request had to be enormously flattering to Gideon’s ego. But Gideon knew it was not
God’s will for him to have that position and he gave the clear and unequivocal
answer, “I will not rule over you, nor shall
my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you.?” (v. 23) Unfortunately, Gideon’s later
actions were not consistent with what he had stated.
Dale Ralph Davis
observes, “Most Christians know the struggle to make our
practice (v. 27b) as good as our theology (v. 23). It is ever our danger that after being
used of God in some way, we mouth humility but practice pride. We may know occasions of
the Spirit’s power (6:34) and yet lack the Spirit’s wisdom.” [Dale Ralph Davis. Such A Great Salvation:
Expositions of the Book of Judges. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990) p. 113]
The problem may be that “it is easier to honor God in some courageous action in the
limelight of a time of national emergency than it is to honor Him consistently in the
ordinary, everyday life, which requires a different kind of courage.” [Arthur Cundall. Judges and Ruth.
(Downer’s Grove, ILL.: Intervarsity Press, 1968) pp. 121-122]
At the spiritual level
many people are willing to expend their lives for the Lord, in the short run. As others
have observed, God does not often ask us to give our lives in a rush of martyrdom. One man
put this way; “We think giving our all to the Lord is like
taking a thousand dollar bill and laying it on the table –‘Here’s my life,
Lord, I’m giving it all.’ But the reality for most of us is that he sends us to
the bank and has us cash in the thousand dollar bill for quarters. We go through life
putting twenty-five cents here and fifty cents there. Listen to the neighbors kid’s
troubles instead of saying, ‘Get lost!’ Go to a committee meeting. Give a cup of
water to a shaky old man in a nursing home. Usually giving our life for Christ isn’t
glorious. It’s acts of love, twenty-five cents at a time. It would be easy to go out
in a flash of glory; it harder to live the Christian life little by little over the long
haul.” [Fred Crannock]
No Matter How Glorious Our Profession It’s
Consistency That Counts and…
Secondly, No
Amount of Good Intentions Is Enough To Compensate for Stepping Outside the Will of God. (vv.
24-27)
“Then
Gideon said to them, “I would like to make a request of you, that each of
you would give me the earrings from his plunder.” For they had golden
earrings, because they were Ishmaelites. (25) So they answered, “We will gladly give them.”
And they spread out a garment, and each man threw into it the earrings from his plunder.
(26) Now the weight
of the gold earrings that he requested was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold,
besides the crescent ornaments, pendants, and purple robes which were on the kings of
Midian, and besides the chains that were around their camels’ necks. (27) Then Gideon made it into an ephod and set it
up in his city, Ophrah.
And all Israel played
the harlot with it there. It became a snare to Gideon and to his house.”
Gideon would not accept the kingship but he
did ask for a gold earring from each of his men – taken from their plunder of the
defeated army. The Midianites warriors wore earrings as a part of their battle gear. The
Israelites had taken these earrings off of the dead Midianites as part of the spoils of
battle. This seems like a fairly small request, just one earring each. But his small
request for an earring turned into an avalanche of gold, some
1700 shekels, over 40 pounds of gold. Gideon had gathered himself a little royal treasury.
Yet he still had some conscience in the
matter so he decided to do something “religious” with at least some of the gold.
He takes some of the gold and had it spun into thread which he then had made into an
ephod.
Yet in doing this
Gideon stepped outside of the revealed will of God. He melted the gold down and had it
spun into thread and had it woven with other thread into an Ephod – the sacred
garment of the priests. In doing this Gideon was taking upon himself the role of a
priest.
In Gideon’s defense we have to admit
that “the priesthood had become corrupt and the high priest
was completely ineffectual. Not once in the book of Judges do we read of the high priest
functioning according to the word of God and providing spiritual leadership to the people….
Therefore, he decided to put on
his beautiful ephod …. to keep the theocracy functioning. His plan was to supersede
the depraved … priesthood with his own, so that God could speak.
Gideon probably acted from the
very best of motives. But it requires more than good intentions to make a good act.” [Gary Inrig. Hearts of Iron, Feet of Clay.
(Chicago: Moody,1979) pp.
152-153]
Gideon’s problem was brought about by
replacing divine strategy with human wisdom. How easy it is to fall into this trap.
The Lord’s
guidance is replaced with our feeling that we need not bother God by asking Him to supply
the solutions to our problems we are capable of working out for ourselves. We may not
verbalize this, this is what we do!
Gideon made a grave error by substituting
his own plans, however valid they may have seemed, for the command-ments of God. Once we
step outside the will of God as revealed in the Word of God decline is inevitable!
Unfortunately, the ephod episode was not an isolated incident in Gideon’s life, but
only the beginning of his decline. The once great Gideon became a backslider and his
life-style became more and more like the unbelieving world.
No
Amount of Good Intentions Is Enough To Compensate for Stepping Outside the Will of God and…
Third, The
Pathway of Partial Obedience Is Always the Pathway to Spiritual Defeat (vv.
29-35)
“Then
Jerubbaal the son of
Joash went and dwelt in his own house. (30) Gideon had
What Gideon had said
in turning down the throne (v. 23) was very commendable but what he did later was very
puzzling. After rejecting the throne he lived
like a king!!!! Judges 8:29-32 describe the lifestyle of a king.
He
had many wives (v. 30)!!!! The way kings established their greatness in the ancient
Middle East was to have large harems with many wives, which called attention to their
wealth and authority. But Moses had warned that such was a violation of the biblical model
of kingship given in Deuteronomy 17:17, “Neither shall
he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply
silver and gold for himself.” Gideon had seventy legitimate sons and at least
one illegitimate son. God did not approve of what he did. The record makes it clear that
his actions brought tragedy to the nation of Israel. The next chapter brings that out. God
had forbidden intermarriage outside the nation. He had forbidden the Israelites to have
more than one wife. In fact, Gideon’s actions split the kingdom and caused real
tragedy. This is the blot in his life. God does not hide anything. God paints the picture
of man as it is.
His royal title.
The final evidence of Gideon’s moral decline is seen in the name he gave his son.
Gideon no doubt, chose his name with great deliberation. “Abimelech,”
which means “my
father is king.” Every time the boy told someone his name he claimed for his
father what Gideon said he renounces in verse twenty-three. Do you see what he is doing?
Gideon said that he would not be king, but he allowed himself to have all the trappings of
royalty – riches, wives, and acclaim. Gideon had said that he would not be king, but
he allowed himself to live as if he were a king. Gideon gave the right answer but then
almost immediately he began the incremental process of undermining it – a few perks,
a little gold, and a few wives.
The ultimate result of a life that fails to finish
well is that God cannot use our lives to make a lasting difference in the world for
Christ. ?In verse thirty-two we read, “Now Gideon the son of Joash
died at a good old age, and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. (33)
So it was, as soon
as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals,
and made Baal-Berith their god. (34) Thus the children of Israel did not remember the Lord
their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side;(35) nor did they show kindness to the
house of Jerubbaal (Gideon) in accordance with the good he had done for Israel.”
The end result of
Gideon’s life is that he did not influence his people for God, in fact we are lead to
believe that his act of making the ephod gave them an occasion for idolatry.
How many people have
we witnessed in our own lives who because of some inconsistency or sin in their lives
rendered years of their lives as inconsequential? Years of good can be undone by a single
thought-less act.
Conclusion
It is tough to end
well, every believer knows that! So what can we learn from Gideon’s Failure that will
help us to end well.
1. No Matter
How Glorious Our Profession It’s Consistency That Counts!
2.
No Amount of Good Intentions Is Enough To Compensate for Stepping Outside the Will of God
and…
3. The Pathway
of Partial Obedience Is Always the Pathway to Spiritual Defeat
Let me close with this illustration. “At 7 P.M. on October 20, 1968, a few thousand spectators remained
in the Mexico City Olympic Stadium. It was cool and dark. The last of the marathon
runners, each exhausted, were being carried off to first-aid stations. More than an hour
earlier, Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia - looking as fresh as when he started the race - crossed
the finish line, the winner of the 26 mile, 385 yard event.
As the remaining
spectators prepared to leave, those sitting near the marathon gates suddenly heard the
sound of sirens and police whistles. All eyes turned to the gate. A lone figure wearing the colors of Tanzania
entered the stadium. His name was John Stephen Akhwari. He was the last man to finish the
marathon. His leg bloodied and bandaged, severely injured in a fall, he grimaced with each
step. He hobbled around the 400-meter track.
The spectators rose
and applauded him as if he were the winner. After crossing the finish line, Akhwari slowly
walked off the field without turning to the cheering crowd.
In view of his injury
and having no chance of winning a medal, someone asked him why he had not quit. He
replied, “My country did not send me 7,000 miles to start the race. They sent me
7,000 miles to finish it." [Pastor David Holwick's Sermon
Illustrations (Version 2.0, 1800 illustrations, December 1, 2001) #2089]