Father, idols affect us in many, many different and very powerful ways, and we don't even think about it most of the time.
We're not even a category that we think of.
But Father, your word makes clear that the more that idols grip our heart, the harder it is for us to take you at your word.
So we ask, Father, that you would continue to show mercy and grace to us this morning and pour out the Holy Spirit deeply upon us
so that your word might grip us and we might take you at your word, that we might know Jesus, that we might know you, and we might be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Father, this we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
Please be seated.
So I have a couple of apologies.
Last week I messed up my sermon in two ways.
One of the ways, those of you who are here, and by the way, if you've listened to my sermon online, you won't know this because Andrew fixed it.
But I got my 10,000 and 20,000 all mixed up, and I'm sure it was confusing to some of you that the analogy didn't make sense.
The other thing was, and pray for me all the time that I don't make those mistakes.
Some of you know I'll say Moses when it should have been Joshua or something else.
I can get things like that mixed up.
So pray for me all the time.
I know many of you do, and I really appreciate it.
The other mistake I made, it's sort of a mild one because I didn't talk about it in an inflammatory way,
but one of the things we talked about last Sunday was rape, actually, because it's in the biblical text.
And I was thinking about it while I was driving home that, I mean, that's not an abstract.
Like for me as a guy, I can talk about it.
But for women, many women, maybe even women who are here, that you might have experienced a rape.
And I should have probably just said a little bit about that just before I talked about it in case it was triggering anything.
Today, I know that there are people here who have been affected by genocide.
And we're going to talk about genocide a little bit this morning.
And some of you, if you're a guest, you're a bit surprised that a church would talk about such things.
But that's one of the benefits you get of preaching through books in the Bible.
You look at topics that, if it was up to me, I'd probably never talk about.
I'd probably just give you a few positive thoughts on leadership or attitude maintenance and send you off on your way.
But the Bible makes us look at things.
And the wonderful thing about the Bible is the same thing that catches many Canadians by surprise,
is that the Bible is so realistic about the world that it catches readers by surprise.
They're expecting something religious and spiritual.
Those of you who've seen the Netflix series, The Messiah, which I'm not recommending,
you expect the Bible to talk a little bit like him.
But the Bible talks about real life, but it's never cynical.
It's never cynical.
It talks about the real world in the context of the living God.
And it talks about the real world in a redemptive way that we would call out to him.
So today, we are going to be mentioning genocide a little bit
because the text talks about it.
And, you know, one of those things, we should just know that the Bible brings these things to our mind,
that we can know Jesus better.
So it begins.
We're looking at Joshua 6, verse 1.
I announced that at the beginning.
Some of it, if not all of the text, will be up on the screen
if you don't have your own Bibles.
But it's really good to bring your own Bibles.
And this is how the story begins.
The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
And the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.
Now, just pause.
Some of you who have been going through this series with me
know that it seems like every new story begins with something like that.
They do evil, and the Lord delivers them into the hand of some people group.
And so, well, first of all, just, I say it every week,
but it's important to remember, doing evil means in particular that they,
and we're going to talk about this more in a moment,
that they start serving other gods and goddesses, and they serve idols.
So they depart from the Lord.
And the giving to them is actually a profound expression of human freedom,
is that the punishment that they get is getting what they want.
The punishment isn't not getting what they want.
That's usually when people think about God, the God, the triune God of the Bible.
They think the triune God of the Bible is a big meanie who is the no-fun God,
no-pleasure God, no-joy God.
And he looks around and sees things that make people happy and says,
na-na-na-na-na.
No, that's not the God of the Bible, actually.
Like, this is a shocking thing, and the book of Judges will slowly unpack it.
But often his judgment is allowing you to have what you want,
like respecting your freedom.
But a lot of what we want will devour us.
And that's what happens here.
They go after the gods of the people, and the gods of the people,
the people who worship that gods, devour them.
Now, there's one other important thing here,
and I'm not going to spend a long time on it,
but this is actually one of the big ideas of the entire book of Judges.
And I might now put it in every couple of weeks,
because it helps you to understand the whole book of Judges
and every individual text.
In Canada, many people say that all paths lead to God.
But the Bible says, Christians would say, Jesus would say,
it is not true that all paths lead to God.
But it is true that the triune God uses many paths to bring people to himself.
And that's one of the things that you're going to see.
It's not that God constantly is locked into a particular pattern.
He uses a prophetess and a woman with a tent peg,
and he uses a warrior,
and then he uses a completely and utterly debauched person like Samson later on.
And he uses Gideon.
And the pattern keeps changing.
And it's the same thing, you know,
if we were to take some time and break up into small groups,
and those of us who are Christians,
we were to share how we became Christians,
we'd be surprised at the many different ways
that God has used to bring people to himself.
And that's part of the big story of Judges,
is that God doesn't keep working the exact same way.
He works different ways every time.
And so how is it going to be different in this particular time?
Well, let's start to read the story.
Verse 2 of chapter 6.
And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel.
And because of Midian,
the people of Israel made for themselves
the dens that are in the mountains
and the caves and the strongholds.
For whenever the Israelites planted crops,
the Midianites and the Amalekites
and the people of the east
would come up against them.
They would encamp against them
and devour the produce...
I skipped it too quick.
They would encamp against them
and devour the produce of the land as far as Gaza
and leave no sustenance in Israel
and no sheep or ox or donkey.
Now we're up on the screen.
It should be the right verse.
For they would come up with their livestock
and their tents.
They would come like locusts in number.
Both they and their camels could not be counted
so that they laid waste the land as they came in.
And Israel was brought very low because of Midian.
And the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord.
Now just sort of pause here for a second.
What's going on here is genocide,
attempted genocide of the people of Israel.
It's not that a foreign power has come in to conquer.
It isn't that a foreign power has come in
to merely live there, to occupy the land.
They're doing something very, very, very different.
And it's very significant.
I didn't plan it,
that just recently we've been remembering
the anniversary of the Holocaust.
There's been newspaper and other media outlets around that.
The closest I came to it was as a young kid,
10, 11, 12-year-old boy.
I was a Boy Scout.
And I remember being in the car one day
with my Boy Scout leader.
And I lived in an all-Jewish neighborhood.
And as I'm driving, I look over
and I notice for the first time
tattooed numbers on the arm of my Scoutmaster.
And I asked him what it was about.
And he got teary-eyed.
And his wife said,
well, and then she told me,
he was in the camps.
He is a survivor.
He was a survivor of the Holocaust.
And even just as relevant,
maybe more relevant in this particular case,
some of you might know of something
which is very familiar to Ukrainians,
is that in the 1930s,
the Soviet Union created a forced famine
in the Ukraine to punish the Ukrainians.
And as a result of that forced famine,
millions and millions and millions of people died.
And it's remembered by Ukrainians.
It's a double tragedy
because all of the leading lights
of North America and Western civilization
were praising Soviet Union
for being a great,
a perfect place to live.
At the same time that they were praising them,
they were creating a forced famine
to literally kill millions and millions
of Ukrainians.
So what's happening here in this story
is that Midian comes in,
they steal the animals,
they steal the food,
and after they've stolen
all they can carry
and all they can consume,
they destroy everything else.
They destroy everything else.
And this is very hard for us in Canada
to understand right now.
Like I'm old enough
that I remember
when there were certain fruits
you didn't get all year round.
Like I remember
when all of a sudden
it was exciting
that there was fruit in the stores again
in the spring.
But, you know,
for much of the world,
one bad crop means
hundreds if not thousands
of people die.
And this was an intentional policy
by the Midianites.
And its only purpose
would have been
to destroy
the people of Israel.
And that's the situation
which they're in.
So,
how is God going to respond?
So you see in the text up there
they cry out to the Lord for help.
It's all part of the normal pattern.
So how is God going to respond to this?
Well,
he breaks the pattern.
He does something
which is a little bit different.
He sends them a sermon.
Not what they were expecting.
Not what they were wanting.
But if you just pause
and think about it for a second.
I just said how kids
at a certain age
when they lose it
they just lose it.
Their poor little brains
aren't developed enough.
They just,
their brains aren't developed enough.
You know,
like
all you can do
is try to
comfort them
and quiet them
in some type of way.
But when the kids get older,
like every single one of us
who has kids
this is what we do.
It's not just that they
you know,
they mess up,
they do something
really, really wrong
and you have to end up
either, you know,
both disciplining them
and maybe rescuing them.
But the other thing
that every parent does
is you want them
to understand
that it's wrong.
And hopefully
you do that
in a good way.
I remember being
in a Starbucks
and a parent
was trying to discipline
her five-year-old kid
and the way she said it is
she's kept doing bad things.
It was in a Starbucks
connected to a chapter
of Indigo Books
and she kept going
and taking books
and sort of wrecking them.
And she said,
it's how she tried
to teach the kid
right and wrong.
You're making mommy unhappy.
I thought,
what?
I almost went over
and said,
that's not how you tell a kid
not to do something wrong.
You're making me unhappy.
You know,
anyway,
there you go.
I mean,
Lord have mercy
upon that parent
and the poor little kid,
however they're going to develop.
But the fact of the matter
is that we all try to explain.
And so what happens here
isn't what,
and nobody usually wants
to have that happen to them,
but at the end of the day
that's how we hopefully learn
how to be vaguely moral,
if not well,
you know,
more moral individuals.
And so that's what happens here.
God this time
doesn't just deliver them.
He sends them a sermon.
So here you see
verse 7 and 8.
When the people of Israel
cried out to the Lord
on account of the Midianites,
the Lord sent a prophet
to the people of Israel
and he said to them,
and here's the summary
of the message.
So we had a,
God sends a prophet
that wanders around
the people of Israel
and this is the summary
of his message.
Thus says the Lord,
the God of Israel,
I led you up from Egypt
and brought you out
of the house of slavery
and I delivered you
from the hand of the Egyptians
and from the hand
of all who oppressed you
and drove them out before you
and gave you their land.
And I said to you,
I am the Lord your God.
You shall not fear
the gods of the Amorites
in whose land you dwell,
but you have not
obeyed my voice.
Now,
this is very,
very,
very significant
what he says.
I'm going to put this up.
This was a very slow lesson
for Israel to learn
and obviously
they didn't learn
about the triune God
until Jesus came,
although all of the hints
of the fact
that God is triune
are all the way
through the Old Testament.
But unlike idols,
the triune God is love
and he loves ordinary people
like you.
Unlike idols,
the triune God is love
and he loves ordinary people
like you.
If you do a bit of research
about the gods
of the world at that time,
the reason they created
human beings
was to feed them,
not for the gods
to feed human beings,
but for the human beings
to feed the gods.
In a sense,
a human being
was just a type of slave
for the God,
a servant of the God.
But the Bible teaches
something radically,
radically different
and it's caught
in this scripture text.
I'll just put back
to the scripture text.
We lose the full significance
of reveal.
You know,
we go to a bank machine
and we stick our bank card
in the machine
and it knows our name
and it reveals
that it's the right bank machine
by all of its signs
and we just think of that
as being something
mechanical
and something automatic.
But,
if you understand
that from all eternity,
before there was any human being
that was ever made,
that God the Father
loved the Son
and the Son
loved the Father
and the Holy Spirit
is both the love
between the Father
and the Son
between the Father
and the Holy Spirit
is a person
himself
and also is love
and that all things
were created
out of God's love
for human beings
and only
the triune God
can account
for the fact
that we value
love so highly.
The idols don't love
but God loves.
He creates all things
out of love
and it's out of love
that he delivers them
out of Egypt.
It's out of love
that he delivers them
constantly from their oppressors
and it's out of love
that he reveals himself.
Think of it this way.
When I do,
when somebody asks me
to do their wedding ceremony,
I almost always say,
how did you meet?
Everybody meets
somehow or another.
You know,
maybe some of you met
when you were in grade 5
or grade 6
or grade 7
or grade 8
or some of you met
far later than that
but everybody meets
the other some way
and in many cases,
I know it's a bit different now
because you can meet people online
but even then
there must be something
that's a little bit like that
is that what happens
when you meet somebody
that you're going to start,
you're going to fall in love
is the other,
for the whole process
to happen,
the other person
has to,
you have to reveal
a little bit about the fact
that you like the person
and they have to reveal
back to you a little bit
about the fact
that they like you
and a little bit
about who they are.
That's how it works.
I mean,
for my wife and I,
it begins,
we're sitting at the same
library table
and you glance over
and there's glances
and mine was the second
type of glance
not the first type of glance
and she glances back
and because I was
pathologically shy
around women
and the more attractive
the woman was,
the more pathologically shy
and embarrassed
and awkward I would be.
You know,
if there is a purgatory,
purgatory for me
would be showing
everybody films
of what I was like
in the presence
of such a woman
and that would be
purgatory for me
amongst other types
of things.
Amusing for all of you,
cringeworthy
and embarrassing
for me.
Anyway,
but eventually
at some point in time
despite my pathological shyness
it goes from glances
to high
to which
the other person
can either
give the very powerful
signals,
what is this creep
doing talking to me
or they can say
hi back.
Right?
And we don't think
about it much
but that's what happens
is you go through
a process of revealing
yourself to the other person
and the other person
revealing themselves
to you.
And that's what's
going on here.
That's what's going on.
That's what's so
completely and utterly
stunning about
the book of Exodus.
It's what's so stunning
about everything
in the Bible
and it's just so stunning
that we don't get it
because we think of this
as a mechanical
type of process
but what God does
is he said
listen
I delivered you
out of slavery
in Egypt
I deliver you
from your oppressors
and I revealed
myself to you
I made myself
known to you
to show you
that I love you
that I want to be
in a relationship
with you
and I want you
I'm hoping
that you respond
by my acts
of mighty love
and my love
of revealing myself
to you
that you would
reveal yourself
to me
and love me.
and instead
about not
worshiping other gods
I mean
if next Sunday
Louise came in
and said to you folks
one on one
drink coffee
by the way
George has
affections
towards another woman
he's in love
with another woman
as well as with me
every single one
of you would
side with her
and you'd be right
to side with her
because you know
that just doesn't
work with love
and so if you
think about it
within that context
that God is love
from all eternity
is out of the
overflow of his love
that he creates
and that human beings
in rebellion
against God
want to become
their own God
and turn against him
and all the things
that happen
and God delivers
out of slavery
delivers out of oppression
delivers us
from our sins
and delivers us
and reveals himself
in such a way
that we would
know who he is
just like
you know
at some point in time
Louise revealed
herself to me
and I reveal myself
to her
and because we're
finite human beings
that's a process
that goes on
for good
and sometimes
really well
and sometimes
not very well
for all of the
time that you're
together
and then God
says all I ask
is that you don't
worship other gods
and what does the
prophet say
but you have not
listened to my voice
you have not
listened to my voice
now what we're
going to see next
is we're going to
meet the first
Canadian in the
Bible
you didn't know
that but the
first Canadian
who could fit
into any coffee
I mean any
coffee shop
whether it's
Tim Hortons
or a hipster
place or something
like Starbucks
which isn't hipster
you'd
you could meet
this character
and his name
is Gideon
and here's
here's what
happens with
Gideon
remember the
prophet's been
going giving
this message
verse 11
God isn't
just giving
a sermon
he's going
to deliver
the people
of Israel
verse 11
now the
angel of
the Lord
came and
sat under
the terebinth
at Ophrah
which belonged
to Joash
the Abizrite
while his
son Gideon
was beating
out wheat
in the wine
press to
hide it
from the
Midianites
and the
angel of
the Lord
appeared to
him and
said to
him
the Lord
is with
you
almighty
man of
valor
now just
before I
go to
the next
verse
he's not
a man of
valor
he's hiding
normally when
you're going
to be
harvesting
bringing the
wheat to
that point
in time
you go to
something which
is like a
stage compared
to the floor
higher up
maybe not as
high as this
but nice and
flat and high
where when you
beat it and
then you throw
it up and the
wind will blow
away the stuff
you don't need
and the wheat
which is heavier
falls to the
ground and that's
how you separate
the wheat from
the chaff
wine presses
you dig
something down
in the ground
and it has
both a lower
part and a
higher part
but it's still
low and so
what Gideon is
doing is he's
not up there
on the threshing
floor he's
hiding in the
wine press and
trying to make
the whole thing
work where there's
no breeze and
he's doing it
not because he's
a mighty man of
valor but because
he's in fact
hiding from the
Midianites and
God is as we'll
see in a moment
in Gideon's
response God
is
is both
saying something
prophetic about
the future but
he's also saying
something that's
going to try to
get his attention
and bring something
out to develop the
relationship with
Gideon remember I
said to you that
the Lord does it
not it's not that
all paths lead to
God but the Lord
uses many many
different paths to
bring people to
himself the thing
that began my
journey that led
me becoming a
Christian was seeing
an advertisement on
a telephone pole on
Elgin Street
that's what first got
my attention
didn't happen any of
you probably that's
what happened with
me God uses
different things with
different people but
Gideon's response is
this verse 13
here's where we see
that he's a very very
typical Canadian
and Gideon said to
him
please sir
if the Lord is with
us if the Lord is
with us why then is
all this happened to
us
where all his
wonderful deeds
their fathers recounted
to us saying did not
the Lord bring us up
up from Egypt
but now the Lord has
forsaken us given us
into the hand of
Midian
how is this like a
typical Canadian
here's what the
typical Canadian
thinks
C.S. Lewis I think
it was in the 40s
wrote a an essay
called God in the
Dark and he was
referring to something
that he'd noticed
and as a classical
scholar he realized
that the way that
average English people
and Scottish and
Irish and Welch were
thinking back in the
40s was very different
than how most of the
world thought and was
very different than
how people had thought
throughout most of
human history and for
modern English people
and he's talking about
the 40s it's even more
true today God is on in
the dark in other words
God's on trial for the
average modern person
it's like this the
triune God listen the
triune God we have a
whole list of charges
against him he is
offended against us
he's homophobic he's
racist he's in favor of
slavery he's in favor of
power he hates
transgender people he
only wants to spoil us
and have fun he's
patriarchal he's this
he's that he's all of
these types of things
and there's we have
brought charges against
God and any human
being who wants to go
and try to defend God
is a reprehensible human
being who does not he's
not able to think he's
not aware of what's
really going on in life
but we have brought
charges against God and
God we are the
prosecutors we are the
judge it is like a show
trial God is guilty he
has no defense against the
charges that we can bring
against him for evil
homophobia denying women
the right to do what
they want with their
body opposed to people
being able to have a
doctor ask them to kill
them or us being able to
ask the doctor to kill one
of our loved ones God is
guilty and it is just what
everybody knows everybody
knows that God is guilty
and he has no possible
defense
that's what Gideon says
he talks like a modern
Canadian he talks like most
of the people that are your
neighbors and your
co-workers and maybe how many
of you maybe how some of you
think
you know the older I get
the more I believe that
Genesis 3 and Romans 1 is
empirically true if you go
back and read the beginning
of Genesis 3 it is that the
average human being desires to
be like God and when that
causes their life to get
messed up when Adam confronts
God confronts Adam Adam says
not my fault Eve
God speaks to Eve
not my fault
the snake
and that is
so much how we're hardwired
and if you go back and read
Romans 1 later on yourself
and after verse 16 and 17
which says sort of the theme
of the whole book you read
from Romans 1 18 to the end
of the chapter
the book talks about the fact
that we are innately
worshipers and we've exchanged
worshiping of God who
we
at some fundamental level we know
that the triune God exists for
worshiping other things and
and then one of the things
which is so significant is
when it gives at the end of
Romans 1 it gives evidence of
the fact that there is in fact a
God and that we are under his
judgment the way it describes
that the last little bit of it
is partly it is the reality of
evil
that every time we experience evil
on one level
it is God
we experience in a very very tiny way
God's judgment in advance
and the way we experience God's judgment
in advance is by actually experiencing
murder and lies
and hatred and sloth and envy and gluttony
and sexual sin
and sins of the mind
and selfishness
that in some way sin
is its own punishment
even though we choose it
and friends that is just so deeply
psychologically true
but we are like Gideon
who thinks that
the pain that we experience
as a result of the sin
that we willingly pursue
is somehow a sign that God
does not exist
that it is somehow his fault
and we don't see the darkness
that has come over our own mind
to understand that
all of that pain
is to help us to understand
many things
but one of those things
is that the world is broken
that I am broken
and even to be able to articulate broken
implies that there is something unbroken
someone who made it unbroken
in this broken world
and this wonderful message of the Bible
is the world is broken
you are broken
I still love you
I have delivered you
from the house of Egypt
I have delivered you
from your oppressors
my common grace
restrains your evil
and I have sent my son
to die upon the cross
for you
and we will talk about that
more in a moment
I have to be careful
of my time here
how does Gideon respond?
well he is
so first of all
it is very interesting
the angel of the Lord
who is this very interesting figure
in the Old Testament
it is not clear whether it is a theophany
which means an appearance of God
it is not clear whether it is an angel
who is a special angel
that represents the Lord
it is not even clear whether
in fact it might be
a pre-incarnate Jesus
and it is very uncertain
about what it is
in the Old Testament
but you will see that
the person speaking
is the same as the Lord
speaking all the way through the text
it is part of the mystery
of what is going on here
that is never actually explained
but in verse 4
so the Lord actually never defends himself
why does he have to defend himself?
he is love
and you know
here is the other thing
not only
is it only
the triune God
that can actually be a loving God
but it is actually only
the triune God
who can be good
you see
if there is only
a singular God
then
how can he be good?
there is just him
unless there is something
other than him
you can't actually know
if he is good
it is only
the triune God
that
you can really see
that God is love
and that God is good
that there is this goodness
and love
that has existed
even before there was creation
and even before there was the fall
he does not defend himself to us
he is going to redeem them
he is not going to defend himself
verse 14
and the Lord turned to Gideon
and said
go in this might of yours
and save Israel
from the hand of Midian
but then
do not I send you
and Gideon said to him
please Lord
how can I save Israel
behold
my clan is the weakest in Manasseh
and I am the least in my father's house
and the Lord said to him
but I will be with you
and you shall strike the Midianites
as one man
in other words
even though the Midianites
are like locusts
that completely and utterly
cover the land
and completely overwhelm them
and even though the Israelites
have been humbled
and they've been in the process
seven years
into a genocidal process
so that they are deeply removed
deeply reduced
that God will make the battle
with Midian
as if
as if all of Israel
is fighting one man
that's what the original language means
as if all of Israel
is just fighting one person
and Gideon said to him
if now I have found favor in your eyes
then show me a sign
that it is you who speak with me
please do not depart from here
until I come to you
and bring you
out my present
or my offering
and set it before you
and the angel of the Lord said
I will stay
until you return
I'm going to
sort of fast forward
through this next little bit
what you're going to see
if you go on and read
because I'm going to jump down
to a very very important part
of the story
what you're going to see here
is that God does
a remarkable miracle
Gideon is so paganized
so canaanized
that when he brings an offering
to the angel of the Lord
he doesn't bring an offering
according to the Mosaic law
what he does
is he brings an offering
as if he's going to be
worshipping Baha'al
or the Asherah
he brings a whole goat
and he brings enough bread
if you take 22 pounds of flour
and make bread
that's how much bread
he brings
and he brings this broth
and the angel says
the angel of the Lord says
put it all on a rock
and then Gideon does that
and the angel of the Lord
touches it
and a fire comes from the rock
and consumes the whole thing
and it's like a whoa moment
and then Gideon
who has both
within his heart
and his mind
is both a worshipper
of Baal
and Baal
and the Asherah
but he also knows
things about the Lord
and so he now worries
that he's going to die
because he's seen
the Lord face to face
and the Lord speaks to him
and says you're not going to die
and so Gideon is relieved
and makes an altar
saying the Lord is peace
and then the Lord says to him
you need to go to your father's house
and then we discover
that his father
is the custodian
and the sponsor
and the patron
of the worship of Baal
and Asherah
in that region
and he says to Gideon
you've got to go Gideon
and what I want you to do
is I'd like you to
because you're just worshipping me
there's no other gods
I want you to
go and tear down
the altar to Baal
tear down the Asherah
kill a bull
and significant
because bull is the way
the Baal is imaged
the image of the Baal
is a bull
and so I want you
to take a bull
and after you've cut down
the Asherah pole
and destroyed the altar
on top of the fortress
that helps to protect
the gods
and the goddesses
I want you to make
the Lord's altar
and I want you to
using the wood
from the Asherah pole
I want you to
sacrifice the bull
but you sacrifice it to me
and Gideon does it
but he's afraid
he does it in the middle
of the night
and the next morning
people come up
they see that the altar
is destroyed
they see that the Asherah pole
is gone
they see that the bull
has been all cut up
they do an inquiry
and the result of the inquiry
is that they go
to Gideon's father
because he's still
under the head
of the family
and they say to him
Gideon has to die
and even though
the dad is the patron
of Baal
and the patron
of the Asherah
the fact of the matter
is he's not going
to let his boy
die over this
I mean it's his boy
idols are one thing
your kid is another
right
so he says
if you could skip ahead
to I think it's verse 31
that would be very helpful
there you go
but Joash said
where we are
my own bible
but Joash said
to all who stood
against him
will you contend
for Baal
or will you save him
whoever contends
for him
shall be put to death
by morning
if he is a god
let him contend
for himself
because his altar
has been broken
therefore on that day
Gideon was called
Jeroboam
that is to say
let Baal
contend against him
because he broke
down his altar
I need to wrap
it all up
let me see here
oh back there
here's the thing
about idols
and of course
power is one
of the main idols
that we all face
power kills
to protect itself
love will die
for the beloved
one of the things
that struck me
when I was reading
this story
about Joash's
speech to the people
is he puts out
this very very
very stark
challenge
if Baal is a god
he can defend himself
now what struck me
the first time
I read this this week
and I don't know
if it struck any
of you
is that something
very similar
happens in the
gospels
what do three
of the gospels
record
that Jesus
is hanging
on the cross
and
he's all bloody
he's been
completely and utterly
whipped
he's surrounded
by soldiers
he's hanging
on the cross
he's dying
a criminal's death
and all the leaders
the intellectuals
the religious
the spiritual
types
the cultural
influencers
they all say
he saves
others
let him save
himself
come down
from the cross
show us that you
can save yourself
if you are God
if you are the
savior
now Jesus
doesn't come down
from the cross
he stays on the cross
and he dies
but we understand
that
not to be a
defeat of
Jesus
but to in fact
be his victory
a victory
which matters
to us
and we only
begin to
understand it
if we understand
that God is
love
that the triune
God is love
from all
eternity
the father
is love
the son
and the son
is love
the father
and the father
desires to have
ordinary people
like you and me
know him
so that we
will love him
and experience
his love
and we can
love him
not because
he needs love
he has the
love of the son
and the holy
spirit from all
eternity
but it is the
nature of love
to love
and to receive
love
and to give
and to be good
and it's the
very nature
of power
to sacrifice
others
so that no
power is lost
and so for
Baal
who's all about
power
for him not
to defend
himself
is in fact
an indictment
against him
but
the cultural
leaders
and the influencers
and the intellectuals
and the religious
leaders
who at the end
of the day
do not know
that God is love
but worship power
for them
what they want
to see
is a display
of power
and they do not
know
that they know
that if power
is real
that power
will act
to defend
itself
but they do
not understand
that if love
is real
love will die
for the beloved
many of you
heard the story
I'm just going
to tell part
of it right
now
my wife
and six
or seven
of my kids
at the time
were in a house
fire
caught on the
second floor
first floor
consumed with
flames
in the middle
of the night
Louise woke
up and she
woke up
the kids
and she woke
up her mom
and Louise
was able to
open a bathroom
window
which there
was enough room
about three feet
down into the
side
a shed
and I can tell
you right now
who was the
last one out
of the house
Louise
why
she opened
the window
she hands
the kids
out
she gets
the kids
out
and whenever
kid is out
she leaves
and if she
had died
not being able
to get all
of the kids
out
she would not
have viewed
herself as a
failure
because she
got all of
her kids
out
it's a nature
of love
to be willing
to die
idol
worshipers
go to
great lengths
to save
their idols
but the
Lord went
to great lengths
to save
and deliver
you
think of
the lengths
that we
go
those of
us who
worship
beauty
the lengths
we go
as our
beauty
fades
I know
a woman
who asked
a doctor
to kill
her
because
she was
in
she'd
always
been
very
well
made
up
and
she
could
no
longer
look
beautiful
and she
wanted
to die
her idol
devoured
her
and we
worship
money
and the
money
starts
to fail
us
but we
don't
say
money
is
a
failure
no
we
save
it
we
say
no
the
market
will
correct
itself
it'll
work
it'll
work
it'll
work
it'll
work
and what
we see
throughout
this
entire
text
is that
God
comes
to
Gideon
when
Gideon
is still
worshipping
Baal
and Asherah
and here's
what we
learn in
the gospel
while you
were still
giving
yourself
to idols
Messiah
Jesus
died
for you
if you
go back
and read
the rest
of the
story
of Gideon
it's
after this
it even
always had
a remarkable
miracle
of the
equivalent
of how
many
bread
you
could
make
from
22
pounds
of
flour
and a
whole
goat
and all
the
broth
all just
taken up
in fire
and the
Holy Spirit
comes upon
him
and he's
able
with the
Holy Spirit's
power
to rally
the people
of Israel
to fight
against
Midianites
and still
Gideon
can't believe
that God
has actually
spoken to him
and promised
to him
and so
there's the
famous story
of the
fleece
that could
you make
the fleece
wet
and the
ground dry
and then
God does
it and then
he says
oh just
one more
time
could you
make the
ground wet
and the
fleece
die
and the
problem
is that
that's not
a story
about seeking
God's
will
he already
knows
God's
will
God's
told him
time and
time again
you're
going to
go fight
Midian and
I'm going
to destroy
them
he doesn't
need to
know
God's
will
he just
can't
believe
that God's
word
is true
you see
the more
an idol
grips your
heart
the harder
it is to
believe
that the
Lord keeps
his word
friends
gathering
together on
the Lord's
day to
worship
together
is a
chance for
us to
say Lord
those idols
have gotten
really powerful
in my heart
this week
and I
have a hard
time believing
you keep
your word
and it's a
time for us
to remember
the gospel
because the
Lord has
given us
something far
better than
a fleece
he's given
us
Jesus
dying
on a
cross
and he's
given us
the resurrection
and it's
time for us
to come
and remind
of the
gospel
we have
the Lord's
supper
what do
we remember
the new
covenant
the fact
that he
died
for us
and it's
time for
us to
once again
come back
and reset
and say
Lord I
so need
to remember
what you
did for
me
on the
cross
that while
I still
worship
idols
and I
was not
even
thinking of
you
you died
for me
knowing
the depth
that idols
have on my
heart
you died
for me
and you
died for me
knowing that
even today
even after I've
come to a
faith in you
how powerful it
is for me to
return to the
idols of money
or sex
or of race
or of ethnicity
or of politics
or of ideology
or myself
or my family
or my house
or my car
or my looks
or whatever it is
that I give my
heart to time
and time
and time again
and you
knew
all of that
and still
you died
for me
still
you died
for me
not weighing
my
my wonders
but pardoning
my offenses
not
knowing how
religious and
spiritual and
pure I am
but knowing
how far I am
for that
still you
died for
me
and so
we are
gathered
to call out
to the Lord
to say
Lord take
those idols
from my
heart
because those
idols get
close to my
heart
your word
seems
untrue
invite you
to stand
just bow our
heads in
prayer
Father
we thank you
so much
that you
call us
to gather
once a week
on the
Lord's
day
to
celebrate
the Lord's
supper
to remember
Jesus
and what
he did
for us
on the
cross
until he
returns
that we
get to
read your
word
and be
reminded of
the gospel
that you
are the
God
Father
who
delivered
your
people
who's
delivered
us
who are
your
people
who reveals
yourself
to us
idol
worshipers
like
ourselves
and we
ask
Father
that the
Holy
Spirit
would
both
grip us
with the
gospel
if there
are any
here
Father
who have
not yet
come to
know
Jesus
as Savior
and Lord
may the
Holy
Spirit
Father
move
in their
lives
that they
might call
out to
you
and say
Jesus
be my
Savior
deliver me
from my
idols
be my
Savior
and Lord
forever
thank you
Lord
that you
keep your
word
and you
will come
and take
that man
or woman
to yourself
and Father
for us
you know
the idols
that are so
close to
our heart
that make
you seem
distant
and your
word
seem
not
powerful
and true
and we
ask
once again
Father
that your
Holy Spirit
would both
grip us
with who
Jesus is
and what
he did
for us
on the
cross
but that
you would
help us
Father
to turn
from idols
to turn
from idols
to you
and we
thank you
Father
that where
you are
there is
freedom
that where
you are
there is
love
where you
are
there is
goodness
where you
are
there is
truth
Father
make us
people of
truth
of justice
of lovers
of the
good
and of
beauty
lovers
of you
and all
God's
people said
Amen