Gideon: Your Identity Grows as You Obey God

Introduction

This Sunday at CVV Paris, Adrien continues the second part of the journey through Gideon (Judges 6-7). After seeing the previous week how God calls a man hidden in a cave to save Israel, he now shows how God progressively builds Gideon's faith and identity while he obeys. The message is direct: you don't need to be the most self-assured person to answer God's call. Your identity is formed on the road of obedience, not before.

Message Outline

1. God commissions, then asks you to clean house

In Judges 6:25-26, God asks Gideon to tear down his father's altar to Baal and the sacred Asherah pole standing beside it.
The order matters: God sends Gideon first, then asks him to put his life in order. This isn't the sequence we would expect.
Cleaning up your life is a good thing, but don't think you're disqualified until it's done, nor qualified the day it is.
God takes Gideon where he is, family idols and all, and starts by commissioning him.

2. Courage is obeying despite fear

Gideon takes ten men and tears down the altar at night, out of fear of his family and the townspeople (Judges 6:27).
This isn't the legendary example of heroic courage, and yet Gideon is counted among the heroes of faith (Hebrews 11:32).
Courage is not acting without fear, it's obeying despite fear.
When God asks you to do something visible, the question of what others will think arises.

3. Three countercultural things that make you visible

Giving up gossip: not speaking behind people's backs, and even saying something positive about them when everyone else is piling on negativity.
Owning your faith publicly: opening the conversation, offering to pray for a coworker, simply saying you're a Christian.
Recognizing when the other person is right and saying so: giving up pride in our friendships, families, and professional relationships.

4. What you actually risk when you obey

The town discovers the sacrilege and wants Gideon put to death (Judges 6:28-30).
It's Gideon's father, the very man who had set up the altar to Baal, who defends his son: "If Baal is a god, let him contend for himself" (Judges 6:31).
Gideon comes away with a nickname, Jerubbaal ("let Baal contend"), which he will carry for the rest of his life.
We often make a mountain out of what visible obedience might cost us. In reality, many people respond positively to a lived-out faith.

5. The sound of the trumpet and the rallying

The Spirit of the LORD takes hold of Gideon, who blows a trumpet (Judges 6:34). The men of Abiezer gather to follow him.
"Blowing the trumpet" evokes, at CVV Paris, the initial call Gordon received to plant the church fifteen years ago.
Maybe something is stirring in you for this church. That might be the sound of the trumpet: God inviting you to get involved in what he's doing here.
The trumpet rallies those who were scattered around a common call.

6. God shrinks the army to receive the glory

32,000 men gather, but God tells Gideon, "You have too many." Those who are afraid go home. 10,000 remain (Judges 7:1-3).
God reduces the army further to 300 men through the episode at the water (Judges 7:4-7), without giving an explanation this time.
Some commentators see this as a military elite. Adrien instead suggests that God chose the 300 oddest men of the group, consistent with his logic: making victory humanly impossible.
God loves receiving the glory, and we are quick to take it for ourselves when things go well and to leave it to him when things fail.

7. God builds Gideon's faith, not his army

Before the attack, God offers to let Gideon go and secretly listen to the Midianites with his servant Purah (Judges 7:9-11).
A Midianite soldier recounts a dream of a barley loaf that overturns the tent, and his comrade interprets it as Gideon's victory (Judges 7:13-14).
God is sovereign even over the dreams of unbelievers, and he uses this dream to reassure Gideon.
After this third sign (sacrifice, two fleeces, dream), Gideon changes posture: he becomes a leader who gives clear directions (Judges 7:15-18).

8. Victory without having to fight

The 300 divide into three companies with trumpets, jars, and torches (Judges 7:16-20).
They blow the trumpets, break the jars, wave the torches, and shout. The Midianites turn their swords against each other and flee (Judges 7:21-22).
The 300 didn't even have to fight. The worship team was enough.
Gideon becomes a hero of the faith not through his strength, but through his willingness to obey despite his doubts.

Key Takeaways

God calls before you're ready. He entrusts you with a mission and then works through the cleanup you need with you.
Courage is not the absence of fear, it's obedience despite fear.
Giving up gossip, owning your faith publicly, recognizing when the other person is right: three visible acts of obedience that make you countercultural.
God loves receiving the glory. That's why he often chooses what looks weak and small to us.
Your identity doesn't precede the call, it grows as you respond to it.

Personal Application

Is there an area where you're waiting to be "ready" before responding to what God is putting on your heart? What would happen if you obeyed before feeling qualified?
In the face of what specific fear could you obey this week, even at night, even in small steps?
Among the three visible acts of obedience (gossip, owned faith, relational humility), which one is God pressing you to work on first?
Is there a "trumpet sound" stirring in you for your local church? What is God inviting you to take part in where you're planted?
Where might you have taken for yourself glory that belonged to God? How can you honestly give back to him what is his?

Scripture References

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you have to wait until you're ready to answer God's call?

No. In Judges 6, God sends Gideon before asking him to clean up his life. It's not your perfection that qualifies you, it's God who chooses you. Put your life in order because it's good, not to become worthy of his call.

Why did God reduce Gideon's army from 32,000 to 300 men?

God says it himself: he doesn't want the Israelites to claim the victory for themselves. He loves receiving the glory for what he does. By shrinking the army to the point of absurdity, he makes it humanly impossible for the victory to be credited to anything other than himself.

What is true courage according to the story of Gideon?

Courage is not acting without fear, it's obeying despite fear. Gideon tears down the altar of Baal at night because he's afraid, but he does it anyway. It's the obedience that counts, not the absence of apprehension.

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