Judges 6: Gideon, Mighty Man of Valor Despite His Labels

Introduction

"Knowing who we are is essential if we want to stay ready for the fight." Hils Grew, a member of the leadership team at Trinity Cheltenham, gives this third message in the series "Fit For The Fight." She looks at the beginning of Gideon's story, one that has stayed with her over the years.

What interests her is Gideon's encounter with the Lord: the way God challenges his thinking, the way Gideon sees himself, and why this matters so much if we want to see more of God's kingdom as we step into the battle.

Before calling Gideon to the fight, God tells him who he is. He does the same with you.

Message Outline

1. The Danger of Spiritual Amnesia

Hils Grew humorously presents herself as absent-minded. One day, after six weeks spent writing a book on her laptop, she could not find it anymore. She thought it had been stolen, the police were called, and the computer was finally found on a faraway desk at work. She learned along the way that wasting police time is an offense.
Forgetting where you put your things often does not matter much. But forgetting your passport when you arrive at the airport, or forgetting your medication when you have a serious health problem, has serious consequences.
According to God, his people tend to forget. Throughout the Bible he keeps saying "remember": remember what I have done for you, who I am, who you are. Hils Grew speaks of "spiritual amnesia."
She cites a survey carried out at the end of the previous year in her country: Christians give 114 million hours of volunteering, and churches provide more than a quarter of a million essential services to the public. Yet the general public increasingly sees the Church as a local charity, not as the spiritual pillar of truth and the house of prayer it is called to be.
"Somewhere along the way, have we forgotten who we are called to be?" After faith and courage, then prayer, the first themes of the series, this message is about knowing who we are and remembering our identity as God's children.
Proverbs 4:23, one of her favorite verses: "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life." It is not your bank account, your relationships or your influence that direct your life: it is your thoughts. How you think about God, and how God looks at you, have a great impact on the life you lead.

2. A Call to Leave the Sidelines

In the book of Judges, Israel lives in the promised land. The people seek God as long as a judge is there, then rebel when he dies. One sentence keeps coming back: everyone did what seemed right in their own eyes.
At every harvest, the Midianites invade the land and destroy the crops. The people live in great poverty. They are oppressed, weak, afraid, discouraged, always on the retreat. Many say to themselves: "Lord, if you were with us, this would not have happened."
The angel of Yahweh comes and sits under the oak at Ophrah. Gideon is threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites. The angel says to him: "Yahweh is with you, you mighty man of valor!" Gideon answers: if Yahweh is with us, why has all this happened to us, and where are his wondrous works? Yahweh says to him: "Go in this your might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Haven't I sent you?" (Judges 6:11-14).
It is a call from God to enter the battle: to leave the stands, come out of hiding and step onto the field. The enemy is at work and keeps God's plans and promises from being fulfilled. God addresses the same call to us through this series.
The stories of the Old Testament illustrate a spiritual reality. God delivers a small people from slavery and brings them through the Red Sea: it is a picture of our conversion, when he rescues us from the power of darkness and brings us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love (Colossians 1:13).
The promised land represents the kingdom of God. "For the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17). Peace, joy, freedom, healing, restoration: this is the inheritance Jesus took back from the enemy's hands on the cross and gives to each of his children.

3. An Inheritance You Have to Go and Take

Here is the paradox: it is a gift, but you have to take it. We do not earn it by good behavior, but we must pursue it and fight for it.
Hils Grew uses the example of Michael Jackson, who died in 2009. He left his estate to his mother and his three children. When his father and brothers discovered the size of the estate, they contested the will. It took three years of proceedings before the judge gave everything to the mother and the children. It was a gift, but they had to fight to make it their own.
We were born in a combat zone. The Bible says the enemy is the prince of this world until Jesus returns. Some have seen bombs go off in their lives this week, have stepped on mines, have been hit by missiles that cause pain and hardship.
In the wilderness, Israel refused to enter: the land was too frightening, the enemies seemed too strong. God kept taking care of his people, their clothes did not wear out, the food did not run out, but that generation walked in circles and died in the wilderness. They missed the life God had planned for them.
There is a greater life offered to you, not because your current life is not enough, but because the kingdom of God always promises more.

4. What God Declares About Gideon

Gideon objects: "Oh, Lord, how shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house." God answers: "Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man" (Judges 6:15-16). Gideon will win with only 300 men, and the land will have rest for forty years (Judges 8:28).
Where did it all begin for Gideon? In verse 12, with a declaration from God. And this declaration is not about God himself, but about Gideon. God corrects the way Gideon sees himself.
God could have said: "I understand why you are hiding, I know you are discouraged." That was true. But he said: "mighty man of valor." He saw Gideon's disappointment, but the greatest truth about Gideon, in his eyes, was that he was a mighty man of valor.
"The enemy is not bothered by you simply because you are you. The enemy is bothered when you know who you are, because the Holy Spirit lives in you."
The Bible says many things about you: you are his workmanship, the apple of his eye, his son or daughter, deeply loved, a witness. Paul says we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37: "Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us"). You are also an "oak of righteousness" (Isaiah 61:3), a priest.
Not some distant day, after enough prayer and fasting, a special anointing or more experience: "You are a conqueror. Right now."

5. The Labels That Lock You In

Gideon does not agree with God. He does not say: "Yes, call me Jason Bourne." He argues, respectfully: "If I am a mighty man of valor, why is all this happening?" His answer sounds humble, but it is not: he is hiding in a winepress because he is discouraged.
Gideon had no idea how God saw him. He had forgotten that God had made Israel an army when they came out of the Red Sea. He was stuck under the labels stuck on him by people, circumstances and his own thoughts: you are too weak, your family is worthless, your tribe is weak, God is not with you, you are good for nothing.
He believed them, since that is what came out of his mouth. "If you want to know what you believe, listen to what comes out of your mouth." Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45).
Our culture pushes us more than ever to build our identity on what has happened to us, what we have been told, what we have done and what others say about us.
Labels limit our abilities, put a ceiling above us and lock us in a box. After enough time in the box, it becomes hard to believe we are not the box.
She mentions others we carry: I am a useless mother, a bad spouse, I am the difficult person, I do not have what it takes, I am too old, too young, too poor, it is too late for me.

6. The Choice: Agreeing With God

Gideon faces a simple choice, the same as ours every day: agree with his emotions and circumstances, or agree with God. It takes real work, creating new paths in our thinking, when God says one thing and the labels say another.
Who will define your identity? The Father, or your past, your family, the culture, your actions of long ago?
The question is not whether you feel like a conqueror, whether you feel like his masterpiece or the apple of his eye. The question is: will you fight to believe it, simply because it is what the Father says about you?
Why does this matter so much? God will always love us, but there is kingdom territory to take. We pray "your kingdom come" in our neighborhoods, but we cannot see it if we live in the winepress, prisoners of labels.
The enemy wants these labels to stay. God wants to remove them. We give him the opportunity when we listen to him and fight to agree with him. Gideon was not ready for battle because of what he believed about himself.

7. Her Daughter's Testimony and Your Own Fight

Her daughter tells about her final year of high school. She led the school's Christian group, but sensed that God wanted to use her for something greater. The idea came to her to start an Alpha course at her school. Right away, she set up obstacles for herself: how could a student do that?
While praying, she heard God say to her: "I only need your agreement. I need your availability more than your abilities." She got permission to run it during the lunch break.
The head of religious education, who was not a Christian, happened to be looking for a Christian speaker for a week on spirituality. She offered her a slot at the Friday morning assembly, in front of a thousand students. Between 40 and 50 students came in the first two weeks. Church members paid for meals, someone baked a cake every week, others gave Bibles. Five people chose to follow Jesus, two were baptized in the church. The following year, a friend took over the course, which doubled in size.
"She was 17." She had no experience and no resources, but she believed God wanted to use her right where she was. She could have stayed in the winepress. "We can live our lives in the winepress, or step into everything God has prepared for us."
The fight brings disappointments and wounds. Without believing what God says about us, we retreat and stay in the cave. Hence the movement of "coming and going": come into his presence, then go out again with his strength. Read the Bible, not out of duty, but to discover what he promises and who he says you are, starting Monday morning.
What is your fight? Finding regular time with the Lord, overcoming discouragement, keeping a tender heart, forgiving, letting go of bitterness, holding on, fighting for a relationship, against indifference or unbelief. Hils Grew admits that it is unbelief that sometimes keeps her from offering to pray for someone. Perhaps it is a prayer group at work, or an Alpha course in a school.
She ends by repeating what God says: you are the apple of his eye, his son, his daughter, chosen, called to a life that bears fruit. To some, he says tonight: "I will make you fishers for men" (Matthew 4:19). You are his ambassador, his witness, his masterpiece, deeply loved and victorious, whether you feel it or not, like Gideon.

Key Takeaways

God's people tend to forget who they are: it is a spiritual amnesia that makes us unfit for the fight.
Before sending Gideon, God makes a declaration about him: the greatest truth about you is what God says about you.
The labels received from others, from circumstances and from our thoughts limit what we believe is possible and keep us hidden in the winepress.
The kingdom is a gift, but you have to go and take it by fighting to believe what God says, even without feeling it.
God looks for your availability more than your abilities: he can use you right where you are.

Personal Application

What labels do you carry about yourself today: too old, too young, not good enough, too late?
What comes out of your mouth when you talk about yourself, and what does it reveal about what you believe?
Among what God says about you (loved, chosen, his workmanship, more than a conqueror), which do you find hardest to believe?
What is your "winepress" right now, the place where you hide because you are discouraged?
What is the specific fight God is asking you to take on this week: forgiving, praying for someone, starting an initiative?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does God call Gideon a "mighty man of valor" when he is hiding?

God finds Gideon hidden in a winepress, downcast and discouraged. He sees all of that, but for Hils Grew the greatest truth about Gideon, in God's eyes, is that he is a mighty man of valor. God begins with a declaration about Gideon in order to correct the way he sees himself.

What are the labels the preacher talks about?

They are the identities that people, circumstances and our own thoughts stick on us: you are weak, your family is worthless, God is not with you, you are good for nothing. These labels limit what we think we can do, put a ceiling above us and lock us in a box.

Why does it matter to believe what God says about us?

God will never stop loving us, but there is still kingdom territory to take. Hils Grew explains that we cannot see the kingdom grow where God has planted us if we live in the winepress, prisoners of labels. We have to fight to agree with what God says, even without feeling it.