I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Judges 6:1-16
-- a group of Christians from a local church
got concerned and planned an all-night prayer meeting -- they wanted to ask God
to intervene and stop the tavern from opening up in their community
-- so, on a Sunday night, the Christians
gathered for their prayer service, and on the very next day, lightning struck
the bar and it burned to the ground -- the owner of the bar sued the church,
claiming that the prayers of the members were responsible
-- the church hired a lawyer to defend them in
court and argue that they were not responsible -- "we're only a small
church -- what could we have done to cause this to happen? -- all we did was
pray”
-- the judge who presided over the case was a
man who was very wise -- he read the arguments presented by both sides, and after
his initial review of the case, he stated, "no matter how this case comes
out, one thing is obvious -- the tavern owner believes that God worked through
the prayers of this small church and the Christians do not"
-- you know, over the
course of my ministry, I have developed this theory about the way small
churches think and operate -- I call it the “reverse-Napoleon complex” -- let
me explain what I’m talking about
-- everyone in here is
probably aware of what the psychologists call the “Napoleon complex” named
after the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte -- Napoleon was a very short man --
he definitely did not stand head and shoulders above the crowd -- and because
he was so short, he developed this drive to excel in other areas of his life
-- most historians agree
that Napoleon compensated for his short height by seeking power through war and
conquest -- in other words, because Napoleon was small, he sought to do more
and to have more than those around him to make up for the difference in
physical appearance
-- in our world today, we
see men just like Napoleon who have this same drive for power and influence
brought on because they have an inferiority complex about their height or some
other aspect of their lives -- this is what psychologists call a “Napoleon
complex”
-- but in the church, we
see an opposite dynamic at work that I call the “reverse-Napoleon complex” -- based
on the Napoleon complex, you would expect small churches to be the driving
force in Christianity today -- you would expect that they would be trying to
compensate for their small size and their small resources by seeking greater
influence and greater power and greater results than larger churches near them
-- but that’s not the case
-- just like the church in
the story I told you about the tavern that burned down, the mind-set of many
churches is, “we’re just a small church -- what can we do? -- if we had more
people, we might be able to do something for God -- if we had more money, God
could really use us -- if we had more people praying, God would listen and
respond to our prayers more often”
-- rather than using their
size to motivate them to even greater levels of ministry, small churches tend
to get emotionally crippled and end up thinking that God can’t use them because
they aren’t big enough -- and large churches tend to reflect the same view -- looking
down on smaller congregations in a condescending way because they don’t believe
that small churches can accomplish anything either
-- it’s this
reverse-Napoleon complex that is driving the mega-church movement in America
today -- it’s this reverse-Napoleon complex that causes denominations to put on
training seminars and courses to help small churches grow so that maybe one day
they can start doing real ministry and start having an impact for Christ in
their area
-- I read a book several
years ago on growing your church and making a real impact in the community for
Christ -- the author presented several ideas for churches to try in their
community to increase interest in the church and in the gospel message -- I
thought I might try a few of his suggestions -- but then the author wrote, “Of
course, this is only applicable to the smaller churches -- those with
congregations of 200 members or more” -- and with that statement, he basically
said that any churches that were smaller than 200 members were really not
viable communities who could do anything for Jesus today
-- the overall message
that is coming out from the Christian community is that small churches are
cute, but just not effective -- small churches are a curious oddity, but they
really can’t anything for God
-- but, you know what? -- that type of thinking
is wrong -- it’s simply not biblical -- it goes against everything that we see
in the Bible -- in fact, I was thinking the other day as I was reading an
article about the fastest growing churches in America and looking at an ad for
a church-growth seminar that if Jesus was here today, some denominations would
be encouraging Him to go to a workshop to help Him grow His church
-- if you think about it, Jesus only had 12
people in His church at the end of His ministry here on earth
-- if you get nothing else out of this message
today, I want you to get this -- there's nothing wrong with being small -- size
does not limit what God can do through you
II. Scripture Lesson (Judges 6-7)
-- if you want to see what God can do with the
least of these -- if you want to see what God can do with small churches and
small people, look at the story of Gideon here in Judges 6
-- before we look back at this passage in more
detail, let me give you the context so you know what’s going on and how this
passage fits in the whole scheme of things
-- the Book of Judges covers the first 350
years of the nation of Israel right after they entered the Promised Land
-- this is sometimes called the “Dark Ages” of
the Israelites because it was a time when the Israelites would turn away from
God and start worshiping idols -- God would respond by sending an enemy against
Israel, which caused the Israelites to turn to God for help -- finally, God
would raise up a deliverer who would rescue them from their enemies and lead
them back to a right relationship with Him again
-- these deliverers were known as “judges” --
and Gideon was one of these judges during this 350-year period
-- look back at verse 1-10
6:1 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.
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.”
-- as Judges 6 opens up, we read that the
Israelites have once again turned away from God and were doing evil in His
sight -- because of this, God allowed the Midianites to oppress the people
-- not only did the nation of Midian come
against Israel with their military might, but they also took away Israel’s way
of life and their livelihood -- they destroyed the crops of the Israelites and
forced them to flee their cities and live in caves and shelters in the
mountains
-- their situation looked hopeless -- they had
no homes -- they had no resources -- they had no food -- so, once again -- in
desperation -- they repented of their sins and they cried out to God for help
-- they asked Him to send a deliverer who would save them from the power of
Midian
-- now keep in mind that Midian was a powerful
nation with a vast army and lots of resources -- when God responded and said
that He would send a deliverer, the people were expecting Him to send someone
powerful -- someone who had a lot of resources -- a lot of men at his disposal
-- someone who was comparable to Midian and who could go toe-to-toe with them
in a battle -- the people were expecting God to send someone like Rambo or Schwarzenegger
or John Wayne with the calvary -- but look who God sent
-- verse 11-16
6:11 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. 12 When the
angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty
warrior.”
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.”
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.”
-- God sent Gideon -- Gideon -- here is this
guy who is so afraid of the Midianites that he is hiding in a winepress
threshing wheat -- he’s not even brave enough to thresh the wheat on the
threshing floor where it should be done
-- in verse 15 he tells us that he’s from the
tribe of Manasseh, the weakest tribe out of all the 12 tribe of Israel -- and
not only is he from the smallest and weakest tribe, but his clan is the weakest
in that tribe -- to make matters worse, Gideon points out that he is the least
in his own family -- in other words, Gideon is the lowest of the low -- he is
the weakest and least powerful of any person or clan or tribe in the entire
nation of Israel -- but this is who God chooses to use to deliver the nation of
Israel from the power of Midian
-- notice in verse 11 that it says that “the
angel of the Lord” came to Gideon at Ophrah -- just so you know, when you see
that phrase, “the angel of the Lord,” in
the Old Testament, that is an appearance of the preincarnate Jesus -- if it
says, “an,” angel of the Lord, then it’s an angel -- but if it says, “the,”
angel of the Lord -- then it’s God Himself appearing in human form
-- so, God Himself comes to Gideon while he’s
threshing wheat in the winepress and in verse 12, He calls Gideon, “mighty
warrior” -- Gideon was not a mighty warrior -- as we just saw, Gideon was a
small man -- so, why would God call him “mighty warrior?”
-- it wasn’t because of who Gideon was -- it
wasn’t because of who Gideon’s family or his tribe was -- it was because the
Lord was with him
-- you see, that’s the thing that a lot of
people miss when it comes to churches and what churches can do for God -- does
a small church have a lot of people to depend on? -- no -- does a small church
have significant financial resources to depend on? -- no -- does a small church
have a lot of material possessions or large sanctuaries? -- no
-- so, what do they have? -- they have the Lord
with them -- in Acts 3:6, when the crippled man at the gate Beautiful asks them
for money, Peter and John reply, “silver or gold I do not have, but what I have
I give you -- in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” -- and the man got
up and walked
-- here’s the thing -- Peter and John only had
one thing -- they had the Lord with them, and it made all the difference
-- Gideon only had one thing -- he had the Lord
with him, and it made all the difference -- Gideon may not have been a mighty
warrior when he was hiding in a winepress threshing wheat, but with God by his
side, he was about to deliver the nation of Israel from their worst enemy
-- in verse 14, God tells Gideon to go in the
strength that he has to save Israel from the hands of Midian -- God didn’t
change anything about Gideon’s situation -- He didn’t send an army to gather
around the winepress for Gideon to command, although that comes later -- He
didn’t have money fall out of the sky for Gideon to use to buy weapons and food
and other resources -- He didn’t give Gideon supernatural wisdom or strength or
stature
-- the only thing Gideon had was the presence
of the Lord by his side, but that made all the difference
-- in fact, when the men of Israel did rally
around Gideon’s call to fight Midian, God wouldn’t let Gideon take all of them
into battle -- skip over to Chapter 7, verse 1-7
7:1 Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is,
Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was
north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. 2 The Lord said to Gideon,
“You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel
would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ 3 Now announce to the
army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So
twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.
4 But the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still
too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you
there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This
one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”
5 So Gideon took the men down to the water.
There the Lord told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues
as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.” 6 Three hundred of them
drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees
to drink.
7 The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three
hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your
hands. Let all the others go home.”
-- as chapter 7 opens, Gideon has an army of
over 30,000 men surrounding him -- he thinks he’s ready to do something for God
-- finally, he has enough people -- finally, he has enough weapons -- finally,
he has enough resources -- finally, they are as big as everyone else
-- but look at what God says here in verse 2 --
“You have too many men -- in order that Israel may not boast that they defeated
Midian in their own strength and in their own power, you need to reduce the
size of your army”
-- and so, God told Gideon to send home
everyone who was afraid -- 22,000 men went home, leaving Gideon with a pitiful
army of just 10,000 men -- but God looked at that army and said, “Nope, you’ve
still got too many” -- so God had the men drink water from a stream to further
whittle them down -- and when all is said and done, Gideon is left with only
300 men to fight against the entire Midian army
-- when he looked at that army of 300 men
compared to the Midianite army, do you know what Gideon thought? -- “We’re too small
to do anything -- we don’t have enough people -- we don’t have enough money --
we don’t have enough resources -- God won’t be able to do anything through us
-- maybe if we were larger, He could -- but not now”
-- but you know what? -- with only 300 men and faith
in the God who was with him, Gideon went into battle anyway, and he defeated
the entire Midian army once and for all -- never again would the nation of
Midian be a threat to Israel
III. Closing
-- let me remind you what I told you in the start
of this sermon -- size does not limit what God can do through you -- the only
thing that can limit you is you
-- the only thing that can keep God from
working in us and through us in our belief in the power of God to use the
smallest things in this world to do great things in His name
-- think about Chick Fil A and the story of
Truett Cathy
-- Truett Cathy started out in Atlanta with a
restaurant so small, it was called the Dwarf Grill -- later, he called it the
"Dwarf House" -- it only had 10 stools and four tables
-- and, when he opened it, he didn't offer a
full menu like all the other big restaurants had -- he didn't even offer
hamburgers -- all he offered was chicken sandwiches and french fries -- and he
did something else strange -- he refused to open on Sundays, even though other
restaurants got over 20% of their income on that day -- Cathy wanted to make a
stand for God
-- for almost 20 years, Cathy operated the
Dwarf House -- it was the only restaurant he had -- but this restaurant met a
need in the community -- McDonald's didn't have chicken sandwiches -- neither
did the other big restaurants -- and business grew
-- finally, in 1967, Cathy opened the first
Chick-fil-A restaurant in Atlanta's Greenbriar Mall -- but he didn't change the
way he did business -- he still didn't try to do everything the big chains and
the big restaurants did -- he just sold chicken sandwiches and fries -- and he
didn't try to make his restaurants bigger than his neighbors -- he just did
what he felt God had called him to do
-- and, by doing what God called him to do, God
blessed him -- currently, there are over 2,400 Chick-fil-A restaurants in 47
states -- a far cry from the original Dwarf House that Cathy started with
-- an article in Atlanta Business Chronicle
several years ago noted that Cathy could make a fortune if he made a public
stock offering for Chick-fil-A, but he refuses to consider it -- he said,
"We're able to do a lot of things that we couldn't do if we were a large
public company" -- Cathy has made the decision to keep Chick-Fil-A small
- it’s like Malcolm Gladwell wrote: “the fact
of being [small] can change people in ways that we often fail to appreciate: it
can open doors and create opportunities and educate and enlighten and make
possible what might otherwise have seemed unthinkable”
-- do we need to be large to do great things
for God? -- do we need more people in order to be effective in ministry and
sharing the gospel with others? -- do we need more finances or more resources
to serve God? -- No! -- all we need is what Gideon had -- the Lord beside us
and faith in His power
-- so, the question I want to leave
you with this morning is, “Do you believe? -- Do you believe that this small
church of 10 people can do the impossible with Christ by our side?”
-- God took 300 men and defeated an
entire nation -- and when the world saw that, they knew that only God could
have done it
-- God wants to do similar things
through us -- He wants to do great things through us -- but we have to believe
it’s possible
-- as we close, I want to encourage
you to dream big dreams for this church -- I want to encourage you to envision
great ministries that will come to pass -- there is nothing that God can’t do
through us, if we only believe -- if we only trust -- if we only have faith
-- as you pray this week, ask these
questions, “What does God want to do through us that will make the city of
Naylor stand up and notice? -- Where is God calling us to go next so that His
name will be glorified?”
-- let us pray
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