Text: Judges 6:25-27
The Israelites were being oppressed by the Midianites (Judges 6:1-7). God sent an angel to call Gideon to deliver them (Judges 6:12-16). He questioned God and doubted his ability to carry out this task, but he went. He was a hero of faith (Hebrews 11:32). Through his leadership, God would deliver Israel. Yet something had to be done first. He had to deal with the problem that caused all of the trouble – idolatry.
Idols must be destroyed
Gideon and the Altar of Baal
- After accepting the call, Gideon was told to build an altar and offer burnt offerings (Judges 6:25-27) – before this, he first had to tear down an altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it
- Gideon did what he was told to do, but he did it at night (Judges 6:27) – why? … he was “too afraid” of what others would think (his father’s household and the men of the city)
- Our idols may look different from theirs – anything greater than or equal to God in our hearts
- Money (Matthew 6:24)
- Work/career (Luke 12:16-21)
- Education (1 Timothy 6:20-21)
- Entertainment (Luke 8:14)
- People (Matthew 10:37)
- Question to ask: “Does ___ cause me to neglect worship, study, etc.?” – if so, it may have become an idol; we need to guard ourselves from such things (1 John 5:21)
Our Service to God
- Our service to God must be pure, untainted, and wholehearted – this applies to us INDIVIDUALLY (how we live our lives) and COLLECTIVELY (how we work and worship together in the local church)
- Service that is PURE means we do what God wants in the way He wants (John 4:24)
- Service that is UNTAINTED means it is not mixed with anything else (Colossians 3:17; 2 Timothy 1:13)
- Service that is WHOLEHEARTED means we are only focused on the Lord (Matthew 6:24)
What Will People Think?
- It can be intimidating to do this – serving God and rejecting the idols of the world will make us different; but we are not to be conformed to the world (Romans 12:2); standing out like this will make us a target (cf. Matthew 5:14; 2 Timothy 3:12), so we must be prepared
- Gideon was scared at first (Judges 6:27) – but he acted anyway
- We may feel the same way – but we need to act first (2 Timothy 1:7-8); courage can come later
Conclusion
- God wants us to serve Him acceptably – but that includes eliminating idols from our lives
- This will make us different from the world around us – but we must have the courage to be different
- Let us resolve to serve God in purity and wholeheartedly so that we can please Him
