‍Judges // One Altar

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Judges 6:1-4

[1] 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. [2] 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. [3] For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. [4] 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.

Judges 6:7-10

[7] When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, [8] the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. [9] 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. [10] 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.”

Judges 6:11-16

[11] Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. [12] And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” [13] And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” [14] And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” [15] And he 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.” [16] And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”

Judges 6:22-23

[22] Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” [23] But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.”

Judges 6:25-27

[25] That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father's bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it [26] and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.” [27] So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.

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1. Where sin and idolatry leaves you

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Can someone give us a good definition of an “idol”?

Verses 1-6 serve as a great illustration as to the state that idols leave us in. Look over those verses again. What are some descriptions in these verses of the state Israel was left in because of their idolatry?

Let’s push ourselves to think deeper about idolatry in the modern world. Let’s take the idol of “control” as an example. There's nothing wrong with wanting things in your life to be orderly, or having routines, or knowledge of a situation, or authority over others. But how do we know when seeking control has become idolatrous in our lives?

If this is an idol for you, how do you feel when you realize you don’t actually have control?

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2. What God wants you to know

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2 Corinthians 7:10

[10] For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

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Someone who is truly repentant understands that their sin is first and foremost against God himself. Why does our sin grieve the heart of God?

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If Gideon was afraid and hiding, why did the angel of the LORD call him a “mighty man of valor”?

Through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection for us, God adopts us into his family and makes us his child. Why is it hard sometimes to believe that?

God told Gideon, “I will be with you”, and he says the same to us. How does that comfort you in regards to your fight against idolatry?

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3. What God wants you to do

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Earlier, we used the example of control as an idol. Let’s stick to that example. How can we replace our idolatrous need for control?

We must replace our affection for an idol with a greater affection for Christ. What are some practical things we can do to make Jesus our greatest love?

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