THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST
Chapter 9
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IN this chapter we turn to Judges chapter 8, and we are only going to look at verses 22 and 23.

Our subject is 'The Lordship of Christ' or 'The Lordship of God'. The verses before us express this. "And the Israelites said to Gideon, "Rule over us, you, your son and your grandson, because you have saved us out of the hand of Midian." Gideon told them, "I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you."

On reflection, it seems to me that this is the high point of Gideon's life and ministry. If we had been asked what we felt was the high point in Gideon's life, we would, perhaps, more normally go to his defeat of the Midianites in that first battle in the night, when, with his three hundred, God gave the victory to him. That was a great victory, but this is a greater victory. There it was a victory over an outside army, this was a victory within himself.

This was a victory over himself, and I think we know something about the plague of our own hearts, and it is a marvellous victory that Gideon could resist this invitation to be ruler in Israel, and be able to hand the rulership back into the hands of God.

Our theme, then, is 'The Lordship of Christ'.

Gideon had learnt, you see, through God's direct dealings with him what Israel still had to learn, that all we need is to submit to God's rule over us. This was something that, perhaps, Israel never learnt, for later in the Judges they look for a king, and Saul is made king against the wishes of Samuel. Indeed really against the wishes of God. Because of what Gideon had learnt, he was able to live under the Lordship of Christ, and could trust him, whereas Israel still could not.

First of all let us notice what is illustrated in the first verse. It is the spiritual blindness which is prevalent in us all. It is illustrated in the attitude and desire of the Israelites in their relationship to Gideon and to God. They said to Gideon, "Rule over us."

Now they had known Gideon from the very start of all this particular history of Israel. They knew Gideon came from the Abiezrites which were a very minor clan or tribe in the company of Israel. They knew that he had been, before all this started, a most insignificant person. They had not taken any interest in him before. He was just one of those people who faded into the background. The sort of person you might perhaps notice at a party or a social event when you spoke to them, but someone you would forget when you got home. That was the sort of person Gideon was. An ordinary person. He had his measure of gifts for life, but certainly he was not a brave man, nor was he an accomplished man. To start with, he did not aspire to any great heights. They knew him now as a leader, but he wasn't at the start, a leader.

When God called him to be a judge in Israel Gideon was continually telling the people that it was the Lord who was directing their actions. He told them - the Lord says we must do this or that. He made it quite clear that God was telling him what to do. Yet in spite of all that, they still saw Gideon as their saviour, and not God, and so they wanted Gideon to rule over them, and to organise their lives.

It is so easy for us to identify with the Israelites. At least I find myself identifying with the Israelites, because it is much easier to trust in someone we can see, than someone whom we can't see. Whatever we know with our minds, the tangible is more real than the intangible, although the intangible spiritually is, in the real sense, more real than the tangible. So they wanted this outward manifestation of security in Gideon, not realising that the security was not in Gideon, but in the God in whom Gideon trusted.

Now this is a most common failing in the church today. Take for instance some significant blessing granted to some fellowship or congregation. We hear about it. We are excited about it. We want to hear more about it. That congregation and its leadership may say, and I hope they would say, it was the Lord. But the people will be interested to hear, not about the Lord, but about the activities which went into that special manifestation of blessing. They want to hear about the organisation, the planning. They want to hear about the things they did, the new idea or the new vision which was there. That church will be asked to come and declare to a wider group what had happened in their midst, and inevitably, however, they try, they will be drawn in to saying how they started this way and then they did this, and that, and then something else, and then the blessing came. Having been asked to speak about the blessing, we find ourselves saying all this, for if we stand up and say, 'the Lord gave the blessing', what more is there to say.

Then what happens is that each church takes that particular thing, and then tries it in their own situation. They look for that which is special and different from their own situation and what they are doing, and then adopt that different action or emphasis. Thus we are like the Israelites. We are looking at the activity, the person, and not at God who gives the blessing. That attitude is as foolish as for the generals under Gideon in his army saying they will always go into battle hereafter with a pitcher, a torch and a trumpet.

It is noticeable, that after that great battle, we do not read that Gideon ever carried a pitcher, torch and trumpet while doing the mopping up operation. God was pleased at that one time to use that particular method, but not again. The victory was not in the method, but from God.

My mind goes back to glorious days for those of us who remember it. I was at college when England, or at least the Christian part of England, was rejoicing in the work of God through Billy Graham at Harringay Arena in London. It was an exciting time. You could be on the Underground Railway in London at night, and there would be hymn singing in every compartment. It was exhilarating. Then what happened afterwards was that there was a spate of little Harringays. What was the success of Billy Graham's preaching? That was the question in peoples minds. People then said it must be this, that he says, "The Bible says ...". Preachers then copied him and littered their discourses with the words "The Bible says ...".

Then when evangelistic campaigns were considered, the pattern of the Harringay meetings was followed. So there was the massed choirs, even dressed as they had been in Harringay. The choir leaders became replicas of George Burrows, Billy Graham's choir leader. I can still remember in Andover when I was chairing and evangelistic meeting there. I had been asked to do it. The person who was preaching was sitting behind the rostrum quietly, but at the point when he was to preach, he leapt up from his seat, and came forward and said "The Bible says ...". His actions and everything were in line with an imitation of Billy Graham.

There is the issue. We desire the blessing, and we look to the activities and to the people, instead of the God who gives the blessing. God is pleased to use certain methods, and he may use them again, but that is not the important thing. If that was so, how desperately disappointing and discouraging for those little fellowships who haven't got the skills and the resources which the larger churches have. If that were so how could Israel have possibly in any way had any victory over Midian.

Again God uses a person in a singular way, and people see him as the author of the blessing, and because they have not got him, they believe the blessing can't be repeated with them. Or, and this is just as bad, because the speaker is not a well known name, we will not go and hear the preaching. Even though God is using that speaker people will not go to the meetings. But it is not the person; it is God who gives the blessing.

We are so ready, are we not, to see blessing in people and ideas, rather than God. It is not the action or the people, but God who gives the salvation. Though in one sense this is very humbling, and in one sense we can get discouraged if we are continually told that all we are doing is nothing worth, and that it is God alone who gives the blessing; yet on the other hand, if we are in the hands of God as Gideon was, and everything we do is directed by God, and God is using us, we are thrilled by the way God brings a blessing in our weakness. That was the way it was with Gideon, and that is the way it should be with us.

I suppose that if we learn anything from Gideon it is this, that the place of blessing is to be the place of the wimp. When we are like that we throw ourselves upon the mercy of God and upon the strength of God, and we turn to God and God then drags us to himself, and he brings blessing through us, because we are not thereby trusting in ourselves.

It is noticeable, isn't it, that Gideon was called by God when Israel was at the very lowest condition. They had lost all faith, and they had lost all obedience to God, and Gideon was not very special, but God called him and the blessing came.

The actions which Gideon took were peculiar to him, and as God ministers his blessings, he is Lord. It does not matter whether we are great or small in number, or whether we have great expertise or resources or we have little expertise or resources. If we are in the will of God, under his lordship, then the blessing is always possible as he is pleased to give it.

Secondly, let us notice Gideon's spirituality and grace. I said that this is the high point of Gideon's life, higher, perhaps, than his victory over Midian. Gideon at this point was enabled to turn down what, I guess, all of us would respond to with a decided 'yes, I will rule over you'. The opportunity is too good to miss, the position too exciting, and whatever doubts we may have outwardly, there is lurking in our hearts the feeling that perhaps we are able to rule.

Gideon had got to that point when he did not trust himself but rather trusted God, and so he said in verse 23 of Judges chapter 8, "I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you." He knew that where victories came from was not in men but from God.

You see Gideon had learnt through God's dealings with him what he could not have learnt in any other way, that he himself could do nothing. All along in the history of Gideon - I think this is important for us to learn - Gideon was, as it were, in his school days in the school of Christ, and he had been learning that it is the Lord who does things, and that he was under the Lordship of Christ. Gideon had this impressed upon him all along by God. In the beginning, you see, Gideon wanted nothing to do with this responsibility. He was afraid to do the first thing he had to do which was to pull down the shrine in his father's back-yard. But then things began to go well, and he got excited, and the Spirit of God came upon him. What did he do? He gathered an army. He is trusting in God, but he is also beginning to trust, as we do, in God and things; in God and our resources. Then God had to take away all those resources, and reduce his army to 300. A derisory number, and then God took Gideon that night to hear the dream of Midian. Gideon heard of the vision of the loaf of bread knocking down a tent, and the interpretation given by the Midianite that this must be Gideon. God showed him that, as in the vision, a loaf of bread could overthrow a mighty tent, he, Gideon, was the loaf of bread in God's hands, and he was to be given the victory by God.

He had learnt this lesson well, that it wasn't him, or his army, or his generalship or anything else, but it was God who had given him the victory. He had learnt that it was God who is Lord and that he must be going to the Lord, and saying, 'Lord, what is your commands for today. What is your task for today.' He knew that without Christ he could do nothing. He learnt the lesson of the Lordship of Christ in his life.

So having learnt the lesson of the Lordship of Christ, Gideon gave glory to God. The encouragements in ministry when people come and say, thank you, that was an helpful sermon or whatever, are a blessing only if we see that it is an indication that God is working through the ministry, and if we see it as an indication that God's will is being done, and that God's power is being shown. The skill which anyone might have in the pulpit, or anywhere else, is only powerful and a blessing, if like Gideon it is following the command and purpose of God. We get where we are, if we are ministering, only by the power of God, and if the ministry is to be of any effect it must be the words of God put into our hearts and minds, and what he has given us to say, spoken in the way God has taught us to express them.

Oh yes, God uses our natural powers and abilities. We are what we are, and we express ourselves in a way that is unique to us, but it must be God who is behind it if it is to be a blessing. This is what Gideon knew. This is why Gideon gave the glory to God. He gave glory to God here when he said 'I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The Lord will rule over you'. By that testimony, and by that statement, he was telling them that God was the one who had given all the blessings so far. He was the one, therefore, that they were to trust. The glory was his. So Gideon shied away from any thought of being ruler. He had been brought to that place where he was afraid - I think that is a very good place to be - to be afraid of being in a position of too much authority. When we get to that position, if we are not afraid, we begin to be glorying in ourselves.

So lastly, Gideon's message. This was his message, and it comes with great force - "The Lord will rule over you". Three things then under this point.

First of all, that God is ready and willing to rule over us and be to us what he was to Gideon. The Lord will rule over you if you will let him be Lord. He is Lord. We can't exalt him as that chorus, which we often sing, seems to say. We can't exalt him any higher than he is. He is Lord of all. But we can recognize that Lordship and submit to it.

Secondly, the Lord will rule over you. This is much harder to learn. If we are the children of God, the Lord is our Lord, and willy nilly, whether we cooperate or not, will in his goodness and kindness be our king. The only difference is that getting to a destination in our lives may be fraught with more difficulty and more pain, and take a bit longer, if we have difficulty in submission. But it will all be in the plan of God.

And thirdly we learn with the Lord being our ruler we will find the best in life. Gideon had found that the victory was there when the Lord was his Lord. So then by saying, the Lord will rule over you, he was saying this is the best way for you, not for me or for any other outward king to rule over you, but for the Lord to rule over you. If you are then submitting to him, you will find that that is safest and best.

Now we need, above all, to learn this lesson and heed this message. It is not so much that we don't know it. We have been taught it all our lives, perhaps. But to actually live it day by day is much much more difficult. It is hard to have Jesus in his rightful place in our lives. In any church, the Lordship of Christ over the church depends on the Lordship of Christ over the individual members of the church.

At the Parochial Church Council, for instance, the Lordship of Christ over the whole meeting, and knowing God's will as a group, will depend on how much of the Lordship of Christ is in each individual Council member. One person who is not, as it were, under the Lordship of Christ in a particular thing can cause an awful lot of trouble. By pressing a point when they are not in fact the will of God will cause all sorts of trouble

And so it is, as we all as individuals are under the Lordship of Christ will the church we belong to be under the Lordship of Christ.

I close with just one last thought. That is that this business of crowning Christ as Lord in our lives is not an easy thing, nor is it something we do in a moment. It is something that we are learning and growing into all through our lives until we reach heaven. All sorts of things militate against the total sovereignty of God in our lives, and they are all different for each of us. We are a package of fears and anxieties, emotions and desires. We are a package of prejudices and things we have learnt. The way we look at Scripture is conditioned by the way we have been taught in the past, and it is not always as correct as it might be. We are conditioned by what people think and the peer group that we are in. All these things are there. To know the will of God and then to do it is not an easy thing.

What is needed, and this what gives me comfort, is not that we now should be perfectly submitted to God. I don't suppose we shall ever be this side of heaven. But what is needed is that deep down in our hearts we can say to the Lord - Lord that is what I desire, so do not let me go - be my King. This is expressed in a different way by Peter after the resurrection, when Jesus came to him and said, "Peter, do you love me?" There Peter wanted to love Jesus, just as we want to be under the Lordship and will of Jesus. As Jesus pressed him, (and this is part of the spirituality which Peter learnt then, and it is the same for us as we learn it,) Peter was pressed to that point where he knew that Jesus was saying to him, "Well you have not proved that you love me, and you will fail in loving me again". Peter's response was, "Well, I can't yet love you with that Agape love, but I do really have friendship for you". We can say that, and that was sufficient for Jesus in Peter's case at that time.

It was important that Peter should not be deceiving himself into believing that he loved better than he did. That was his mistake when he claimed he would never forsake Jesus, for when the test came he did forsake Jesus. But when Jesus had made him face what he was in himself, Jesus was content with the level of love Peter had reached, knowing that by the Spirit's grace, that love would grow.

Peter had to learn to love more and to submit more. We have to learn also. But when we know our frailty, and know that we cannot walk in the will of God in ourselves, then as we have a desire in our hearts to walk in the will of God, which perhaps is against all the desires of our flesh and our fallen nature, then we shall know our frailty, as Gideon did. But knowing our frailty we are willing to let the Lord bring this submission, and as we are willing and eager, then it will come. Let us learn from Gideon - The Lord will rule over you.