Judges 3

BOTTOM LINE: You be the nobody God made you to be, and He’ll be the Somebody He’s always been.

OPENING: There goes a story that has been passed down for so many decades that I haven’t even been able to locate its origin. It’s a story that’s rather familiar to many of us. It goes like this…

There was once four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Although it may sound confusing, it really describes much of what was happening in the period we are reading of today…the period of Israel’s history where God raised up judges to rescue them in the midst of their own self-inflicted problems.

SCRIPTURE: Let’s see what happened to them in Judges 2:14-3:6
The Israelites, God’s chosen people, began to forget their purpose of making a big deal out of God & began to think they knew better how to lead & govern themselves. They were, in fact, created to be nobdodies who would show everybody the power of the somebody that created them, chose them, loved & cared for them. When they though they were somebody, they would rebel against God Almighty. When they did that, God would remove His hand of protection from them & allow them to suffer oppression under the hand of a surrounding nation that would, by the world’s standards, prove to be more powerful than them. They would cry out for God’s help when they were in trouble & couldn’t take anymore. God would send them a leader to save them, & then they would experience peace again for a determined amount of time. At least, until they would, as J. Vernon McGee once described it, “roll the hoop down the hill again.” This particular instance follows the death of Joshua, God’s great leader that led them into the Promised Land.

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 106:34-47
The Psalmist reminded us of this. THIS is spoken about for ages to come, Israel’s disobedience to God, their cries for help, His rescue & reconciliation before they repeat the cycle all over again.

SCRIPTURE: Judges 3:9-15; 3:29-30; 3:31
We see the a cast of characters that we know little to nothing about. John Phillips called the three men “a somewhat unusual crowd of nobodies.” They are the very embodiment of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:27-29, “God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, & God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen what is insignificant & despised in the world — what is viewed as nothing — to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, so that no one may boast in his presence.”

Notice how God works in this passage: he chooses nobodies to bring Him glory again! NOBODIES! I mean, Othneil was the nephew & son-in-law of Caleb, Joshua’s co-hort when everybody wanted to abort the mission God set before them to conquer & possess Cannaan. Only 2 of the 12 decided that is could be done as long as the Lord was with them. The only other guy that said, they are big & we are small, but we are the ones who serve a big God. Yeah, we’re nobodies to them. They actually described themselves as bugs that the inhabitants could step on. They’re sheer size made them somebodies! But he knew the power of God. Now, his descendant is chosen by God to lead the entire nation. Outside of his family tree, he’s got NOTHING…no leadership resume, he married some hot girl & thought his life would be gravy. He now is leading Israel out of captivity from a ruler whose name literally means, “doubly wicked.” He’s not just bad, he’s doubly wicked!

Ehud is chosen by the Israelites to offer the tribute to the overweight king who stole Jericho from them! He is from a tribe whose name means “left-handed.” The important thing to note here is this: left handed warriors were seen as weak! That’s how he even got in the palace with the king-killer dagger. He strapped it to his right thigh. Left handed people don’t carry weapons…they don’t even go into battle! Remember…Benjamin is Joseph’s youngest brother…he’s the runt of the litter. This tribe is his namesake. Yet God uses Ehud, the left handed ninja to pull Israel out from under the oppression of the fat king Eglon.

Let’s talk about the biggest nobody of them all…Shamgar. This is literally ALL we know about Shamgar. This is it. He made it into the best selling book of all time & he gets one verse! We know he was a farmer…the end. The ox goad (or cattle prod) he carried was about 8 feet long, 6 inches think, had a pointy end & a flat end. Remember, the surrounding evil nations were the metal weapon makers, not the Israelites. They weren’t there yet. He had a stick…a stick…that was it!

MAIN POINT: God uses extremely ordinary people to do extraordinary things for His glory.

WHY IT MATTERS: So many times we feel unqualified, inept, unusable by Him, yet it really has NOTHING to do with us at all. What He wants to accomplish through you is up to HIM entirely, not you! Your selfish focus puts you in the same category as the Israelites when we try to present our resume to Him. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:25 that, “God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” Why would He need ANYTHING I’ve got to accomplish His purposes? Turn your eyes upward, not inward.

POWER IN THE TEXT: Look with me in 3:10 where it says, “The Spirit of the Lord came on him…” In the Hebrew text, it’s the same phrase used to describe Gideon before blowing the trumpets in a few verses. It’s the same phrase used to describe Samson, another judge, before he tears apart an approaching lion & before he kills 30 Phillistine men. It’s used earlier in Numbers to describe Moses as he leads the children of Israel out of captivity & through the wilderness.
Though God’s spirit is available to all believer, He can certainly give an extraordinary measure for an extraordinary task. And anything I accomplish for His greatness & glory is because of Him…NOT ME. God uses me not because of myself, but in spite of myself. Paul said it best in Romans 7:18, “For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it.” Look in verses 24-25, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to our God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” That explains it all! It is Him working through me that accomplishes ANYTHING worth talking about. Matthew Henry once said, “He that has the residue of the Spirit could, when he pleased, make ploughmen judges & generals (talking about Shamgar), & fishermen apostles.” He also said, “And sometimes he chooses to work by such unlikely means, that the excellency of the power may appear to be of God.” God is in the habit of using nobodies to point everybody to Him!

MOVING TOWARD THE APPLICATION: Many know the ministry of D.L. Moody. Here are the highlights:

• saved in 1855
• began an outreach through his local YMCA to children & youth in 1857 lasting several years
• founded Illinois Street Church in 1864 (now called Moody Church in his honor)
• ministered to countless soldiers in the Civil War
• lost most of what he had & had built in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, so he began international travel the next year
• began a tremendous revival in the region of the UK, took Ireland by storm
• led hundreds to the Lord after he returned to the US through evangelistic city campaigns
• founded the Moody Bible Institute in 1886 (which still exists today)
• trained 5000+ college students for the foreign mission field

D.L. Moody was a giant of the evangelical movement. He was definitely a SOMEBODY to many preachers of the Gospel today. Let me tell you of some NOBODIES God used in his life.
At 17, Moody grew tired of working on his family’s farm. He had dropped out of school in the 5th grade. He didn’t know what else he could do but knew he didn’t want to continue farming. He begged his uncle to give him a job in his shoe store to which his uncle reluctantly agreed upon the condition that Dwight would attend Mt. Vernon Congregational Church with him on the weekends.
There, young Dwight was involved with a Sunday School class taught by a timid, soft-spoken man who visited Samuel Holton’s shoe store on April 21, 1855 for the sole purpose of finding D.L. Moody in the stockroom & sharing with him the life-saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. You won’t hear near as much the name Edward Kimball as you ever will D.L. Moody, but Kimball was the nobody who was trying to tell everybody about the somebody who had saved his soul.
D.L. Moody changed the world through both his evangelistic efforts & his training of others to do the same. How did he ever become so passionate about it? During his time in Ireland while speaking at crusades, he met a man who forever sparked his passion for preaching worldwide, a man named Henry Varley. Varley & Moody had a conversation in 1873 that Christians still quote to this day, “the world has yet to see what God will do with a man fully consecrated to him,” Varley spoke. Moody was ignited to be that man in that instant.

WHAT TO DO NOW: What in the world am I supposed to do now? How can I be the nobody God created me to be, so He can be the somebody He’s always been?

1. Stop your rebellion against God! What has He called you to that you aren’t yet doing? What is He calling you to surrender that you have yet surrendered? What hoop do you keep rolling down the hill in the history of your life that needs to stop? Where are you ignoring God & choosing your own way instead…at work, at home, in your own time alone?
2. Cry out for His help. Remember, it is the Spirit of the Lord which helps you accomplish anything worthwhile. You may be successful at work, but it won’t last without Him. You may have an okay marriage right now, but it won’t last without His help. You may be keeping it all together for your family today, but tomorrow may be a different story without His help.
3. Allow Him to use your nobody-ness for His glory, & experience His peace. One author said it like this, “God finds the man for the hour.” Is that man, is that woman, going to be you? If someone asked the question of you that Varley asked of Moody, how would you respond? The Bible Project made a statement in one of their short films: “God uses weak people with deep flaws to do more than even they could imagine.” Are you an Othneil, an Ehud, a Shamgar? Are you willing to be used despite your shortcomings & your INabilities? Where do you need to begin? Maybe it’s at this altar. Maybe it’s a phone call you need to make, a message you need to send. Maybe it’s a spiritual habit you need to establish. Pat Williams & Jay Strack wrote a book years ago in “The Three Success Secrets of Shamgar,” these steps… (1) Start where you are. (2) Use what you have. (3) Do what you can. 

CLOSING: At the end of Judges, Israel is it’s own worst enemy. John Phillips labeled the theme of Judges, “the folly of forsaking God.” Israel constantly put itself in the place of needing a Savior & a judge. Othneil, Ehud, Shamgar all led God’s people to victory & then took charge over them in order that they would experience His peace. Whether you realize it or not, you are also in need of a Savior. You’ve chosen your own way time & time again. Just like Isaiah spoke in 53:6 to God’s people to remind them we’ve all like sheep gone astray, chosen our own way, The rubber meets the road right here. The price for choosing your own way has already been paid. But rejecting the Savior only leaves you to plead your sin-ridden case before a holy & righteous judge. There is NOTHING you could possibly do, no heritage you could possibly claim, no special ability or tool you could use to pay the price for the sins you’ve committed. Mankind’s ultimate end & chief goal is to bring God glory. God gets His glory through saving His people. Jesus was that Savior. Accept Him today if you haven’t already.

INVITATION: Psalm 147:10 says, “He is not impressed by the strength of a horse; he does not value the power of a warrior. The Lord values those who fear Him, those who put their hope in his faithful love.” Your power is hopeless. Put your hope in his faithful love right now.

_{(special thanks to Carey Neiwhouf for his “Preaching Cheat Sheet” that I often use to keep my messages on task & to the point)}