2022-01-16 – Know How To Be Brought Low – Matt

Being brought low:    Philippians 4:12

So which Bible character can I talk about who has felt like this and knows what it’s like? That’s right, Paul! Paul writes about his feelings a lot

Philippians 4:10-13

“I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

Israel brought low

Judges 6:1-6:

“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. 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. For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. 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. For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like locusts in number — both they and their camels could not be counted — so that they laid waste the land as they came in. And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the LORD.”

So Israel was brought very low, and the people cried out to the LORD. Judges 5 shows the land having rest for 40 years, of growing abundant crops, but 40 years of gradually falling away from God.

Be anxious for nothing

Philippians 4:4-9.

We often try to comfort each other with a part from it all the time.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me — practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

I have to admit, I have some trouble with the Don’t be anxious about anything part. Not so much with what it means — I mean, I agree with it — don’t be anxious about anything. Don’t worry. But too often I notice someone will try to help someone and they’ll say “Don’t worry about it, it says that in the Bible,” and then free from obligation themselves, leave the poor anxiety sufferer an extra thing to worry about — that they’re dishonoring God by worrying so much.

O mighty man of valor

I’m still not quite satisfied with this. I think the reason is that there are folks who know all this stuff and still worry. Now one of Paul’s anxiety breakers was different from the others — practice, because it’s a bit more active. We can’t practice what we saw in Paul like the Philippians could, because we’ve never met the guy. Hopefully the Bible has enough Paul-like other things to learn from instead.

Judges 6: 11 to 23:

“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. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

Reinforcing practicing

Philippians 3:17-21:

“Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”

Paul is encouraging the Philippians to walk according to his example, so even before mentioning not being anxious about anything, he was encouraging them to practice what they saw in him

Pull down the altar

Back to Gideon now. Judges 6:25-27:

“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 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. 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.”

So a few observations here. First, at some point during the 40 years of rest for Israel, at some point during having crops so abundant they attracted the eye of other nations, Gideon’s family and the people of his town erected these monuments to worship idols at. Of course they needed to come down, but they didn’t need to come down first. That’s what I think the order would be – oh, I can’t possibly ask God for any help until everything is perfect! God didn’t require these horrible locations to be destroyed before providing help, before listening to Israel’s crying out to him, before picking out Gideon. The reason I think is because it’s God’s job to deal with these things.

Second, look who Gideon got help from: servants. Ten servants. It doesn’t say anywhere in any of this story how the servants feel, whether they’re scared. We don’t know how much Gideon has shared with them about what he’s doing, we don’t know if they’re scared of the men in the town too. Instead they all just got down to business.

Third, here we have the 2nd explicit reference to Gideon being afraid, the first was after the Lord accepted his gift. But he was still obedient, and this action is actually practice that builds up to something more.

So add it to your list of what Gideon was practicing — Gideon threshes, his humility, Gideon’s clan least in Manasseh, Gideon gives, and now Gideon takes down.

Now it turns out that Gideon had good reason to be afraid of the townspeople — they indeed did want to kill him for doing this. It was Gideon’s father who came to his defence.

Gideon gets a lot of flak for being scared all the time — although this voice at the end didn’t seem to faze him — so it’s important to remember God called him: a mighty man of valor. God didn’t make a mistake by calling him this; this is who God created Gideon to be. The Bible is going to tell us that Gideon is afraid a lot, and it’s going to seem like God even makes concessions for his fear. But Gideon is always obedient, and besides, what he is doing is practicing — each thing that I asked you to remember is a rough draft or an early stage that will mature into something else, just like how practicing works.

Reinforcing practicing

Philippians 3:17-21:

Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

Paul is encouraging the Philippians to walk according to his example, so even before mentioning not being anxious about anything, he was encouraging them to practice what they saw in him.

Pull down the altar

Back to Gideon, Judges 6:25-27:

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 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. 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.

So a few observations here. First, at some point during the 40 years of rest for Israel, at some point during having crops so abundant they attracted the eye of other nations, Gideon’s family and the people of his town erected these monuments to worship idols at. Of course they needed to come down, but they didn’t need to come down first. That’s what I think the order would be – oh, I can’t possibly ask God for any help until everything is perfect! God didn’t require these horrible locations to be destroyed before providing help, before listening to Israel’s crying out to him, before picking out Gideon. The reason I think is because it’s God’s job to deal with these things.

Second, Gideon got help from Ten servants. It doesn’t say anywhere in any of this story how the servants feel, whether they’re scared. We don’t know how much Gideon has shared with them about what he’s doing, we don’t know if they’re scared of the men in the town too. Instead they all just got down to business.

Third, here we have the 2nd explicit reference to Gideon being afraid, the first was after the Lord accepted his gift. But he was still obedient, and this action is actually practice that builds up to something more. So add it to your list of what Gideon was practicing — Gideon threshes, Gideon’s clan was least in Manasseh, Gideon gives, and now Gideon takes down.

The townspeople did want to kill him for doing this. It was Gideon’s father who came to his defense.

Paul’s pedigree

Philippians 3:1-14

“Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the real circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh — though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness, under the law blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith — that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. ”

What Paul is saying here is really cool. This is very similar to what Gideon and the ten servants were doing hauling down the idol worshiping stuff — Paul was considering all his former human fanciness, his righteousness that came from the law, trash. It was idol worshipping style trash that needed to be hauled down and burned. And it continues Paul’s pattern of making comparisons in Philippians, where what seems like it’s good in fact isn’t, and what seems like it’s not good — in this case, sharing in Christ’s sufferings — actually is.

Philippians 3:12

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Judges 7:23-25:

“And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after Midian.”
Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites and capture the waters against them, as far as Beth-barah, and also the Jordan. So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they captured the waters as far as Beth-barah, and also the Jordan. And they captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. Then they pursued Midian, and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon across the Jordan.
Now these men of Ephraim were separate from the 300 that were with Gideon. They just got in on the action a little bit later, that’s cool. And they had some success with a bit of their own campaign, and then they caught up with Gideon. But they weren’t happy about missing the main action.

Judges 8:

“Then the men of Ephraim said to him, What is this that you have done to us, not to call us when you went to fight with Midian? And they accused him fiercely. And he said to them, What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer? God has given into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. What have I been able to do in comparison with you? Then their anger against him subsided when he said this.”

Now this is where all the things Gideon practiced start to come to maturity. Do you remember your list, Gideon threshes, Gideon’s clan is the least in Manasseh, Gideon gives, Gideon takes down? Where did Gideon get his savvy to deal with the men of Ephraim this way? It was because he considered his tribe, Abiezer, the least in Manasseh. In practice it seemed maybe like just an overly humble thing to say the Lord. But as the practice developed, it became a wise diplomatic thing to say to defuse tensions in a group of angry fighters. So let’s strike that one off our list.

The whole imperial guard

Philippians 1:12-18:

“I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.”

Paul was a feeler, that he felt things. Because we started at the end of the epistle, I didn’t mention something that you may or may not realize — he’s writing to the Philippians from prison. He misses them terribly. He longs to be with them. What’s more, there are jerks who are preaching about Jesus, but only in an effort to make things worse for him in prison. He writes in 2:27, that he’s grateful that Epaphroditus, sort of a friend-slash-courier from Philippi, recovered from a bad illness — lest Paul have sorrow upon sorrow. Being in prison and missing people dear to him was causing great grief, which he described as sorrow. We’ve read about how he has spoken to them with tears. And he’s constantly reminding them to rejoice.

Paul knows how to be brought low. The way Israel did it in Gideon’s time was to cry out to God. The way Paul does it is to look at things not from human perspective, but from the eternal perspective. Prison is no good, but God’s perspective is that the whole imperial guard now knows about Christ. This doesn’t stop Paul from feeling.

My literal finally

If you’re someone who suffers from anxiety, God knows you suffer. Jesus brought up all sorts of human suffering in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. Those who mourn or who are meek or poor in spirit — these ones he called blessed.
But consider how compassionate he was to those who worry, using birds eating and flowers bedizening a field to reassure them of their misplaced thoughts. Consider His compassion to Martha.

Paul is being that compassionate here, to the Philippians. Because if you’ll notice in 1:1

Paul, a servant. Paul wrote all these letters, Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians — Colossians comes next. How does he start all those? “Paul, an apostle.” Actually in Romans he starts with both. But to the Philippians he starts off by saying he’s a servant. He’s encouraging them, edifying them, the same way we do here when one of us is having some trouble.

Solitarily, consider the servants who helped Gideon, were able to play their part because Gideon was the one in danger. If Gideon had been found out and stopped, Gideon was the one who would have had to deal with that. The servants would just have to deal with Gideon.

The principle is the same for us. Jesus is the one who dealt with being nailed to a cross. He took our punishment. Jesus, we read, who himself took the form of a servant, to God the Father. This seemed like it brought him very low from a human perspective, but it was actually a huge victory for the ages, for all time. And now our jobs, we who believe in him, are to accept that victory, like servants. Our accountability is to him. We’ll suffer. We might be all kinds of sad, so sad we can’t move, we might worry, we might be scared. He’ll still give us things to do in obedience, they might seem only like practice at times, but they’ll develop, and we’ll grow to maturity.