Summary of Judges 4-5
What does faith that inspires others look like?
1. Deborah had faith to fulfill her unique
A. Deborah fulfilled a very unusual position
Judges 4:4-5 “Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was a prophet who was judging Israel at that time. 5 She would sit under the Palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites would go to her for judgment.” (NLT)
• She was a prophet: She represented God to the people
• She was a judge: She administered justice to the people
• These were positions reserved for men in that culture
• This position was not elected but rather observed. Over time it must have become apparent that Deborah had these specific abilities and calling on her life
• This also speaks volumes regarding her husband. He was in support of his wife functioning in this very unusual role
Observations:
Deborah could have denied her calling, her gifting and her responsibility
from God simply because it was unlikely. “Who am I?” “I’m just a
housewife.” “I’m a nobody.” “No one is going to listen to me.”
Deborah had a faith that allowed her to move past all the obstacles and
fulfill God’s calling upon her life.
Judges 5:7 “There were few people left in the villages of Israel until Deborah arose
as a mother for Israel.” (NLT)
B. We must
II Tim. 1:9 “…who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace…” (NASB)
Eph. 4:16 “He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” (NLT)
• God does more than give us eternal life through Jesus, He calls us to His
• Most people must go through
o The first is our conversion through our relationship with Jesus. Sin is forgiven and new life is born within us.
o The second is when we have a conversion of purpose. This is when we finally embrace our new purpose in Jesus.
• I personally wrestled with God’s calling on my life for years. God took me through a conversion of purpose.
• Will you allow God to take you through a conversion of purpose as well?
2. Deborah had the faith to reject the
A. Deborah was not satisfied by anything less than
Judges 4:1-3 “…the Israelites again did evil in the LORD’s sight. 2 So the LORD turned them over to King Jabin of Hazor, a Canaanite king. The commander of his army was Sisera…who had 900 iron chariots, ruthlessly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years. Then the people of Israel cried out to the LORD for help.” (NLT)
• God used a neighboring king and his general Sisera as discipline on the nation of Israel.
• Because of their idolatry, they began to experience bondage and fear instead of freedom and peace
• The status quo was this condition had existed now for 20 years
• Deborah understood the reasons behind these conditions and knew this was not God’s intended purpose of God’s people. God’s purpose for His people was freedom and blessing.
• After 20 years, what is unacceptable now becomes normal. After 20 years of bondage you begin to identify as slaves.
• Deborah described the conditions:
Judges 5:6-8 “people avoided the main roads, and travelers stayed on winding pathways.7 There were few people left in the villages of Israel—until Deborah arose as a mother for Israel.8 When Israel chose new gods, war erupted at the city gates. Yet not a shield or spear could be seen among forty thousand warriors in Israel!” (NLT)
• God raised up Deborah to reject the status quo of bondage. When wrong becomes the norm, someone has to rise up and call the people of God back to their position of living like sons and daughters of the King.
B. We must
Gal. 4:9 “So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world?” (NLT)
Gal. 5:1 “So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free…” (NLT)
• It is easy for the church to embrace a defeatist attitude or merely a “survival” mentality.
• Nation-wide statistics reveal a continual decline in church attendance. We also live in one of the most unchurched states in the US.
• For years, I have heard about how difficult it is for churches to make any difference in the Molalla area. Often it is easy for churches to embrace this status quo.
• I believe God raised up Foothills to reject the status quo. Our calling may be unlikely, but look at what God has been doing in the past 20 years.
• God calls us to a life of freedom and transformation personally and in our churches.
• Settling for the status quo in our churches and in our own lives is a faithless, sinful response from God’s people. Bondage is never the heart of God for His people.
3. Deborah had faith to overcome the
HOW?
A. Deborah simply took
Judges 4:6-7 “One day she sent for Barak son of Abinoam… She said to him, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, commands you: Call out 10,000 warriors from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun at Mount Tabor. 7 And I will call out Sisera, commander of Jabin’s army, along with his chariots and warriors, to the Kishon River. There I will give you victory over him.” (NLT)
Judges 4:14 “hen Deborah said to Barak, “Get ready! This is the day the LORD will give you victory over Sisera, for the LORD is marching ahead of you.” (NLT)
• Just to put this into perspective, 10,000 troops against Sisera’s army was not very impressive. Some scholars believe Sisera may have had up to 100,000 troops at his disposal as well as 900 chariots.
• In addition to this, Sisera’s army has 20 years of experience fighting Israel while Israel has 20 years of experience running from them. There is a huge mental advantage as well.
• Notice Deborah’s confidence in God. She is convinced of the victory and states “the Lord is marching ahead of you.”
• Deborah’s faith is so confident she puts herself in harm’s way going to the battle as Barak pleaded.
• God gave Deborah and Barak enough information to obey but not all the information of what was going to happen.
• Deborah had simplicity of faith. This is something we see in many biblical characters of faith. As time goes on their faith gets more simplistic not more complex. They simply take God at His word and the miraculous happens.
B. We must
James 2:17 “So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.” (NLT)
James 1:22;25 “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves… But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.” (NLT)
• The power to change the status quo in our own situations is simply taking God at His word. Obedience is what faith looks like.
• So many believers love to quote and talk about the promises and power of God and yet never stake their very lives on these promises.
• To only listen to the word of God is “fooling ourselves”. There is no power in listening. The power to overcome the odds is in the obedience.
• What would happen if you took God at His word?
Phil. 4:13 “For I can do everything through Christ,[a] who gives me strength.” (NLT)
Eph. 3:20 “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” (NLT)
II Cor. 10:3-4 “We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. 4 [a]We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.” (NLT)