Marcus Mecum - Men Like You - Part 1
Judges 8:18, "Then he asked Zebah and Zalmunna," this is Gideon speaking. "Then he asked," 'cause he's speaking to his enemy. He has overcome the Midianites. He's at the end of all of his battles and struggles. He's chased down these kings, these captains of the army, and before he deals with them, this is, he asked them, "What kind of men did you kill at tabor"? And Gideon's enemy looked at him and said this phrase, "Men like you". That's what I wanna preach to you about, "Men like you".
So, what kind of man does hell fear? Gideon was looking at his enemies and he wanted to know, "What kind of man do you target? What kind of man do you attack"? What kind of man do you fear? Ultimately, "What kind of man do you desire to take out, destroy, and kill"? And the enemy's answer was, "Men like you". I believe that there is a particular type of man that hell fears. There is a man that hell looks at and says, "If they ever get what my assignment is for their life, there's no way we can stop men like that". And so, I wanna preach to you on that phrase, "Men like you". Well, I think we need to know a little bit more about Gideon. What is Gideon like? Or what was he like?
So, let's look chapter six, Judges 6:11. "The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah, it belonged to Joash, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress, he was threshing wheat in a winepress but he was doing it to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, 'the Lord is with you, mighty warrior. The Lord is with you, mighty warrior'. Gideon replied, 'pardon me, but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, "Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt"? But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian'. The Lord turned to him and said, 'go in your strength, go save Israel,'" I love this interaction. "I'm sending you".
The Bible says, he says again, "Pardon me, my Lord, but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I'm the least in my family". And the Lord gives him the answer. This is how it's going to happen. "I will be with you, and I will strike down the Midianites, leaving none alive". Drop down to verse number 24. "So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it the Lord is peace. The Lord is peace". What kind of man was Gideon? I think that when you get to the end of the story that we just read you see one kind of man, but when we're introduced to him we see somewhat of a different kind man but what we get to see is not what God saw. What others saw in Gideon, what Gideon even saw in himself, was not what God saw.
So, the first thing that caught the attention of God was he saw a man who had a job to do and a problem to solve. In verse 11, it says, "He was threshing wheat in a winepress". So, God did not go looking for Gideon in a seminary, he went and found him working on a farm. Because God is attracted to the people that are not afraid of hard work. God wasn't looking for a spiritual giant. He was looking for someone with callus hands, who would roll up his sleeves and go to work. Not only that but he was threshing wheat in a winepress.
Well, we know that a winepress is for the making of wine, but Gideon is using it for the threshing of wheat because the Midianites were watching, were spying him out, allowed him to plow the fields, allowed him to all the work, break up the ground, plant the seed, keep all the weeds out, make sure it was irrigated properly, fight off all the pestilence, and then finally when harvest time came, he would go gather the harvest and this had happened over and over and over, right at harvest time, the Midianites would come out and rob them of the harvest. So, Gideon seized what the Midianites are up to and he knows their eye is in the place of the threshing of wheat at harvest time, so instead he goes to the winepress and uses the winepress to thresh the wheat, to hide the harvest from the attack and from the robbery of the Midianites.
And this is what I want you to see, he not only was a man who had a job to get done, but he was a man who knew how to solve the problems that he would face. He was not the kind of man who would just bring up the opposition. He wasn't the kind of man who would bring up an excuse because of this limitation or because of this problem or this issue. "I can't get the job done". Instead, he found a creative solution to get the job and God said, "I can use a man like that". Over the years, I've noticed this phenomenon in human nature. I've noticed that many seem to work harder at not doing a job than it would take to initially do the work to get the job done. And the further you push them to do the work, the harder they work to not work.
And so, over the years, I've just discovered that when you bring up, "Hey, I think that this could be done". They usually bring up a reason that it can't be. And then, when you give them a solution for their reason it can't be done, most of the time, they come up with a problem with your solution as well. And so, my nature it's just my nature. I don't like it about myself. Really, I kinda do but not really. And that is, "Huh, it can't be done". So, I'll find my way around the problem and all the reasons it can't be done and I'm gonna go out and find a solution. And I'll find a solution, I'll get the job done. I think I'm helping. I think I'm just showing them, "Hey, listen, you can push through all the oppositions, all the limitations. There is a way to get things even when you don't think that there is. There normally is a way to get the job done".
I found out when you do that, you actually become the problem to the person that wanted to bring up all the problems for why they couldn't get the job done. And I thought about that as I was reading the story and it hit me that God is aware of our nature. God is aware of the kind of people that sometimes we have a tendency of being. And so, God is looking at the planet and he's looking at someone that's not just working hard but is willing to find a solution to beat the problem to get the job done so he can provide for his family. But possibly, God knows that there are others who are gonna come with a million different reasons for it can't be done and he knows if he jumps in and gets it done for them that he'll become their problem.
So, he avoids those people that justify their inaction because he knows that if he does it for them, he'll still be the problem, so because he's gonna be the problem either way, he just goes and finds someone else. And then, those people sit around and say, "God should be doing this. And if God would have only done that. And I really think that God would be better if he would do it like this". And I think every now and then we have to be reminded that God knows his part, do we know our part. And what our part is say, "Okay, if there's a job to be done, I'm not afraid of putting some effort into it and I'm not afraid of the problems, and opposition, and limitations. I'll push through that. I'll find a solution. I'll overcome the problem to get the job done". And when God sees people like that, he says, "That is the kind of man that I can use, that is the kind of man that hell fears".
I love that that's how God introduces, just a blue collar, just out getting his hands dirty, just out sweating, out getting dirty, getting the job done. Again, not someone that's, you know, in a prayer chamber. Nothing wrong with that. Not someone that's worshipping, nothing wrong with that. We love all that. But what I'm saying is many of us have disqualified ourselves because we don't see ourselves as some real spiritual giant. But God is not interested in that alone, he wants to look at you and I who day to day, every morning we wake up, we go to a job, maybe it's fancy, maybe it's not fancy, but we go there and we work hard, and we do it to provide for our families.
And we go into that place of work and we find solutions to problems. We're attacked many times. We're opposed many times. We're working shoulder and shoulder with people that maybe don't like us, maybe aren't for us, maybe even opposing us, and many time, they'll oppose you because you're the one being creative to find the solution to the problem. You go the extra mile and they don't really like that, but you keep pushing through, you keep working, you keep rising above all that kind of mess, and you get the job done, and you get the problem solved. And I just wanna encourage you that men like you stand out to God. Men like you are the ones that hell fears.
Number two, men like you are authentic men. Men that hell fear understand that God appreciates our authenticity. Verse 13, when God begins to tell Gideon he's a mighty warrior and that God's gonna use him to rescue and redeem Israel, his response is, "Pardon me, if you are with us, God, then why, why are we oppressed by the Midianites? Why are we in this situation? We heard our ancestors talk about how God rescued them from Egypt. We hear about how God parted the Red Sea. We heard about how God provided. We've heard about the Jericho. We've heard about all those miracles, but we've not seen those miracles in our day". And then, he says, "As a matter of fact, the only thing I've seen God do is abandon us".
And you would think that God would be turned off by that. Gideon's not turning his back on God, he's facing God and he's being real. He's being authentic. He's being sincere. He's being raw. He saying "I have concerns. I have questions. I have doubts. I have hesitations". And I just wanna say to any man in here that's looking at your life and there's things about God you don't get, it's okay. He's not afraid of you. He wants you to be authentic. He wants you to be vulnerable. He wants you to be transparent with him because when God sees you be real, you don't have to be a fake version of what you think a man of God needs to be. Be a real version of who you are. Come to God as you are, being real and raw. And when you do that, God sees a man, he says, "A man like that I can use".
Think about this. Most Christians would not fit into today's churches. I'm sorry. Most men you read about in scripture would fit into today's churches. Because we would emasculate them by trying to teach them how they need to be a lamb when what you're reading about are men who knew how to be a lion. For example, if you read about Moses, Elijah, Simon Peter, the apostle Paul, they all love God but these are men you would never cross. Moses, if he was your pastor, he would have to tell you before, "Before I became your pastor, I killed a man. He was bullying my people. I didn't like it and I killed him, and buried him in the sand".
Simon Peter, the headlines would read, "The apostle pulls out a switch blade and cuts off a man's ear". So, how did we get to the place where the message of courage, risk, and challenge, that Jesus taught that attracted men is no longer emphasized in the church? Well, there's a history to it. In the middle ages, the church began to identify with what was called bridal mysticism in the church. While it is true that the church is the bride of Christ, this was a move to push and emphasize the feminine aspects of the church. They wanted that mothering. It had gotten too rough. It had gotten too raw. It had gotten too masculine.
And so, they wanted the mothering, nurturing aspects of the church to prevail. This lead to a push for the virgin Mary to take the center stage of worship. This also led to the priesthood as being seen as genderless, so priest wouldn't marry. When men see young men saying, "I'm not interested in a women". Most men, by nature, look at that person sideways. And so, men could no longer relate. They would try to relate. They try to check their manhood at the door and come and do the church thing, but for the most part, men were uncomfortable and are uncomfortable in church. It's similar to you asking your husband to hold a purse at Victoria secret while you purchase lingerie.
That's how many men feel in most churches. They become extremely uncomfortable to say the least. This feminine way of thinking led to the core values of the church being safety and security instead of risk and danger. This was not the message of Jesus Christ at all. The first century church was a magnet to men. Men flocked to the message and mission of Christ. The first day of the church, 3,000 men, not including women and children, were saved and baptized. It was 120 men not including the women that were in the upper room as the apostle Simon Peter gave his last, encouraging charge to them. When Jesus wanted to change the world, he went and chose 12 men.
This is my point. Men and women are different. Men and women are equal but they are different. And you can speak for one thing without speaking against another thing. And the reason I'm saying this is because isn't it interesting that I can speak on womanhood and femininity on mother's day and everybody claps including the men, but when I start preaching to men about being men, all of a sudden everybody freezes up. That's because, again, we're seeing what formation begin to take place that was not in the initially plan of God in the church. And this is what everyone needs to see. Everyone needs to see someone like them serving God so they can say, "Man, if God can use them, God can use me".
And a lot of hardworking, strong men come to church and they just don't get it. We also need to see God use other people not like us so we can know God uses others. But at the end of the day, God looked at Gideon and he said to him, not, "I invite you to my church service to clap and sing," even though nothing's wrong with that. Hold hands and pray, whatever you wanna do. Nothing wrong with that. But that was not God's message to Gideon. God's message to Gideon was, "I see a mighty warrior in you. I see a man that knows how to fight. I see a man of strength. I see a man that doesn't fear what's going on on the outside".
And so, now we have 90% of the men that believe in God, only 35% come to church. The stats are clear if the dad does not come, the sons also will not come to church. If the woman goes to church, 17% of the family follows. If the man goes, 97% will follow. Why do you think there's an attack on men? It's because men are different. They're not better, they're different. And how God can use a man is different than how God can use a woman. And what we need men to do is just simply be who God has called you to be. God doesn't need you to be like the woman are. He needs you to be like he's called you to be. Another interesting fact about Christianity, the only place in the world where men out number women in the church are places where the church is under extreme persecution. There's something about a man we feel alive when we're giving our life and risking our life for something we believe it. "Men like you". That's what Gideon's enemy said, "It's men like you". Men like you is who hell fears.
Number three, men like you are men of purpose. Verse 14, God immediately jumps over all of Gideon's questions and concerns, and hesitations, and he gives him an assignment. He doesn't give him an answer. He gives him an assignment. And this is what he said, "Go save Israel". So, purpose has to outweigh the problems I see and the pain that I feel. Every single one of us are in situations that are trying to work again us fulfilling the purpose of God in our life, but the situation you live in, does not have to live on the inside of you. Every single one of us get the opportunity to spend our lifetime however we want to, but here's the catch, you only get one shot at it.
You can spend your lifetime on whatever you want but you only get one chance and most people are spending way too little trying to see how little they can give, how little they can fight, how little they can, 'cause that's what we think that life about. Trying to get as comfortable as we possibly can. Give as little as we possibly can. But the kind of man that hell fears is the kind of man who makes a decision to say, "I don't wanna be comfortable. I don't wanna just sit back and live a little cozy life. I want to live a life where I'm getting my hands dirty, my hands callused. I'm rolling up my sleeves. I'm not afraid to fight. I'm not afraid to get into the battles of life".
In Genesis 1, God blessed man and said, "Be fruitful and multiply". That's Genesis 1. Genesis 2, then he makes man out of the dust of the ground. You can read it later. So, God blessed man with a purpose before he created man. So, created purpose before he created people. Before you were ever born, God attached an assignment and a purpose to your life while you're here on the earth. Your purpose preceded you. That's why they say the two greatest days on your life is first the day you were born, secondly, the day you found out why. God has given each person in this room an assignment, and it's men like you, men who have a God-given purpose, that hell fears.
There's something about that. The attacks that you go through, the threats that you face, the opposition that you face really has little to do with you, it has more to do with the assignment that God has given you to accomplish in the earth. Yesterday, I had a talk with a very, very successful man who's a part of another group of very successful men all in their mid to late 60s and early 70s. These men are business men. They're for the most part high, high worth individuals. I mean, I think both of the ones that we're talking about are both billionaires. And these men are Christians, they love the Lord. And as their life is coming to a close, they're trying to strategise exactly how they're going to use their wealth. And their big concern is they know that they're not that far away from standing before God and they're gonna have to give an answer for all that he's blessed them with.
I was glad to be in the conversation because what hit me is here's this group of extremely influential people and what's gnawing at them as they begin to round third base, what's pulling at them is still purpose. So, this teaches us purpose never ends. If it's a divine purpose, it existed before you were born and it will continue after you die. And men that hell fear are men who understand the importance of no matter how long I'm on this planet, if I've still got breath, I need to be looking for ways I can be about the purpose and the assignment that God's given me because that is what will continue after I die.