Sermon Summary - 7 June 2026
Did Gideon Blow It?
Judges 8: 22 - 28
Gideon’s battlefield success naturally leads to the people’s adulation and they ask Gideon to be their King. However, Gideon turns down and redirects the people to the Lord. He asks for the gold earrings from the people to make an ephod, meant to be used for seeking God’s will. Whatever Gideon’s intention, it was a wrong act for it leads to the people worshipping this ephod (8:27). Gideon, whose name means ‘one who cuts down (idols)’, is now the one who created an idol. Could this be the beginning of Gideon’s fall? Is Gideon’s a case of Starting Strong and Finishing Weak?.
Gideon’s story is a reminder of the danger of success. We see Gideon acting more for his own agenda than God’s. He makes the ephod out of his own thinking. He feels offended by the rejection of the people of Succoth and Peniel and determines to punish them severely (8:16-17). He executes the two Kings of Midian for personal revenge (8:19-21). There is less mention of God directing Gideon’s actions in chapter 8.
We are reminded of the danger of success. Do not glory in self when we have successes, but remember God, His Sovereignty over our situations and successes.
Three Reminders from the Gideon Story
(1) How easy it is for a good man to go wrong. A long time Christian can do a lot of things and be viewed as a strong Christian. Yet, we have seen ‘strong Christians’ fall. This is because, in reality, they are weak from a neglect of basic discipline, like prayer, the Word, and walking with the Lord. “Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall”
(1 Corinthians 10:12).
( 2 ) Some boundaries should never be crossed. Moral and integrity boundaries are obvious ones. The effects of these sins are very damaging and long-lasting. We do well to stay well clear of these boundaries.
There are also the subtle boundaries which may be more common to us:
Boundary between exhorting people and threatening them
Between taking a stand and just being authoritarian
Between using God’s name to honour him and using it to justify our own actions
Between being justly angry and just being angry
Between tackling hard issues and just settling old scores
You can cross these boundaries and still have victories, but not ones that glorify God.
(3) A warning here against idolizing leaders. We can learn from and emulate good leaders. Apostle Paul says to imitate him (1 Corinthians 4:16). Be wise in doing so, recognising that they are humans after all, and could fall as well.
We can emulate the good qualities of Gideon, especially in the first phase of his life – his faith in doing what God says. Better still, we should fix our eyes of Jesus, as Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, ….”
END