OPEN
“Lord, I thank you that I am not a Gentile, a slave or a woman”.
In the Jewish culture, some males greeted each day by praying this very
sentence...
- How does that make you feel?
- ½ of this room is a woman
- Most of us in this room work for someone
else
- I’m betting almost everyone in here is a
Gentile
In fact, today, we are going to be looking at the story of a WOMAN
LEADER in the very Scriptures that those Jewish men would have considered
sacred… SO, what do we do with that?!
If you were to tell me that 21 years ago I would be standing up in
front of you as a pastor and preaching today’s message I would have laughed at
you. I AM so unqualified to be here!
You see, if anyone knew me before all of this and knew my story
they might have even looked at you a little funny. I was a little rough around
the edges you can say. I grew up in the church all my life, but I walked
away from the church too. I hated the church, I hated everything about it…I
hated the rules, I hated the so called “Christians “who were my friends on
Sundays and Wednesdays”, but as soon as you messed up judged you, I hated the
feeling of never being “good enough”. You see after encountering the
church world, the “real” world and everything it had to offer appealed to me.
So, I ran fast after a lifestyle of drugs, promiscuity, no judgement and
rebellion. Which resulted in me being kicked out of high school the second
semester of my Senior Year for drug use, which meant my mom had to homeschool
me just so I could get a diploma, I had to endure months of drug rehab, to
which my dad had to drive me 45 mins each way and watch me test for drugs each
time and to top it off I lost my collegiate volleyball scholarship because of
everything...I was mess.
I chose the road most traveled (it seemed) instead of the less…and
yet my Father continued to pursue me. You see the Father had a plan for my life
and after some crazy divine moments (most people of the world would call a
coincidence) the summer before my freshman year of college I decided to start
paying attention. As I said above I had lost my scholarship to play
volleyball at a collegiate level, volleyball was life...I had been playing
since I was in 4th grade and worked hard to get where I was at and the Father
knew that, so he used that to redeem my situation by having a coach call me
from LCC, which now called LCU...yes, a Christian University. You see
months before the start of my season (in Michigan the season was in the winter)
I had sent out all of my recruiting tapes.
I had sent one to LCC, thinking it was Lincoln Community College, so
when Coach Crawford called you imagine my shock. Well after weeks of my parents
telling me I should go and more conversations with the coach, plus a campus
visit where my Dad turned to me and spoke these words “You are going to marry a
pastor and never come home” ...I gave in and decided to try it and why not I
would almost 9 hours from home. But even though the Father wanted me,
I would probably have told you that my past DISQualified me from ever being a
leader in the church.
Pray
You see
God doesn’t just see me, He sees others as well... let’s look at some people in
scripture that he called qualified as well:
·
Jacob was a cheater.
·
Peter had a temper and was insecure.
·
David had an affair.
·
Noah got drunk.
·
Jonah ran away from God.
·
Paul was a murderer.
·
Job was a complainer.
·
Miriam was a gossiper.
·
Martha was a worrier.
·
Thomas was a doubter.
·
Sarah was impatient.
·
Elijah was moody.
·
Moses stuttered.
·
Zacchaeus was too short…. And a cheat
·
Leah wasn’t as pretty as her sister.
·
Abraham was old.
·
Lazarus was DEAD.
DOMINANT THOUGHT:
Kingdom qualifications cannot be earned and no one
can disqualify who God has qualified.
We look at this line up and think there is no way God would use
someone like that to change the world. But he DOES…that is the amazing thing
about our Father! We are beginning a brand-new series today that is rooted in
the book of Judges, and we will look specifically at the lives of four
different judges in Israel and how they were “qualified to lead”: Deborah,
Gideon, Samson and Samuel.
Here’s a piece of interesting information about the judges in
Israel:
· They
were not “judges” as we would think of judges today…they didn’t make legal
decisions or settle disputes, but they were considered “leaders” – The
Judges were God empowered and God-Called leaders.
· Kingdom qualifications cannot be earned and no one can
disqualify who God has qualified.
·
When you look at the judges in Israel
none of them looked like they were qualified to lead on paper. They
didn’t seem to fit the mold of what we would characterize to be leaders in the
Kingdom of God. We know that the
Father’s kingdom is an upside down one…the last shall be first and the first
shall be last. It doesn’t look like the world and often what the world says disqualifies
us from Kingdom work is not at all what God says.
·
The period of judges lasted a few
hundreds of years and it was time of transition for the people of Israel.
Previously, under a time of Joshua’s leadership, they moved into the land that
God had given to them, which was the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham,
hundreds of years before. But now Israel was lacking and loose with the whole
tribe thing, so they did not have one leader like Moses or Joshua and they did
not have a king yet who ruled over the entire nation…Enter GOD empowered, God
Called Judges….
·
Coming out of the violent aftermath
of Joshua’s conquest of Canaan, “the Lord raised up judges” to provide
leadership for the kingless people (Judges 2:16) One of those leaders was
Deborah and we can find her story in Judges 4.
So, enough about the history of “Judges”, let’s look at the story of Deborah,
meet her and find out who she is…
Deborah was an
unlikely choice to lead the Israelites. In that day and age, she would
have been disqualified to be a leader simply because she was a woman. She was
living in a world that was dominated by men, where women were viewed as
property and were utterly dependent on the mercy of men. But Deborah was an
amazingly gifted leader. Scripture describes “Deborah” or
“Deb” for short as a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth. She was the only
female to hold the position of judge in Israel, however she was not the only
female prophet around at the time. While women leaders were uncommon in the
Israelite society, they weren’t that unheard of. Here are just a few:
Miriam (Exodus 15:20),
Huldah (2 Kings 22:14),
Noadiah (Nehemiah 6:14), Anna (Luke 2:36) and
the four daughters of Philip the evangelist in Acts 21.
Israel was in a time of civic disorder and oppressed by its
enemies on all sides, so Deb stepped up to take on the challenge. Deborah’s
name in Hebrew means “Honey Bee” and as you hear her story you will see that
she lived up to her name...she pack a sting with her words, but surrounded by
grace of course ;). She was a loved
leader. She was respected by her people. She was wise. But she was a woman. Deborah was living
in a society that elevated men above women. Men held positions of power
and authority and women were restricted simply because they were women.
People were not encouraged to lead from from their gifting. So, when
God spoke to Deborah she immediately responded!
As the appointed judge of the Israelites, Deborah
was responsible for oversight of her military. And her Israelites needed
to defeat the Canaanites. The leader of
the Canaanite army was named Sisera, and that was the guy that Deb and her men
needed go after.
So Deborah hears
from the Lord that they need to take out this army and the Lord assures her a
victory. So she called Barak to lead the people in a battle against their
oppressor of twenty years. She told him that he needed to gather 10,000 men
from the tribes of Naptali and Zebulum and head to Mount Tabor and prepare for
battle. Deborah then told Barak that she would take care of getting Sisera and
his men to the Kishon River...she also went as far to say “I will make sure you
win this battle” But Barak’s response to Deborah revealed Israel’s lack
of male leaders at the time. Let’s look
at what he says in Judges 4:8
Judges 4:8-10 The Message (MSG)
8 Barak said, “If you go with me, I’ll go. But if you don’t go
with me, I won’t go.”
9-10 She said, “Of course I’ll go with you. But understand that
with an attitude like that, there’ll be no glory in it for
you. God will use a woman’s hand to take care of Sisera.”
·
I love Deb’s response here…she made
sure to tell Barak, that’s fine I will go with you, but you must realize that
you will get no credit for this victory over Sisera. She wanted to make
sure he knew what was going to happen.
·
But what I love most is that Barak
didn’t argue with her about who the victory would go to, you see I think he
knew the wisdom of Deborah was not of her own, but of God’s. So why argue. He
trusted her leadership and followed….Barak in Hebrew actually means “To
Bless. You see Barak was blessing Deborah in her leadership by submitting to
her authority.
·
Deborah’s vision of the world was not
shaped by the political situation of her day, but by her relationship with God.
She heard God and believed him and when you partner that with her courageous
spirit, how could Barak not follow.
God needed
someone with leadership to lead…and Deb was that leader.
So, Deborah and Barak, along with 10,000 men went to Tabor to
defeat Sisera and his army. And they do just that and every single man was
killed at the edge of a sword...to give you an idea of how many men, Sisera
called up 900 iron chariots to the battle. However, Sisera himself, well he
fleas before they even get to the battle (vs 10 – 14) He was cowardly!
Now before I move on with the rest of the story, I need to remind
you that the bible can be PG rated sometimes because of the graphic nature of
that time…so just hang with me as I get to good part ☺
As Sisera runs away on foot he finds himself at the tent of a
women named Jael, she was a housewife. But she was not just any housewife she
was the wife of Heber the Kenite, who was best friends with Jabin king of
Hazor...Sisera’s boss. So Jael convinces Sisera its safe to come into her tent
and that there is nothing to be afraid of... Listen to what happens next,
picking back up in Judges 4:19:
Judges 4:19-24 The Message (MSG)
So he went with her into her tent. She covered
him with a blanket.
19 He said to her, “Please, a little water. I’m thirsty.”
She opened a bottle of milk, gave him a drink,
and then covered him up again.
20 He then said, “Stand at the tent flap. If anyone comes by
and asks you, ‘Is there anyone here?’ tell him, ‘No, not a soul.’”
This is where it gets good….
21 Then while he was fast asleep from exhaustion, Jael wife of
Heber took a tent peg and hammer, tiptoed toward him, and drove the tent peg
through his temple and all the way into the ground. He convulsed and died.
22 Barak arrived in pursuit of Sisera. Jael went out to greet
him. She said, “Come, I’ll show you the man you’re looking for.” He went with
her and there he was—Sisera, stretched out, dead, with a tent peg through his
temple.
23-24 On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the
People of Israel. The People of Israel pressed harder and harder on Jabin king
of Canaan until there was nothing left of him.
- Because Deborah responded and lead, God
subdued the Canaanite army under her leadership and she continued to lead
her people into forty years of peace in Israel.
- This story shows us there is so much we can
learn from unlikely heroes during a time where it was uncommon for women
to lead.
So, what does this all mean…
Kingdom qualifications cannot be earned and no one
can disqualify who God has qualified.
Let’s take a minute and look at what the NT says about this
reality… in fact, from a guy that many have read the “wrong way” - Paul. In
both Colossians and Galatians, he focuses on this idea that the Kingdom breaks
down much of our preconceived notions of “DisQualified” vs. “Qualified.” Paul
tells us that our position in the Kingdom really levels the playing field… and
gets us focused on the giftings of people and not their gender, race, OR past.
Galatians 3:26-29 The Message (MSG)
25-27 But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in
Christ you are in direct relationship with God. Your baptism in Christ was not
just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an
adult faith wardrobe—Christ’s life, the fulfillment of God’s original promise.
28-29 In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and
non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus
Christ. Also, since you are Christ’s family, then you are Abraham’s famous
“descendant,” heirs according to the covenant promises.
·
Let’s reflect on Deborah again, God
called her and gifted her to lead, but every part of her environment said she
was not qualified to lead in Israel.
·
Why? Because she was a woman.
·
You see women were not allowed to
lead regardless of their gifting or calling during this time. But Deb knew who
she was, how she was wired and was not afraid to step into the destiny that God
said she had. God wants to use us; it is our destiny as his children.
So how do we know that God empowered women to lead… because the bible tells me
so ☺ Let’s
reflect on that passage from Galatians and verse 28…there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and
female. Among us you are all equal…
·
As I told you earlier, in the
Jewish culture, some males greeted each day by praying, “Lord, I thank you that
I am not a Gentile, a slave or a woman”. I know this sounds harsh, but
this is how social classes were looked at.
·
The role of Christianity enhances
women in this passage.
· Faith
in Christ surpasses the social class differences and makes ALL believers one in
Christ.
·
And as believers, we
need to make sure that we do not force distinctions that Christ himself has
removed by his sacrifice on the cross.
·
What I am trying to say is
this…because all believers are HIS heirs, no one is more privileged than or
superior than anyone else. So, who are we to say who can and cannot walk out
their kingdom gifting and destiny.
You see Kingdom qualifications cannot be earned
and no one can disqualify who God has qualified. Back
to the story of Deborah…God called her. God released her into leadership and
then he handed over the Canaanite army to the hands of two women. The battle
needed both the leadership of Deborah and the quick thinking of Jael.
·
God can use any women (or man)
who is willing to say yes to what God puts in front of them.
·
Genesis 1:27 says
this: So God created human
beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
·
Men are a picture of who God is.
Women are a picture of who God is. And in the Vineyard, we want to empower
both to walk out their God-given calling.
·
There is a purpose in your calling,
whatever it is. So many times, we give into the lie of the enemy who
loves to use our limitations and surroundings to tell us we are not qualified,
but he cannot take away something that has already been God given. God has
already called you qualified and worthy with his death and resurrection.
·
Kingdom
qualifications cannot be earned and no one can disqualify who God has
qualified.
Back to my story…
I packed up my things and headed to LCC on August 16, 1996. It was
my 18th birthday...and to be honest I just wanted to leave everything behind. A
month went by had gone by and I was still struggling, however after a powerful
encounter with the Holy Spirit in September of 1996 I gave my life back over to
Jesus.
You see even though I ran and ran hard, he ALWAYS saw me as
qualified because HE says I am qualified
and I am so thankful…Did I always believe in my destiny, no, in fact I think I
ran from my destiny, until He found me and reminded me who I was? And the
Father still called me qualified. Did I
always know I was leader, yes? I believe
that the Father has gifted me to lead in all aspects of my life, not just the
church. BUT, have I always walked this out perfectly, NO. But HE still called
me qualified.
There have been times where I have struggled to walk in my calling
because I was afraid of what people would say or think. I chose to
believe the lie that because of my past
I was meant to be in the background of those leading to support them and build
them up, (and I want you to hear that there is nothing wrong with supporting
those out in front leading)…BUT that is not
Father had for me. It was not until the last 3 years that the
Father started showing me that I was qualified to walk alongside those leaders
and lead with them not behind them. YOU SEE…
Kingdom qualifications cannot be earned and no one can disqualify who God has
qualified.
There is no possible way to perform your way into
kingdom destiny. I am qualified for kingdom work when
I say yes and step into to whatever it is Jesus has asked me to do! So, what is
the Father saying to you? He says your qualified…what are you going to do with
it?
