Sermon Title: "When to lead and when to follow”
Sermon Text: Judges 4
When his daughter was applying to colleges, a father was asked by the college if
his daughter was a follower or a leader. Reluctantly
he had to admit that she was a follower, yet he worried whether his honest answer would
hurt her chances at being admitted to the Ivy League school.
Soon however they received the letter announcing her admittance, along with a
letter to dad. “We have just admitted
over 500 leaders to next year’s freshman class.
Your daughter will be the only follower. We
thought it important to have at least one.”
Last week we looked at the place in Exodus when Moses was a leader and a follower. He was counseled by his father-in-law Jethro to
create a judicial system for the Israelites as they created their new community in the
desert. He urged Moses to cease being the only
judge and train others to share the workload. This
way people didn’t have to stand in line all day hoping to get their case heard in the
court of Moses. This way there would be
district courts, with Moses basically as the Supreme Court all by himself, in other words,
the court of the last word.
Today we have the court of Deborah, the only woman we know about in the entire
Bible to have such a position. A woman we
essentially know nothing about, except that she is the wife of Lappidoth. That is all we know.
She is a wife and a prophet or judge. She
is important and trustworthy – God had put her in this position.
The Book of Judges begins at the end of Joshua’s time as the leader of Israel. The beginning of Judges opens with the people
wondering who will lead the battle against the Canaanites.
The first three chapters of Judges tell us of the struggles of the people, the
battles that ensued and that the people of Israel had began again to do what was evil in
the sight of the Lord. God’s anger was
rekindled against them.
Jabin, the Canaanite king, grew stronger and subdued the northern tribes of Israel. He empowered Sisera to command the armies, armies
that had 900 iron chariots. Between Jabin and
Sisera they oppressed Israel for twenty years.
Walt Wangerin, in “The Book of God” says, “For fear of Jabin and
Sisera, caravans avoided the Israelite highways. Trade
ceased, and Israel was impoverished. Travelers
took the crooked paths, the back roads, in order to guard against attack and plunder. Even the farmers disappeared. They were targets in the daylight. There were no crops in this rich plain. The land looked bleak and abandoned.
“As they had before, the people of Israel repented. They cried for help unto the Lord. So the Lord raised up for them a deliverer: Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, a woman whose
language issued from her mouth like liquid fire. The
spirit of the Lord came upon her, and she grew wise in the laws of the covenant. Beneath a palm near the cities of Ramah and Bethel,
Deborah sat and resolved private disputes for the people.
As a mother of Israel she judged them. Her
name was spoken everywhere among the tribes. She
won their admiration.” (Wangerin, Walter. “The Book of God,” pp. 188-89)
That admiration is important to the story that follows. Let’s look at it.
Judges
4:4
Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading [a]
Israel at that time. 5 She held court under the Palm of Deborah
between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came to her to
have their disputes decided. 6 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam
from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, "The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you:
'Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount
Tabor. 7 I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with
his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.' " 8 Barak said to her, "If you go with me, I will go; but if you
don't go with me, I won't go." 9 "Very well,"
Deborah said, "I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, [b]
the honor will not be yours, for the LORD will hand Sisera over to a woman."
I promise we will get to the end of the story later, but today let’s first
look at Barak’s response to Deborah -- “If
you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.” Intriguing response to the leader of your people. I wonder how that would go over if in Iraq today. Try telling your commanding officer that you would
only go if he came too. I doubt the
officer’s response would have been Deborah’s.
She agreed, however, there was a stipulation with it.
Barak would not get the honor for this battle.
Instead the honor would go to a woman.
Why did he give such an answer? Is
Deborah’s gender a problem here?
Certainly he was worried about the outcome and probably the lives of his soldiers. They barely have weapons with which to fight. Sisera has weapons and 900 iron chariots that could
easily run over them. Still Deborah had a
plan, a plan from God. God would be with them
since they had repented and God would give them victory in this battle.
So why did Barak insist that she come too? As
a rule, they wouldn’t want women on the battlefield.
But this time, Barak wanted her there.
One reason could have been that Barak was afraid.
Afraid of what would happen. Afraid to
go without her. Afraid that without her
presence there they would lose.
Another reason could that he doesn’t believe in her. Doesn’t trust her. Doesn’t believe that victory is within their
grasp. Believes only that the situation is
hopeless.
Both reasons are likely to be partially true, but I suspect there was another
reason that builds on the first two.
I think Barak didn’t believe her and was afraid of the outcome but he also
didn’t want to shoulder the blame if this plan failed.
If he made her to go with them and they lost, she would have to shoulder the blame
for the error in judgment.
I believe that is the reason because of Deborah’s response to him – he
won’t get the honor for the battle. Instead
a woman will. And she does, but it isn’t
Deborah.
God’s plan worked. Barak and his
men were able to subdue the army but Sisera was not among those who lost their lives that
day. Instead he went to Hazor, the city of
Jabin, and found the camp of Heber, the Kenite who had made peace with Jabin. Heber’s wife Jael had heard how the forces of
Israel had destroyed Sisera’s army and she feared they would destroy their camp when
they looked for him. So she invited him in,
gave him something to drink, covered him with a rug, saying she would deny that he was
there if anyone came looking for him. But
while he slept she put a stake into his temple. Jael
was the woman who received the glory for the victory for the Israelites.
Not exactly bedtime reading, but the Israelites were free from the oppression of Sisera’s army now. Jael didn’t have to worry about the Israelite soldiers invading and destroying their camp. And Deborah was proven right Judges, chapter five tells us that together Deborah and Barak sang a song for the people, both sharing in the moment and I’m assuming that Barak’s presence meant that he had learned a lesson. I’m also assuming this meant that both God and Deborah had forgiven him and allowed him to part of the pomp and circumstance of the celebration.
It isn’t easy to know when to lead and when to follow. If Barak had believed in Deborah, his name would have been the one lifted up as the one who ended the reign of Sisera and Jabin. If he had believed in Deborah, Jael would not have had to do such a thing in her own tent, to protect her own people. But we all make mistakes. We all have regrets. Fortunately God can work through us and in spite of us.
We have spent the weeks since the beginning of the year learning about those God has called and equipped to do great things.
Adam and Noah taught us that God does not ask us to do that which is impossible.
The Apostle Paul and Rosa Parks taught us that some things just take courage, but that courage comes from God.
Abraham taught us that even when something seems impossible, God is with us.
Joseph taught us that by offering forgiveness, one receives a fuller life.
Moses taught us that we can learn more when we allow others to mentor us.
Now Barak teaches us the gracious lesson that even when we don’t know it all, but still God can do wonderful things in and through us.
There are no perfect leaders in our world today. We can look at qualities of those we admire but if we look hard we find qualities we do not admire there alongside them. Even the best are flawed.
I admire Jimmy Carter immensely as a humanitarian and statesman but not many would say that he will be remembered as an effective president. However the world is a far richer place because he tried. Serving as president gained him entrances into places where he has made a difference – as a Christian and not just as a president. Jimmy Carter, a Georgia governor, building houses for Habitat for Humanity would not have made the impact that Jimmy Carter, the president has made today. And he makes a difference in our world not only because of his admirable qualities but because he didn’t give up when he was beaten.
I just heard the other day that a well-known gospel singer is known in his hometown for his colorful language and bad temper. Yet he too has made a difference in the world. No, I’ll not mention his name.
I am certainly not without faults and flaws. Yet I try to serve our God to the best of my ability and hope you will pray for me as I grow each day. We are not perfect and while the Apostle Paul talks about striving for perfection, we won’t achieve it.
Only Jesus offers perfection but I doubt that the people who walked with him would have always agreed that he was perfect. The Pharisees and the Sadducees didn’t because they wanted him and his message destroyed. Yet Jesus’ qualities of loving the people, wanting them to find redemption and forgiveness and standing up for justice and peace are examples of what we should look for in our leaders.
Even the best of human leaders will fail us, just as followers we will fail them. But we have a God who can use us despite our failings. We have a God who can forgive us our sins and mistakes. We have a God who can lead us through difficult paths and impossible journeys.
I believe Deborah and God forgave Barak for his doubt. And God loves us so much that we too can be forgiven when we fail.
Maybe the title for today’s sermon should be “When we don’t follow, God still loves us.”
Because we won’t always,
And God always does.