God often brings salvation through unexpected weakness so that his people will trust his grace, not their strength. Judges 3:1-4 Judges 3:12-14 1. Sometimes, God leaves battles in our lives on purpose. Some of us want a Christian life with no battle. God wants a Christian life with trust in the battle. Judges 3:15-23 Judges 3:24-25 Judges 3:26-30 2. God raises unlikely saviors because he loves to shame human pride. God loves to overthrow human arrogance through unlikely instruments. God chooses the kind of savior that makes everybody say, “That had to be God.” 3. The Bible often moves from visible strength to surprising weakness, and it all points to Jesus. God sent a poor Jewish rabbi from a nowhere town, with no home, no army, no political office, and eventually a cross on his back - that is your Savior. Christianity is this: God saves through weakness - that is why the gospel offends proud people. 4. Every human being is trying to save themselves, but salvation only comes as a gift. Religious people try to save themselves through morality. “If I am good enough, pure enough, faithful enough, disciplined enough, then God will accept me.” Irreligious people do the same thing with different tools. “If I am successful enough, attractive enough, loved enough, wealthy enough, important enough, then I will know that my life matters.” What keeps many people from salvation? Not their weakness, their strength. 5. God laughs at arrogant evil, so his people do not have to live in fear. That the gospel remains should do two things in us: First, it should give us courage. Second, it should soften us into compassion. 6. One day God will make our bitterest stories laughable. The oppression in Judges was real; yet, later, the people tell the story with laughter. God can redeem suffering so fully that one day his people will tell the story without tears. For those who belong to Christ, sorrow does not get the last word. 7. In God’s kingdom, availability matters more than ability. That does not mean gifts do not matter. It means gifts are not ultimate. Ordinary Christians obeying God in ordinary moments with extraordinary dependence – that’s how things move forward. God takes weak acts of obedience and fills them with his power.
