From Judges 6:28-33.

Maybe “upset” is an understatement! After all, the townspeople decided killing Gideon was the best course of action after he destroyed their idols.

Leaders get stuck because people get upset and mad. We want to lead people away from their idols, but we also don’t want people mad at us. Perhaps they won’t want to kill us. But maybe they’ll want to fire us, degrade us and make life just plain miserable.

Church people who have their sacred cows butchered are some of the most difficult people to deal with.

But the fight is worth the fuss.

The fight is worth clearing the way for people who truly want to Hear & Follow Jesus. When people worship their sacred cows more than Jesus, those people do not care about others following Jesus. they only care about worshipping their sacred cow.

Here is what we learn from Gideon when idols are torn down…

People will get upset you tear down their idol

In church world, tearing down idols is tough. Our idols are religious staples that God used in the past. However, the ministry, program, style or purpose has now become the object of worship.

So the people’s identity and sense of Kingdom purpose comes from the idol. Sympathize and empathize with this fact. Don’t go in with guns blazing. Don’t say “God told me.” I wouldn’t even call them idols. Keep that between you and me!

First, find God’s presence for yourself. You need his strength. You need his movement. Without God working on people’s hearts, your fight will be in vein.

Then, follow the promptings of the Spirit to take baby steps of obedience towards leading others out of their worship of ministries, programs, styles and purposes of old. These baby steps will look different for each and every leader and situation. Find others to work with you. Disciple them in Hearing & Following Jesus only. This way you have others on the other side who already have a head start.

Expect things to look worse, not better.

Gideon’s dad “defended” Gideon. Kind of. Good ‘ole dad took more of a “wait and see” approach. “Let’s not kill my son quite yet! If Baal really is all you think he is, let’s see if Baal defends himself.”

Thanks dad???

At least this bought Gideon some time.

However, the time Gideon’s dad bought Gideon led to the enemies of Israel amassing armies at the door step. Things looked even worse than they did when Gideon torn down the idols.

Faith isn’t faith if we don’t have to wait on God to move.

• Moses took the steps God told him to to get Pharaoh to let God’s people go. Then the people found themselves between a sea and a hard man.
• Abraham waited 25+ years for a son to be born. Then God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.
• Jesus said he was the Messiah and the forever King of Israel. Well, dead kings aren’t forever kings.

When things get worse, God is with you. He is the one battling with people’s hearts, souls, minds and strength for them to worship him alone. Make sure you’re letting him battle you for the war of your heart, soul, mind and strength. You cannot lead people away from idols if you have not already been led away from idols yourself.

This fight is not yours to wage. You lead people away from their idols towards Jesus…even if it is kicking and screaming.

Point people to Jesus, not another idol to replace the first

Often, church leaders kill other people’s sacred cows just to replace the first sacred cow with a sacred cow the leader think is better.

Well, even if it is your idol of choice, it is still an idol!

Worship wars is an example of this. We kill traditional worship for the idol of contemporary worship. maybe the sacred cow does need to be destroyed, but destroy it so that you can point people to Jesus, not a worship style.

God’s vision for his church is to be a people who those far from God can stream to God through his people. And the music of his people is a vehicle by which God will use to stream people to himself. However, God can use whatever style of music he wants. He’ll use the style through a people who Hear & Follow Jesus with all their heart, mind, soul and strength.

You can play this out with whatever outward style, ministry, program or purpose you want to. Just make sure if you go after someone’s idol that you don’t replace their idol with your idol of preference. Point them to Jesus.

I’ve gotten stuck because of my own fear around this very topic. I’d not go the extra little bit to destroy idols because I know it’ll upset the apple cart. This is so easy to do! You don’t want to hurt people. And you don’t want to hurt yourself (and your family).

However, the main people you’re hurting are those who want to Hear & Follow Jesus, but can’t hear him because of the noise of the sacred cows. If the cows stop moo-ing, then more people will be able to Hear Jesus. The more people who Hear Jesus can See Jesus. The more people who See Jesus will be able to Follow him.

What is the idol you’re putting off destroying because you’re scared of the battle it would produce?