Names of God: Jehovah-jireh, The God who Provides

Your worst nightmare.. what is it? The worst possible thing that could happen to you? What would it be like? Worst case scenario… it’s a scary thought. For Abraham, his worst case scenario had come, when he thought he was going to lose his only son, Isaac. As he walked up the hill of Moriah, every step must’ve felt like a thousand pounds of weight. Yet he kept marching, trusting in God even then.

Because he knew his god was and is, Jehovah-jireh, the God who provides.

“The historic incident out of which the name Jehovah-jireh rises is one of the most moving and significant in the word of God. The historic account is found in Genesis 22. It is the account of the last and greatest crisis in the life of Abraham. Every event in his life has led up to this supreme hour from the time of his call to a high destiny, through every vicissitude, through every joy, through every trial or failure, through every measure of success and blessing, through every hope and promise and assurance. All had been in preparation for this event. The great promise had been fulfilled, the supreme hope of his life realized.” -Nathan Stone, Names of God

When we have a problem in our lives, a financial problem, a relationship problem, a property problem, car problem, what’s the first thing we do? We get to work trying to fix the problem. Or if you’re female, you talk about it with friends, reflect, and later, maybe, try to fix the problem, right?

I’m kidding. In any case, our first reaction is to try to solve problems when we get them. Often times we’re able to solve a problem. Whether it’s a broken car, we take it to someone to get repaired, if we’re sick we see a doctor, if there’s an error on our taxes, we fix it, and on life goes.

But what about when we can’t fix the problem? A loved one dies. You can’t fix that problem. You lose your job, and you can’t seem to find a new one. You find out you can’t have children anymore. Then what do we do?

For Abraham, in the book of Genesis, he had ran into a problem he couldn’t solve. His wife Sarah was barren, she couldn’t have children. He had no son to carry on his line. So what he did, was he turned to God for help. And God did help him. But it took years of faithfully waiting on God, for it to finally happen. Mistakes were made on the way. But in the end, God caused Sarah to become pregnant, and Sarah gave birth to Isaac.

Abraham loved Isaac so much, his favorite son. They were so very close. They did everything together. Isaac was special, blessed, loved by Abraham and God. Abraham had gone from waiting in faith, to finally after so many years, walking in the blessing. He had received what he had asked for. He was sitting on the sunny beach, sipping a cold drink, breathing the fresh air.

For me, I worked for years to become an officer, a pastor in The Salvation Army, it was my dream for many years. Back in 2014 and 2015 I was an intake worker at a homeless shelter. In 2015 I became a soldier of The Salvation Army. 2015 to 2017 I did a 2 year internship in Upper Michigan at a corps serving Escanaba along Bay De Noc. From there I went to Chicago in 2017 and studied for 2 more years, and finally I saw the blessing become a reality in 2019 when I became a corps officer.

And so today I walk in that blessing. Of course there are other blessings God has promised me, which I still wait for today.

But imagine Abraham, walking in the blessing, enjoying special memory after special memory with his son Isaac.

And then this happens.. from Genesis 22:1-18 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

So after everything, all the waiting, God said, alright, I want you to give up Isaac. Will you give up your only son because I’m your God?

What on Earth is going on? He received this blessing, Isaac his son. And now God commands him to offer him as a sacrifice?

But Abraham had an incredible faith, a trust in God that went beyond anything. He knew God would provide somehow. So let’s see what happened next.

"Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

We often say that we are saved by grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ. And that is certainly true. That’s from Romans. But it’s also true that faith without works is dead, which is from the book of James. We often talk about how “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Which is certainly true. Yet, in Genesis we also see Abraham received the promise only after he had obeyed God, by being willing to offer up everything to God, even his own son. Faith without works is dead. His faith came together expressed as works as Abraham went up to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.

But God stopped him, and said, I myself will provide. Which is our name of God, for today, Jehovah-jireh, God will provide or God who provides.

God spared Abraham’s only son, but He did not spare his own son Jesus Christ, but gave his son Jesus Christ to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins, so we could have eternal life with him in paradise.

God himself would provide. How often when we have a problem, we try to provide ourselves for the solution. That is why every religion on planet Earth, every man made one, is all about doing good deeds to try to make things right with God. But not with our God. Our God, the real and true God, provides a way for us through Himself, through Jesus Christ, not from our own efforts. Jesus Christ becomes our way, our healing, our righteousness, and our hope for eternal life.

Jehovah-jireh, our God himself provides, we must renounce our own efforts to prove ourselves worthy by doing enough good things or being a moral person, we can’t be good enough to please God, instead we must repent of our sins and put our faith in Jesus Christ for our salvation. And then our sins are blotted out, and we gifted with new life. It’s a gift. A free gift.

Just like God provided the ram to replace Isaac, so God provides Jesus to pay off our sin debt. That is the arrangement, can you receive it today? Can you repent and put your faith in Him? Can you set aside your own efforts, and rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ?

Jehovah-jireh, God himself provides.

The Parable of the Sheep & the Goats: The Final Judgment

“His German name was Karl der Grosse. At age twenty-nine, he was crowned the ruler of a tiny kingdom in what is now modern-day France. Few people at his coronation thought that King Karl would one day reshape the map of Europe.

At the time of Karl’s ascension in 771, Europe was a collection of petty fiefdoms, plagued by superstition and ignorance, poverty and pestilence. Lost in the dark ages.

In this apocalyptic age, Karl rose up to rescue Christendom. By sheer brutality, he dragged Europe out of the Dark Ages. Over the next forty-two years he fought fifty-three wars. When he defeated an army or captured a city, he insisted that everyone convert to Christianity. Those who refused were slaughtered.

By the cross and sword, he carved out an empire that went from the Atlantic to Russia. Then he spent his final years building monasteries and universities, trying to atone for his reign of terror. He died as one of the most powerful men in the world.

Two centuries later, workmen accidentally broke into Karl’s burial crypt under the cathedral in Aachen, Germany. As they peered into the musty darkness, they saw a two-hundred-year-old skeleton encased in cobwebs and tied to a throne. A crown was perched sideways on a grinning skull.

As the workers inched closer, they saw a table holding a large Bible. The right index finger of the skeleton was resting on a verse in the open book. The workmen called for a priest. Holding a candle close to the Bible, he read the Latin verse of Jesus’ words: “What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?” (Mark 8:36).

History remembers him by a single name, Charlemagne. Each of us has been shaped by the way he transformed history. Yet as he coughed out his last, he ordered his body to be buried in a way that would give a message: both the great and small will appear equally naked before God to give an account for their lives.” -Robert A. Petterson, The One Year Book of Amazing Stories

Today as we discuss the parables of Jesus, we see a parable that tells us about the great final judgment that every human on planet Earth will participate in, including even the great Charlamagne, and you, and me.

We find this parable in Matthew chapter 25, which shares three different parables all in connection to the return of Jesus Christ. The parable of the ten virgins, the parable of the talents, and the parable of the sheep and the goats, which we’ll be looking at today.

Additionally, in Matthew 24, we see Jesus talking about the end times, so nestled immediately after his talk about the last days and the destruction of the temple, are these 3 parables.

The parable is very simple, yet it’s also quite complex. It’s also exceedingly practical. It’s a parable about sheep and goats. It’s interesting how Jesus taught the crowds who followed him. He taught spiritual truths by referring to normal parts of everyday life. Typically, ancient nations like Israel were designed in a particular way. There were various walled cities, to defend against invading armies. And these walled cities would be surrounded by farmlands and grazing pastures. There was no complicated supply chain to keep everyone supplied. If a city wanted food, it would have to be surrounded by farm lands and flocks and herds. It’s fairly common. If you think about Owosso it’s pretty similar, you have the inner city area, and surrounding the city you see various farm lands.

So what would everyone see and be aware of? Flocks of sheep, goats, farming, planting, and so on. So Jesus taught referencing such things. If Jesus was walking the Earth today, I imagine he would reference things like the internet, cars, colleges, industries, restaurants, and sports teams.

But in any case Jesus teaches here in Matthew 25, verses 31 through 46 about when he returns to Earth. We know that this will happen at some point in the future, though we don’t know exactly when.

So let’s just dive in. It says, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.”

Typically sheep will follow their master, and tend to gather in flocks. Goats are different. They are more independent and more likely to be resistant and go their own way. Jesus uses a simple contrast to help us understand the judgment.

And it continues saying, “34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’”

If Jesus taught this parable today he would be accused of teaching a works based gospel. This kind of talk makes us nervous as protestants, what about grace through faith alone! Just believe! Well, here it is. Jesus puts a firm emphasis on what people did. Now they couldn’t do any of these things properly without believing in Him first. But the fact that these people bear fruit, it’s very important. It’s vital. It’s evidence of real faith. And if it’s not happening, something is very wrong. This bothers us. Good deeds? What about faith! It’s right here in the word. And it’s a parable that really fits well with the work of The Salvation Army. This is the kind of stuff we do. And we’re wise to do it.

I felt very early on as a Christian that I wanted to be part of a church that was really doing something, really connected with the community, really being the hands and feet of Jesus. And the Lord led me to begin working as a caseworker at a salvation army homeless shelter. I loved it.

But this is what we do right? We provide food to the hungry. We provide water to the thirsty. We provide housing assistance and motel vouchers for the homeless. We provide “coats for kids” which fulfills that mandate to provide clothing. And we’re also called to visit and care for the sick, and to visit those in jail.

Now you may be tempted to say well The Salvation Army facility does that so I’m good, well, hold on, are you living this out? I want to challenge you today, be out there meeting needs. Make it part of your life, make a plan, and get to work providing for the needs of others. I’m quite serious. Find ways to make it happen.

The scriptures continues, “37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

The amazing thing is, whenever we do one of these things for someone in need, it’s just like we did it for Jesus himself. Did you give someone some food? You did it for Jesus. Did you visit someone in hospital? You did it for Jesus. Did you minister to a child at VBS? You did it for Jesus.

Sometimes I know full well that someone is trying to take advantage of me. I know of them around town. But then I remind myself, it doesn’t really matter, because I’m doing it for Jesus. So I help them. That’s my calling.

And apparently part of our judgment as Christians will be, did we fulfill these mandates to help those in need? And in particular, did we help other Christians in need?

That’s the most difficult part of this parable to understand though, for theologians, is Jesus talking about “the least of these my brothers” is he talking about Christians only? Or is he talking about helping anyone? Honestly, I think the best way to resolve this, is to simply help whoever is in need. We could say, and particularly, be helping other Christian brothers and sisters, is that fair? Help anyone, but in particular, if a Christian brother or sister is in need in your faith community, prioritize that need.

Then we see Jesus addressing those on the left, the goats, “‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.””

Have you ever noticed someone in need, and the Lord was moving in your heart to go talk to them or help them or pray for them, and you felt the Holy Spirit say go do it, and you didn’t? There have been times that I’ve felt that. And I always regret it later. So if the Spirit is speaking to you, be sure to go quickly and do it. Just do it. Go quickly.

One teacher said when the Spirit tells her, she just takes a deep breath, counts to 3, and just does it. Because it’s her calling as a Christian.

And honestly, if you did feel the Lord moving you to help someone or meet a need, and you didn’t do it, frankly, you need to repent and ask God’s forgiveness. The Bible says that to know the good we’re supposed to do, and to not do it, to you that is sin, from James 4:17. So ask God’s forgiveness for failing to be his hands and feet, and repent.

In any case, we see Jesus saying depart from me, to the goats, who did not care for him. These are the lazy Christians who did not help those in need. They didn’t serve others. They served themselves. And if we live that way, we’ll be held accountable.

Jesus actually says to them, you are cursed, into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Scary stuff. And sometimes we don’t like to talk about this part, about divine accountability. God is love. God is mercy. God is gracious. But God is also a just judge.

JI Packer a famous theologian said, from his book, Your Father Loves You, “Why do men shy away from the thought of God as a judge? Why do they feel unworthy of him? The truth is that part of God's moral perfection is his perfection in judgment. Would a God who did not care about the difference between right and wrong be a good and admirable being? Would a God who put no distinction between the beasts of history, the Hitlers and Stalins, and his own saints be morally praiseworthy and perfect? Moral indifference would be an imperfection in God, not a perfection. And not to judge the world would be to show moral indifference. The final proof that God is a perfect moral being, not indifferent to questions of right and wrong, is the fact that he has committed himself to judge the world.”

It matters how you live and the choices to make. We are accountable to God. And there will be a day of judgment, when we give an account for how we lived.

So we see Jesus teaches us to do the following:

• Provide food for the hungry
• Water for the thirsty
• Invite the Stranger in (housing)
• Providing clothing to those without
• Caring for those who are sick
• Visiting those in jail

Do these things in your daily life. God will give you opportunities to help people and meet needs. All you have to do is take those opportunities.

What is our motivation for this lifestyle of service: God is really real. The Bible is really God’s word. Jesus Christ is really my savior. Which means every good deed I do in this life for someone, is just like I did it for Jesus my dear friend himself. And I know I will be rewarded in heaven for each good deed I do.

There are many who testify to having near death experiences, or visions from God, in which they see Jesus in heaven, and Jesus will show these people their house in heaven, and how every time they do a good deed, or preach the gospel, or meet someone’s need, it adds on something new to the house. And Jesus is the carpenter, building the house in heaven, preparing it for them when they arrive in heaven. How beautiful is that? I think it’s amazing. And indeed God’s word says that we will be rewarded for what we do in this life for Christ. Great is our reward in heaven, when we serve Jesus here. Every loaf of bread, every gallon of water, every piece of clothing given to those in need are jewels in your crown in heaven.

I know these things are true. So Christians, be like the sheep who follow our great shepherd Jesus Christ. Don’t be like the goats, who pretend to care about the needy, but don’t really do anything to help people. They just serve themselves. Don’t just pretend. Really live it out.

Names of God: El Shaddai, The God who gives from His Own Abundance

"Roger Simms, hitchhiking his way home, would never forget the date--May 7. His heavy suitcase made Roger tired. He was anxious to take off his army uniform once and for all. Flashing the hitchhiking sign to the oncoming car, he lost hope when he saw it was a black, sleek, new Cadillac. To his surprise the car stopped. The passenger door opened. He ran toward the car, tossed his suitcase in the back, and thanked the handsome, well-dressed man as he slid into the front seat. "Going home for keeps?" "Sure am," Roger responded. "Well, you're in luck if you're going to Chicago." "Not quite that far. Do you live in Chicago?" "I have a business there. My name is Hanover." After talking about many things, Roger, a Christian, felt a compulsion to witness to this fifty-ish, apparently successful businessman about Christ. But he kept putting it off, till he realized he was just thirty minutes from his home. It was now or never. So, Roger cleared his throat, "Mr. Hanover, I would like to talk to you about something very important." He then proceeded to explain the way of salvation, ultimately asking Mr. Hanover if he would like to receive Christ as his Savior. To Roger's astonishment the Cadillac pulled over to the side of the road. Roger thought he was going to be ejected from the car. But the businessman bowed his head and received Christ, then thanked Roger. "This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me."

Five years went by, Roger married, had a two-year-old boy, and a business of his own. Packing his suitcase for a business trip to Chicago, he found the small, white business card Hanover had given him five years before. In Chicago he looked up Hanover Enterprises. A receptionist told him it was impossible to see Mr. Hanover, but he could see Mrs. Hanover. A little confused as to what was going on, he was ushered into a lovely office and found himself facing a keen-eyed woman in her fifties. She extended her hand. "You knew my husband?" Roger told how her husband had given him a ride when hitchhiking home after the war. "Can you tell me when that was?" "It was May 7, five years ago, the day I was discharged from the army." "Anything special about that day?" Roger hesitated. Should he mention giving his witness? Since he had come so far, he might as well take the plunge. "Mrs. Hanover, I explained the gospel. He pulled over to the side of the road and wept against the steering wheel. He gave his life to Christ that day." Explosive sobs shook her body. Getting a grip on herself, she sobbed, "I had prayed for my husband's salvation for years. I believed God would save him." "And," said Roger, "Where is your husband, Mrs. Hanover?" "He's dead," she wept, struggling with words. "He was in a a car crash after he let you out of the car. He never got home. You see--I thought God had not kept His promise." Sobbing uncontrollably, she added, "I stopped living for God five years ago because I thought He had not kept His word!" -J.Kirk Johnston, Why Christians Sin, Discovery House, 1992, p. 39-41.

Do you believe that God is faithful? Do you believe that he will work all things out? Because he certainly will. He is our provider. And from his bounty, we are fed.

But many times in life we try to feed ourselves from our own bounty, as we wait on God’s promises to come true.

This is what happened with Abraham. Thought Abraham and his wife were very advanced in years, they had no children. This was a big deal in ancient times. For a couple not to have a child, was embarrassing. More so, they had no one to carry their family line on.

This was tragic for Abraham. Yet God made a promise to him. It says in Genesis 17:1-2,“When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live in My presence and be blameless. 2 I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.”

Abraham waited and waited for God to fulfill his promise. But the years passed, year by year they went. And nothing happened. God had made a promise. But the results weren’t appearing.

How often does this happen for us? We have hopes, dreams, and plans, and we wait for God to make them a reality. And we know God will answer. But time passes. More time passes. Years pass by. And we start to lose hope. Our faith starts to dwindle.

And then we get a bad idea, and we say to ourselves, I know, I’ll figure out a way to help God make it happen.

That’s what happened with Abraham and Sarah. Since God’s bounty hadn’t appeared yet, they decided to make their own way. Sarah invited Abraham to sleep with their servant Hagar, and Hagar became pregnant and gave birth to Ishmael.

They went out of God’s way and made their own way. And it didn’t work out too well. It caused conflict between Sarah and Abraham. And Hagar was mistreated by Sarah. Abraham asked God to make Ishmael his heir, and that was not God’s plan. In the end, Hagar was sent away with Ishmael. And only later, was God’s plan fulfilled, when Isaac was born after Sarah became pregnant.

The name of our God is El Shaddai, the God who is our bountiful provider, the Almighty One who can make anything happen, anything he wants. He takes the impossible, and suddenly it happens.

He is El Shaddai. El Shaddai is often translated in the Bible, as “God Almighty.” This points us to the fact of God’s ability to do miraculous things. He is able to break the laws of nature which he created to do miraculous things in the universe he made.

So it is physically impossible for Sarah to have a baby when she is elderly. But God breaks the physical laws of the human body and brings about the birth of a baby.

He is God almighty, able to do anything he desires, by breaking the rules of his own systems. That is what a miracle really means, when someone is miraculously healed, or when God suddenly provides something that seemed impossible, that is a miraculous event, God breaking the rules of his system to heal and help someone.

Yet there is also a deeper meaning to El Shaddai as the name of God. El Shaddai also means that God brings forth bounty and riches out of Himself to us.

Abraham and Sarah learned this, that what they desired could never come form their own efforts, it had to be a gift from God. It had to come from his bounty, from his storehouse, from his wealth, not from themselves.

That is who God is to us, he does not call us to create what we need, he calls us to wait on Him, and then God will provide from his bounty.

This points us forward to the new testament, when Jesus Christ would come, and would provide our salvation for us as a free gift, not something from our own efforts, but a gift we receive from God.

Our God is El Shaddai, God almighty, who perfectly forms the systems of the universe and is able to change the rules to create miracles in our lives. And he is God who provides from his own bounty, not from our efforts or plans, but from Himself, as we wait patiently on Him to provide. We receive it as a free gift. That is how it works. Praise the Lord.

“So we see that the name Almighty God speaks to us of the inexhaustible stores of His bounty, of the riches and fulness of His grace in self-sacrificing love pouring itself out for others. It tells us that from God comes every good and perfect gift,, that He never wearies of pouring His mercies and blessings upon His people. But we must not forget that His strength is made perfect in our weakness; His sufficiency is most manifest in our insufficiency; His fullness in our emptiness, that being filled, from us may flow rivers of living water to a thirsty and needy humanity.” -Nathan Stone, Names of God, p. 42

The Battle of Thermopylae and the Body of Christ Today: The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds

“The east was on a collision course with the west in 480 BC. The world watched in awe as the largest army in history poured into Europe. Heading this colossal war machine was Xerxes, the king of Persia. His army numbered almost two million foot soldiers, eighty thousand horsemen, twenty thousand chariots, camel-riding Arabs, and war elephants from India. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that when this beast from the east marched, the ground shook. When it stopped to drink, pools were dried up and rivers reduced to a trickle.

You may remember Xerxes as the husband of the biblical heroine Esther. This self-proclaimed “king of kings” spent four years amassing his titanic force to crush tiny Greece. It was the mismatch of the ages. Greece was a collection of city-states warring against each other. Athens was mired in social stagnation, and Sparta was in economic shambles. Never was a nation so vulnerable. Yet five Greek cities managed to scrape together about five thousand soldiers. They were outnumbered 430 to 1. But at their core were three hundred Spartans. These three hundred had been trained since childhood to stand or die in battle. Every Spartan mother sent her sons off to war with this warning: “Come home with your shield, or on it.”

The Greeks took their stand in a narrow pass, fifty feet wide, with the sea on one side and towering cliffs on the other, at a place called Thermopylae. This battleground has become hallowed in military history. It is to the Greeks what the Alamo is to Texans. In that narrow pass a heroic handful held back the Persian hordes for two days. When Xerxes finally unleashed his crack storm troopers, the Greeks annihilated them. But on the third night, a traitor showed the Persians a secret trail through the cliffs into Thermopylae. Sure death was coming with the breaking dawn. Dismissing the rest of the Greeks, General Leonidas led his three hundred Spartans, along with some loyal Thespians, to a mound where they made their final stand.

This small band of Spartans died without knowing they were changing history. They bought enough time for the Greek cities to raise a great army. Their heroism triggered a surge of national pride that led to decisive victories at Salamis and Plataea. The power of Persia was broken. The future of civilization shifted from Asia to Europe. Athens became the world’s most influential city. Greek culture and democracy would give birth to the modern world. Maybe you are facing overwhelming odds. Perhaps you have suffered a crushing defeat. Take heart from the story of three hundred Spartans. Surely it teaches us a valuable lesson:

There are some defeats whose triumphs rival victories.” -Robert Petterson, The One Year Book of Amazing Stories

"Some nations boast of their chariots and horses, but we boast in the name of the LORD our God. Those nations will fall down and collapse, but we will rise up and stand firm." -Psalm 20:7-8

As the body of Christ today, sometimes we feel like the 300 at Thermopylae don’t we? It often seems like the darkness is closing in on all sides, particularly in the west. New forms of evil on every side seem to grow and spread like locusts. Mass systems of public education and universities and colleges grind like gears of secularism mass producing anti-religious worldviews, and growing hatred and mistrust toward Christians and people of faith. We feel surrounded on every side by a growing darkness in these difficult days.

We see strange new technologies being developed, even microchips that can be implanted in people’s brains. We see scientists experimenting, by colliding particles at rapid speeds. We see scientists experimenting with chimeras and gain of function research to viruses, and new weaponry, and we see culture sexualizing children at younger and younger ages. We see violent extremism, we see Marxism, and critical theory, and other ideologies that threaten to disrupt society. We see massive debt in the government in the trillions upon trillions, we see rampant inflation, and economic uncertainty.

Yet we also see that the body of Christ stands firm even now. The Christian movement across the face of the world is growing, not declining. Even in the United States, evangelical Christianity is holding firm, as mainline protestant Christianity is tumbling in memberships, as they compromise with the world on key issues like marriage and life and gender and such worldly ideologies. The body of Christ continues to plant new churches, the body of Christ continues to advocate for life, for marriage, for children, for charity, and for the hurting and the lost. The body of Christ continues to serve at soup kitchens and homeless shelters and evangelism outreaches and coffee shops and women's shelters and human trafficking outreaches and pregnancy resource centers and political action organizations. The body of Christ shares the gospel in unique ways through television, radio, books, movies, the internet, tracts, relationships, groups, street evangelism and much more. The body of Christ continues to pull people from the clutches of sin and addiction and into the kingdom of God by the thousands every day. The body of Christ continues to stand boldly against the darkness, shining ever brighter, and victoriously against sin, death, hell, and apostasy.

I think we few in the remnant Church of the body of Christ in the USA and Europe, are like the 300 right now. Satan has positioned so much of his demonic forces to pervert and destroy the western world. But with so much of Satan’s forces focused on the west, the gospel can spread more rapidly through other parts of the world, like southern Africa, India, the middle east, China, and various other segments of unreached people groups. We have to hold the line against millions of demons, with only a scant few scattered forces in the west that still hold firmly to the radical teachings of Christ. That is our call, to stand in that gap, to hold the line against the night, even as all the enemy’s attention is focused here. Maybe our sacrifice here, will help spread the gospel to other nations around the world.

Often times, just like the Spartans at Thermopylae, we win by losing, we win by giving up everything for our cause, and from the blood of our losses and defeats, spring forth the victory of times in the future.

The Spartans at Thermopylae were able to hold their position so long because they found a choke point and lined up shoulder to shoulder forming a phalanx, that was impenetrable. They would lock shields, shields in front and shields above their heads, and they would form a powerful line that couldn’t be broken.

Unfortunately it’s not always like that in the body of Christ. That’s one of the reasons why it’s so tough being a Christian. Often times our deepest hurts and pains come not from attacks by the world or secular culture, but they come from attacks from fellow Christians.

Sometimes this can be attributed to Christians who make a mistake, or are young in their faith walk, and hurt us without realizing what they are doing due to inexperience, however, it can also be for another reason, because they are like the weeds sowed amongst the wheat of the crops, in our parable today.

Our parable today is the parable of the wheat and the tares, from the book of Matthew 13, the same chapter from the last week when we looked at the parable of drawing in the nets. This parable really goes into greater depth than our parable from last week, and we get an explanation from Jesus about what it means. Let’s dive in.

From Matthew 13:24-30, “He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds among the wheat, and left. 26 When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared. 27 The landowner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Master, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’

28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he told them.

“‘So, do you want us to go and pull them up?’ the servants asked him.

29 “‘No,’ he said. ‘When you pull up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I’ll tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but collect the wheat in my barn.’”

The NIV renders the bad seed as weeds, but the KJV renders them as “tares.” And I think tares is most likely what Jesus meant when he shared this parable. A tare when it first grows looks almost exactly like wheat. Today we call it darnel, or poison darnel or cockle. And it’s called poison darnel for a very good reason, it’s poisonous to eat.

Wheat on the other hand is wonderful isn’t it? It’s just perfect. Wheat is just… I love wheat. Don’t we all just love wheat so much? Oh heavenly wheat, a gift from God himself. I could go on and on. Wheat is so wonderful. Why? Because from wheat we make flour, and from flour we make bread. Oh, delicious bread. Mother and I love to go to Tim Hortons, and we get their soup, and along with each soup they give you a half cut of their wondrous artisan bread. Grandma made bread growing up too, and it was so delicious. French bread, sour dough, flat bread, bread is just wonderful.

Our gift from God is wheat. And similarly, we as the body of Christ, come in one of two forms, wheat or weeds. But if we’re wheat, we’re pretty special, honestly, think of all the things you can make wheat into, when it’s ground into flour, bread, biscuits, cookies, crepes, donuts, pasta, scones, naan, cake, biscotti, shortbread, muffins, and on and on the list goes.

Similarly, in the body of Christ we find all sorts of wonderful giftings, we find servants, drivers, evangelists, literature experts, painters, missionaries, writers, architects, builders, leaders, administrators, cooks, healers, gardeners, prophets, dreamers, pastors, teachers, inventors, scientists, CEOs, revivalists, prayer warriors, planners, bloggers, designers, visionaries, tongue-speakers, musicians, and on and on the list goes.

So in this parable we have the kingdom of God, and a farmer planting seed, and wheat growing up, and weeds sowed in the fields by the enemy, and the servants ask if they should pull the weeds, the master says no, instead at the harvest they will split up the two and deal with it then. What does this all mean?

Like I said earlier, we get the interpretation from Jesus directly later when he talks with his disciples.

From Matthew 13:36-43, “36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

37 He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

So Jesus helps us understand the meaning plainly. Just like last week, we see that we can’t expect to uproot the bad apples right now. We can’t pull out the tares. They look very similar to the wheat, we would end up throwing out wheat as well as weeds.

But at the time of the harvest it will become very clear. Because did you know, that when wheat blooms, it bows down and offers up it’s white seed, it’s fruit. But the darnel, the cockle does not bow, and it offers up black seeds, that are poisonous to humans. What a perfect metaphor for us today, will we be stiff necked and prideful and refuse to bow before Jesus and serve his people, or will we be like the wheat, producing good fruit, and bowing down humbly to give it up to the master?

We see two destinations indicated by the Lord, those who do evil and sin, they will be thrown into the blazing furnace, for permanent weeping and grinding of teeth. And the righteous ones, will shine brightly, in the kingdom of the Lord, permanently as well.

Whoever has ears to hear this message, let them hear it and put it into practice.

This helps us to understand why we feel so isolated sometimes, and why we feel like other Christians don’t live up to the calling, and don’t really know Jesus deeply, because the wheat and the tares are growing together. So if you’ve been hurt deeply by someone in the church, just realize, they may have been a tare, and don’t let them turn you away from Jesus. Then again, maybe they were just an immature Christian who made a mistake as well. We just don’t know. So honestly, I try to regard anyone who claims the name of Christ as a Christian, but, I also watch for their fruit, and this helps me to see what they truly are. Yet even if I don’t see fruit, I may not see it, and it’s not my place to try to uproot and remove weeds. Of course we do have a system of church discipline in accordance with Matthew 18 to deal with people who are causing problems in the body. So we have to balance these various things together.

In any case, how can we put these things into practice today?

Applications
1. 300 can beat 250,000 in the kingdom of God, don’t ever give up, no matter how outmatched you are, God can do anything

2. As you see wickedness growing in the world be determined to shine even brighter for Christ

3. If a Christian hurts you, this was expected as the wheat & tares grow together

4. You have a gift, just like the wheat, a unique gift to offer for Jesus, use it

5. Be patient in affliction, knowing that God will work it out on judgment day

6. Serve Christ whole-heartedly and bow down and offer your fruit (good deeds) to God daily

7. Stay humble, and don’t let your love grow cold, keep loving even in the growing darkness of this world

If you’re feeling like the Spartans at Thermopylae, surrounding and under heavy attack by the world, don’t lose heart, even when another Christian hurts you. Understand that the wheat and tares are growing together. Continue to fight and stand firm. Because just as the Spartans offered up their lives for freedom and victory over the enemy, so we Christians must offer up ourselves, all that we have to Christ, just as the wheat grows slowly, month by month, and at the appropriate time comes to full bloom, bows it’s head, and offers up it’s fruit to the farmer, to be gathered. So we too must offer up ourselves and our fruit to the Lord of all, King Jesus Christ. Amen.