Judges 4-5. Deborah, and Barak, part 4.

Title: Judges 4-5. Deborah, and Barak, part 4.         

 

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JDG 4:6 Now she sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, "Behold, the Lord, the God of Israel, has commanded, 'Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun.

 

JDG 4:7 'And I will draw out to you Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his many troops to the river Kishon; and I will give him into your hand.'"

 

Barak must first summon the army and then God will deliver Sisera. This is God's sovereignty in action without eliminating human responsibility.

 

JDG 4:8 Then Barak said to her, "If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go."

 

Barak is not a coward, but he is weak in faith. Deborah doesn't need to be there for God to be there.

 

This leads us to an important question.

 

At what point are we alone in the spiritual life and at what point do we need others?

 

Certainly, no one can learn the word of God for me. If I don't learn it then I don't know it. If I don't know it, then I have nothing to believe and then I won't love God.

 

1JO 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;

 

1JO 2:2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

 

1JO 2:3 And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.

 

1JO 2:4 The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;

 

Certainly, no one can learn the word of God for me. If I don't learn it then I don't know it. If I don't know it, then I have nothing to believe and then I won't love God.

 

No doubt this is the biggest problem in the church - not knowing Him. Too many Christians are content to believe in Christ and count on heaven, but do not care to learn God's word. The problem this causes in the church is disunity and a weak message to the world. If a believer doesn't know Him then he cannot love Him and keep His commands, all of which revolve around walking in the same manner as He walked. There is no watering down of that manner so as to diminish it to make it incorporate the flesh or the world. It is what it is and those who do not know Him do not walk in that manner and as a result they cause disunity and they soil the witness by the church of Christ to the world.

 

1JO 2:5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:

 

1JO 2:6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

 

No one can walk in the manner of Christ for me. I must learn and choose to do this myself. Yet, that walk calls for love, service, and unity, and for this we need others.

 

It stands to reason in the body of Christ that if others need my service, love, compassion, kindness, encouragement etc., then I also need it from others. Does it make sense that every member is given a spiritual gift and the full breadth of the gifts of Christ for the common good, but there is a segment of the body of Christ that doesn't require any good from others?

 

Is there a member that is immune and independent from the service that every joint supplies?

 

EPH 4:11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,

 

EPH 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

 

EPH 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ.

 

EPH 4:14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;

 

EPH 4:15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ,

 

EPH 4:16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

 

The body builds itself up in love. The weaker believer is served by  the strong. The stronger believer is served by the weaker, perhaps in different ways, but yet still served.

 

The collective power of many spiritual gifts, finances, talents, abilities, and other assets work together to serve a greater number.

 

The local assembly has a collective voice of unity and service to the community, most importantly in the communication of the truth and the gospel, and also in giving to the needy, the poor, the downtrodden materialistically.

 

We need others for unity but never as a crutch for our faith.

 

Php 2:2

make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

 

There is no Philippian church without Lydia.

 

ACT 16:14 And a certain woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.

 

ACT 16:15 And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay." And she prevailed upon us.

 

Soon after, Paul and Silas as well as some who had come to believe in Philippi were thrown into jail, and when the miracle from God caused them to be released, they entered Lydia's house. The combination of faith, truth, collective suffering, and the faith of a great woman all came together to form the church at Philippi.

 

ACT 16:40 And they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.

 

Two more examples are Mark, Epaphroditus and Onesiphorus.

 

2TI 4:11

Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service.

 

2TI 1:16-18

The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chains; but when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me, and found me —  the Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day —  and you know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus.

 

Php 2:29-30

Therefore receive him in the Lord with all joy, and hold men like him in high regard; because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me.

 

There are many more and thousands upon thousands throughout the church age who are not recorded in the scripture or in any book, but the book of life in heaven.

 

HEB 10:23-25

Let us [plural] hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering [as a unit], for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together

 

The curious dichotomy of the individual and his growth and worship before God and with God and the unity of the body of Christ is plainly revealed, and believers must resist the inherent flaw that every fallen man has to oversimplify things by making them one thing or another while eliminating one of them entirely. The spiritual life is alive and dynamic; constantly flowing and working, and it is sometimes individualistic and isolate and it is at other times completely dependent on the unity of several or many.

 

Encouragement, comfort, exhortation come from others in love, but it is not a substitute for personal faith in the promises of God.

 

Deborah makes it clear that God will deliver Sisera into Barak's hand. They are unified on that ground, and that's all the encouragement he needs.

 

When it comes to the support of others it is not an either or proposition in God's truth. It's not a choice between total isolation and total immersion. In our own spiritual growth we depend solely on the word of God and God the Holy Spirit, in other words we depend on God alone. Yet, the body of Christ is essential in the execution of the plan of God for each of us.

 

EPH 4:13

until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

 

We each attain spiritually in our own souls and then we attain unity with others, and with others we accomplish more work than we could ever do alone.