Pulling Together

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do men say that the Son of man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of John! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of death will not prevail against it."       Matthew 16:13-18

On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of death will not prevail against it: meaning that the church is going to be aggressive.

Here are the gates of death and the church is going to press through those gates of death,

it's going to push, it's going to fight, it's going to be militant.

 It's an army that goes through those gates of death even into the region of the dead and sets those captives free.

Now the weapons of our warfare are not carnal … no guns, spears, knives, swords … but they are mighty of God for the pulling down of strongholds.

This is a war! It's not little games. It's not nursery daycare for spiritual people who want to remain relatively secure and safe. When people come into the Body of Christ, and become his followers, whether they like it or not, they are caught up in a war, and there is a battle going on. And it is a joyful thing!

These saints go through the region of the dead, through the city of Babylon, and wherever they find people in chains, they break those chains and set those captives free and bring them back to the Banquet Table of God.

They go down into the dungeons and set the captives free. They move with great joy through places of great difficulty, and conflict, and darkness, and danger,  and bring living souls out of darkness into light, and out of the power of Satan to God.

But from its beginning, there has also been at work, in the very middle of the Body of Christ, what the apostolic believers called the 'antichrist'. The antichrist: the spirit that works against the Christ. And it will one day, perhaps in our lifetime, incarnate itself into flesh and blood and become the evil counterpart to the Son of God.

This spirit has been at work in the Body of Christ since its beginning and its purpose is to neutralize this army – to paralyze it – so that instead of being an army that goes out and does the job, it becomes another institution in downtown Babylon – a religious institution. An institution, a structured gathering of people, that's  primarily concerned about its own survival, that loses all vision of reaching those captives and setting them free.

Now the out-working of this on the congregational level, on any gathering of believers is that instead of coming together week by week, and seeing themselves as being sent out there into the world to free the captives, they become more and more taken up with meeting their own needs.

"My needs aren't being met," becomes the cry and the complaint. And the more concerned they become with meeting their own needs, the more needs they have, and pretty soon problems arise and solutions are devised, and now the whole thing is structured around saints taking care of themselves.

Now the gates of death are unchallenged and the captives remain in chains.

This principle of evil has been at work since the beginning of the church. And we can see in the book of Revelation, chapters 2 and 3, seven churches are addressed by Jesus. And all seven of them began as armies, assemblies of men and women who know what they're about. People who are willing to be engaged in this battle at whatever disruption or cost it may be to them.

But as time passed, five of the seven began to lose this concern and this vision, and they began to be concerned about their own safety and comfort.

"Yes, we want to be religious, but we don't want our lives disrupted."

"Yes, we want to follow Jesus, but we also want our bread buttered with thick butter. We want it both ways."

And so the Lord had to deal with these five churches, and he did in these two chapters of Revelation. And the Lord Jesus is saying: this is not a Christian daycare center. This is a war zone and either you conquer or you will be conquered.

And so we see this emphasis in the letters to the seven churches. Every one of those letters ends with the statement:

 

"To him who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."

 

            "He who conquers will not be hurt by the second death."

 

"To him who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna. And I will give him a white stone with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it."

           

"He who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, I will give him power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received power  from my Father."

 

Conflict and conquest – it's there – you can't miss it.

 

The Spirit of the Lord speaking to these seven churches in Revelation, has been speaking to our churches, and dealing with us over the same issue.

 

"Will you be my church?

 

Will you go in there and break through the gates of death with my gospel?

 

Will you set those captives free into my kingdom?"

 

And we answer, "Yes, Lord, we will."

 

Then he says, "Good! You will be my church, and you will set the captives free, and you will accomplish things beyond anything you have seen so far, but you're not quite ready."

 

And then, of all things, he reaches out his hand and begins to shake us violently!   

 

"Lord, what are you doing? We've lost five more members!"

 

 "Don't panic. I know what I'm doing." And he reaches down and shakes us some more.

 

"Ten more, Lord? Now what are we going to do? How can we do the job?"

 

"I know what I'm doing. I'm getting you ready."

 

Then, Jerubaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was north of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.                                                                  Judges 7: 1

 

The Midianites had swept into Israel and were just like an army of grasshoppers – they were everywhere. Their camels covered the valley, and were parked right under the mountain – the mountain or Moreh – where Abraham had first been told, "This land is going to belong to your children."

 

The Lord said to Gideon, "The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt itself against me, saying, 'My own hand has delivered me.' Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people saying, 'Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home.'" And Gideon tested them; twenty-two thousand returned, and ten thousand remained.

                                                                                                                                   

And the Lord said to Gideon, "The people with you are still too many; take them down to the water and I will test them for you there; and he of whom I say to you, 'This man shall go with you,' shall go with you; and any of whom I shall say, 'This man shall not go with you,' shall not go." So he brought the people down to the water; and the Lord said to Gideon, "Every one that laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set him by himself; likewise everyone that kneels down to drink." And the number of those that lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. And the Lord said to Gideon, "With the three hundred men that lapped I will deliver you, and give the Midianites into your hand; and let all the others go every man to his home." So he took the jars of the people from their hands, and their trumpets; and he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the three hundred men; and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

                                                                                                                        Judges 7: 2-8

 

So the picture we have here is the army of Israel suddenly cut down from thirty-two thousand to three hundred.

 

"Anybody who's fearful or trembling, you can go on home." Twenty-two thousand take off.

 

"Alright, now, anybody who likes to get comfortable when he drinks water, you can go too. Go on home and be comfortable."  Another  nine thousand-seven hundred take off, and he's got three hundred left.

 

And the Lord says, "Okay, now I can do something" ... "With these I will deliver the Midianites into your hands and I will set captive Israel free."

 

That same night the Lord said to him, "Arise, go down into the camp;  for I have given it into your hand. But if you fear to go down, go down to the camp with Purah  your servant; and you shall hear what they say, and afterwards your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp." Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outposts of the armed men that were in the camp. And the Midianites and the Amelikites and all the people of the east lay along the valley like locusts for multitude; and their camels were without number, as multitude. When Gideon came, behold a man was telling a dream to his comrade; and he said, "Behold, I dreamed a dream; and lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent, and struck it so that it fell, and turned upside down, so that the tent lay flat." And his comrade answered, "This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; into his hand God has given Midian and all the host."

 

When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped; and he returned to the camp of Israel, and said, "Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand."                                                                                 Judges 7: 9-15

 

First, the Lord cuts down the army to a much smaller size. Then he gives a vision of hope to Gideon and to the army to encourage them. And then he sends them out to do the job.

 

"Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand."And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars. And he said to them, "Look at me, and do likewise; when I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of the camp and shout, "For the Lord and for Gideon." 

So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch;  and they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. And the three companies blew the trumpets, blew the trumpets and broke the jars, holding in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow; and they cried, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!" They stood every man in his place round about the camp, and all the army ran; they cried out and fled.                                                                                                                                                                                                     Judges 7: 16-21

 

Now if we are satisfied that our calling, as a church, is not to be a religious institution, or a middle-class cultural club, or a club for nice people, but it is to be, in fact, the army of the living God, made up of people from every walk of life and from all places, to go in there and break the gates of death and set those captives free;

 

and if we are agreed that the location of this place of worship, where we come together like this, is not a disadvantage but an asset, as we are surrounded by gorgeous mission fields, parked you might say right at the very gates of death, then we can rejoice in what the Lord is doing among us—the shaking and the shifting and the things he is saying to us—knowing that he is drawing us together to be Gideon's army.

 

And we can rejoice that that's what's going on.

            That we are to be that army...

In the coming days, we can expect to see fruit... deliverance of the captives,

sight to the blind,

 freedom to the oppressed,

vision for people looking for God,

to a degree that we have never seen.

 

All we have to do is be Gideon's army now, trust that is what God is doing, and pull together—really pull together—and we will conquer..

 

We'll do three things.

 

First:  we will conquer if we pull together around our call.

 

When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped; and he returned to the camp of Israel, and said, "Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand."

 

"Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand."

 

Let's go! Go make disciples.

Go into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor, the lame, the maimed, and the blind.

            Go preach good news to the poor.

Deliver the captives. Give sight to the blind. Set free the oppressed.

                                    Go out and do this.

 

And he calls us to do this, not as isolated individuals, but as a body—as members one of another, as brothers and sisters in Gideon's army.

 

This is not going to be done by individual lone rangers.  It's going to be done by brothers and sisters working together,

... fitting in together,

...moving in unity with each other.

 

The call of the Lord to arise for he has given Midian into our hands has to be done as we come together whatever the cost is to us, whatever disruptions in our lives.

 

Secondly:  we have to pull together and blow our trumpets in unison.

 

When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of the camp and shout, "For the Lord and for Gideon." 

 

What he is telling to us here is that it's a unified message; we're going out as one. It begins as a word of praise; as a shout of victory together, in unity with each other.

 

"And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."

 

The listeners heard many languages, but they heard only one message. And they knew it was coming from one body, and it was originating in the heart of the One Lord.

 

The impressive thing about those apostolic Christians as we see them depicted in the book of Acts is that they all blew their trumpets—it wasn't a one-person show, it was everybody together blowing their trumpets in unison—they were all speaking that Word together.

 

Now it's our turn to go out there and proclaim to the world Jesus is Lord. And manifest his Lordship as one, as a body, as brothers and sisters, as members one of another.

 

Finally: we will conquer as we break our jars together and let the light shine out.

 

And the three companies blew the trumpets blew the trumpets and broke the jars, holding in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow; and they cried, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!" They stood every man in his place round about the camp, and all the army ran; they cried out and fled.

 

Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel but put it on a stand and it gives light to all the house.

 

Let your light so shine before men that they will see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

 

Jesus speaks those words to his disciples—to the Body—to us.

 

This is the life we are to live together.

 Together we live in mercy.

            Together we live in purity.

                        ...in truth, in justice , in righteousness, in holiness, in love.

 

And as we do, the gates of death will yield, and the armies of Satan will draw back and those who have been in chains for so long will see light shining through us. We broke our jars and now the light is shining and they are drawn to him. They are drawn to him because we broke our jars and let the light shine out.

 

Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of John, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter the Rock, and on this rock [your confession] I will build my church and the gates of death shall not prevail against it."

 

And that church is still being built. That church is an army. It may not be the largest army in the world, but it is the most powerful, and it is the most enduring. And we are part of it as we, together respond to our call:

 

"Arise for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hands."

 

            "On this rock I will build my church and the gates of death shall not prevail against it",

 

we will conquer.

 

 

 

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