Learning How to be a Faithful Farmer for God’s Harvest!

A Faith that Invites Partnership!

Hebrews 11:32-40 (NASB)

God is in the business of transforming stories through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are to grow strong in God’s grace as active participants in the world He created. God has entrusted His creation to His people to work as His Harvest workers – “All the world’s a field, and all the disciples of Jesus Christ merely farmers!” Therefore, let’s be faithful farmers by following the four-step strategy of a hard-working farmer: 1) cultivate people with faith; 2) sow the good seed of God’s grace (the gospel) into their hearts and minds; 3) care for them as their stories are transformed into fruit-bearing plants; and 4) reap a harvest of praise as the church of Jesus Christ. This strategy must be empowered by the Holy Spirit because apart from God we cannot bear any good fruit (John 15:5). Therefore, harvest workers of God’s kingdom are called to grow strong in God’s grace. Let’s take the first step by learning from the transforming stories of the Hall of Faith, found in Hebrews 11.

STEP #1 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: CULTIVATE THE SOIL WITH FAITH

Today’s story is about Barak, found in Hebrews 11:32-40:

And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.

Barak’s story is found in Judges 4-5. What is it about this story that put Barak in the hall of faith? Let us pray and then we will look at the next action step to answer that question.

STEP #2 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: SOW THE GOOD SEED OF GOD’S GRACE

Barak was a general and not the judge of Israel; Deborah was the judge, and she summoned Barak to the place she ruled over Israel. Listen to how Barak is introduced and his first recorded exchange with Deborah in Judges 4:6-10:

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. 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.’ ” 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.” She said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up with him; Deborah also went up with him.

This story has been used in many controversial ways over the years, but the emphasis of the story is simple – the Judge of Israel, Deborah a prophetess, commanded her general to go into battle based on the word of the Lord given to her. Barak wanted the prophetess of God to be with him as he led the army. This possibly could have been to ensure that the one receiving the word of the Lord was there to give timely words (as she does!), and maybe even to ensure that she was not giving a false prophecy. Because while you may or may not remember that the penalty for giving a false word was death, according to Deuteronomy 18:20, the reality of leading a military operation with bad intel is also death. In this case, if she was giving a false word, it would mean the death of Barak and his army. I don’t see any evidence that Barak was abdicating his responsibilities to Deborah. The text makes it clear that he still did everything that was expected of him as the general, Deborah just traveled with them. Her going showed her confidence in God and that she had received a word from Him. In my book, gold stars to both of them!

The fact that Deborah was a woman leading Israel has caused some stir in how this story has been used, but let’s not use this story for our own agendas, let’s just tell it as it is – Barak wanted his leader to go with him, especially since she was a prophetess. Interestingly, for people who have not yet read the rest of this story, it is commonly misunderstood that Deborah was saying that she would get the honor instead of Barak, but that is not what she was saying at all. Since she has been shown by God what would happen, she let Barak know that he would not get the honor. I don’t think this was a struggle between a man and a woman for power or authority. This was a general pulling together all his resources to ensure the victory, and what I find most appealing about Barak was that he cared more about the well-being of his army and its victory in battle, than about who got the honor.

Barak was a man of God who submitted to the authority over him, cared about the people entrusted to him, and didn’t care who receive the credit for accomplishing the mission. Imagine what God would do through His people if none of us cared about who got the credit, as long as God received all the glory! Let’s take the next step to learn how we can become this type of people!

STEP #3 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: CARE FOR THE MATURING PLANT

Through Barak’s partnership with Deborah, God won the victory, and Israel experienced forty years of rest. But, as the continuation of the story teaches us, it was neither Barak, nor Deborah, who received the honor for this great victory, but, rather, the woman Jael. They each had a part to play, and we see this clearly in Judges 4:

I’m not sure if you caught some of the nuances of this story, but the summary statement says it all, from Judges 4:23-24, “So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the sons of Israel. The hand of the sons of Israel pressed heavier and heavier upon Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin the king of Canaan.” To mature into a fruit-bearing plant that reaps a harvest of praise to the glory of God, you must learn that it is God who gives the victory and it is God who brings together His people to do what must be done – whether we see this through the lens of military language, athletic imagery, farming, or family, God has established us as one body for His glory! Let’s now turn to the last action step so that our lives will reap a harvest of praise to the glory of God.

STEP #4 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: REAP A HARVEST OF PRAISE

God intends for us to work together as many members of one body. This is emphasized by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 12-14, Ephesians 4:11-16; and in Roman 12:4-8. The latter passage captures some of the heart of Barak and Deborah’s partnership:

For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

I read Judges 4-5 as a faith story, describing a man and woman of God learning how to work together within God’s call to serve Israel with their gifts and talents. As they grew in the faith that invites partnership, they sang a beautiful duet together. Do you have a favorite duet? Maybe when Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond came together to sing, “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers,” or Faith Hill and Tony Bennett when they sang, “The Way You Look Tonight.” There is something magical about a beautiful duet – when it is done properly the gifts of both complement one another and they are better together.[1]

The story of Deborah and Barak is told twice – Judges 4 tells the story in prose and Judges 5 shares it as poetry, in the form of a duet. Judges 5:1-3 introduces, then begins, their beautiful song, “Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying, ‘That the leaders led in Israel, that the people volunteered, bless the LORD! Hear, O kings; give ear, O rulers! I – to the LORD, I will sing, I will sing praise to the LORD, the God of Israel.’” [emphasis added] This is a rare discovery, because the next closest thing to a duet in the Bible was the Song of Miriam (Exodus 15:20-21), which immediately followed the Song of Moses (Exodus 15:1-19). Even more than Moses and Miriam, who songs are recorded separately, Deborah and Barak sang, as one, of their victory, and they gave God all the glory! Just as foretold, the song gave honor to a woman for the victory, as Judges 5:24 declared of the heroine, “Most blessed of women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; most blessed is she of women in the tent.” Not Deborah or Barak! But, as you listen to their song, they are giving honor to many; they not only honor the champion, but the many from the tribes who fought, whether volunteer or commander.

That leads us to the closing point of today’s teaching on the transforming story of Barak’s faith. When we live by faith, realizing that we are in this together, then it doesn’t matter who gets the credit or is honored, but that God gets all the glory! As the church of Jesus Christ, we are the body of Christ, and we must bring all that we have together to fulfill the mission and bring glory to God. Paul taught this in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27:

For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.

You can watch the message by clicking HERE.

FOOTNOTE: