We have seen clearly the word of God as a sword HERE.
We have also been challenged to be certain this sword is active in our own lives HERE.
Now, I question … How do you bring/preach it to others?
Maybe we should share only with those who believe? Or instead SHOVE it into each heart we come into contact with? Maybe we can hide it in our hearts for the ‘right moment’ or shower it on others like a soft rain? Maybe we only bring it up if it was already brought up by someone else? Or we can just ignore it and hope somehow it reaches others like it reached us?
The best answer I have found is included in the word itself, of course :
Matthew 13:24-30
New International Version (NIV)
The Parable of the Weeds
24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.
If you are confused about how harvest and crops have to do with a sword… you have not read part two… so go ahead and do it now by clicking HERE.
This parable is simply about heaven and those who would enter it. The enemy wishes to have those plans be spoiled so he adds his ‘bad crop’ among the good. I am sure you can see how our churches and groups of friends may easily fit this example a bit too well. We all may have met someone who very much could be a Judas Iscariot.
When we meet a Judas, will we know? I doubt it. Just like the Wheat and the Chaff (or weeds) without the head you have no idea what is what. The Enemy knows this, which is why he chose this type of plant. The entire time the workers and the owner of the land gave ALL the plants what they needed to survive. None would have been spared this as they did not know any was different from another and even at the time it became noticeable where the loyalties of the plants were, the owner STILL calls for them to be treated the SAME!
He understands the plan of the enemy is to have us be worried about the cultivation and to try and save the ones we care about more. God wants more than this.
The finality of this parable really captures the truth of our need to share the word of God.
Matthew 13:30
New International Version (NIV)
30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
In the end they will be separated. We have no need to pick and choose who and how we share the Gospel. Even the method is not to be worried about. If I water a plant, no matter how I water it… it gets the water and the nutrients needed. There may be one method which works better than another, but we just have to trust in the word of God to do the heavy lifting. We cannot save anyone, but we CAN let them know of the chance of salvation. This should not be held back from anyone, as we cannot even tell who is who.
What attitude did Christ ask for of those he sent out while he yet still lived?
Luke 10:1-16
New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two
10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
5 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.
8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades.
16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
(emphasis mine)
We go to all, and accept rejection with the proclamation of His Word!
And finally … setting forth with your sword in your grip.. ready for battle as well as cultivation, know and understand the mindset Christ wanted from His followers as He sent us to take on the WORLD.
Matthew 28:16-20
New International Version (NIV)
The Great Commission
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
(emphasis mine)