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Shammah fighting for Lentils: Standing for What Belongs to the Lord (2 Samuel 23) · (Un) Common thoughts of Christ

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: We call this podcast session Shema in the Lentil Field and what this means for today.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Before we read the scripture, picture the scene.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: A field, a troop of enemies.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: The people fleeing.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: And one man standing.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Not because the field was large.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Not because it looked impressive, but because it belonged to the Lord.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: The account we'll read is in 2 Samuel twenty three verses eleven and twelve says And after him was Shammah, the son of Agi the Harorite.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentiles, and the people fled from the Philistines.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: But he stood in the midst of the ground and defended it, and slew the Philistines, and the Lord wrought a great victory.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: The Philistines gather in force.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: There is a piece of ground full of lentils.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: The people flee.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: But Shammah stands in the midst of the ground and defends it.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: At first we might ask, Why risk your life over a lentil field?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: It was not a palace.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: It was not a throne.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: It was not a fortified city.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: It was a field of lentils.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: But faith does not measure ground by outward greatness.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Faith measures ground by its owner.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: And this ground was part of Jehovah's Inheritance.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: That is the first lesson.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: The enemy often begins by attacking what appears small.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: A little field.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: A little truth.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: A little principle.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: A little act of obedience.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: A little matter of conscience.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Something many might say is not worth the trouble.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: But Shamma saw differently.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: The question was not, how impressive is this field?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: The question was, does this belong to the Lord?
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: If it belongs to the Lord, it must not be surrendered.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Now consider the lentil field itself.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Lentils speak of simple food, ordinary food, daily food.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Not royal delicacies, but basic provision.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: That is why the field mattered.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: It was a place where food grew for the people of God.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: So the lentil field may speak of the simple, sustaining truths God has given for the nourishment of his people, the authority of Scripture, the holiness of God, the glory of Christ.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: A lentil field might be holding fast the lordship of Christ in his assembly, or the small field might be the need for obedience or having a good conscience.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: The lentil field might be the quiet daily feeding of the soul upon Christ.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: These may seem like lentils to some.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Small, common, ordinary things, but without them, the people of God are weakened.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: That is why the enemy wants the field.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: If the field is lost, nourishment is lost.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: If nourishment is lost, strength is lost.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: If strength is lost, testimony is lost.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: So the lentil field is not small when viewed spiritually.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: It is the ground of practical sustenance.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: It is the place where the people of God are fed.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Private prayer may be a lentil field.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: The reading of Scripture may be a lentil field.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord's table may be a lentil field.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Assembly order may be a lentil field.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: A tender conscience may be a lentil field.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Standing for holiness, when others call it harsh, may be a lentil field.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: These things may not look impressive, but they feed the people of God.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: They preserve spiritual strength.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: They maintain what belongs to the Lord.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now think about the Philistines.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: The Philistine is not simply an enemy far outside the land.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: He is in the land.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: He is near the things of God.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: He handles holy things.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: He even captured the Ark and put it in the house of Dagon.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Israel had crossed the Red Sea.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Israel had crossed the Jordan.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: They had the history of redemption out of Egypt, an entrance into the land by way of death and resurrection in figure.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: But the Philistine had neither crossed the Red Sea nor the Jordan.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yet he was in the land.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: That is deeply searching.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: The Philistine gives us a picture of religious flesh.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Man after the flesh, taking up divine things without the moral title of redemption, obedience, separation, and faith.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: He may know religious language.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: He may handle sacred things.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: He may be near the ark, but he has not come by God's way.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: And this is one of the most subtle dangers among the people of God.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: The attack is not always open unbelief.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the danger is religious flesh occupying Christian ground.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: If the holiness of God is set aside, if the authority of Scripture is weakened, if evil is tolerated for the sake of outward calm, then the Philistine has entered the field.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: That is why Shamma's stand matters.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: He did not stand for personal preference.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: He did not stand for pride.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: He did not stand to make himself important.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: He stood because the field belonged to Jehovah.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: There is a great difference between defending my ground and defending God's ground.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: If I am defending my own importance, I all become hard, bitter, and self-occupied.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: But if I am defending what belongs to the Lord, I must be humbled, dependent, and obedient.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Shamma was not the center of the story.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord was.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: The passage does not end by saying, Shema wrought a great victory.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: It says, The Lord wrought a great victory.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: And here, Ephesians 6 gives us the New Testament light on how to stand.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Paul writes, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Then he says, Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: That word stand is important.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Shammer stood in the midst of the ground.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 6 tells us how the believer stands in the evil day, not with fleshly weapons, not with anger, not with self confidence, not with personal controversy, the loins must be girt about with truth.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: The inward man must be held together by what God has said, not rumour, not assumption, not pressure, but truth.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: The breastplate of righteousness must guard the heart.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: A man cannot rightly defend holy ground if his own conscience is careless.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: The feet must be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Even in conflict, the spirit is not to be quarrelsome.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: The soul stands in peace before God, seeking peace according to truth.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: The shield of faith must be taken.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Fiery darts will come, fear, loneliness, accusation, misunderstanding, discouragement, and the suggestion that the field is not worth defending.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Faith lifts the shield and says, God sees, God knows, God is enough.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: The helmet of salvation guards the mind.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: The enemy presses panic and despair, but salvation steadies the thoughts before God.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Then comes the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is the only offensive weapon, not personality, not pressure, not cleverness, not loudness, but the word of God.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, Paul adds, praying always.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: That keeps the soul dependent.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: A man may stand before men, but he must be on his knees before God.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: So Shamma's lentil field shows us the place of conflict.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 6 shows us the manner of conflict.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: The field is defended by standing.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: But the standing must be in the Lord, in his strength, with his armor, under his word and in prayer.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: The enemy may say, it is only a small matter.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: But perhaps that is exactly why he wants it.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Small ground surrendered today becomes larger ground lost tomorrow.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: The Philistine spirit never stops with one field.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: It presses further, it occupies, it weakens, it disarms, it intimidates.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: But Shammah shows us another way.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: He stood.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: And the Lord wrought.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: The people fled.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: That is solemn too.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Numbers do not prove faithfulness.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: The crowd may flee.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: The majority may decide the field is not worth defending.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Many may say, This is not the time, this is not the issue.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: But if the ground belongs to God, the question is settled.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: The question is not will others stand with me.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: The question is, does this belong to the Lord?
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: And if it does, faith cannot abandon it.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Still, Shamma's stand was not self-will.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: It was not fleshly boldness.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: It was not a man trying to prove himself right.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Faithfulness is not loudness.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Faithfulness is not stubbornness.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Faithfulness is not personal combativeness.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: Faithfulness is subjection to God when his claim is at stake.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: A lentilfield may not impress men, but if God gave it, faith must hold it.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: So the closing question is this What lentil field has the Lord placed before us?
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: What truth?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: What principle?
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: What holy ground?
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: What divine claim is being treated as small, inconvenient, or expendable?
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: And when the pressure comes, when others flee, when the Philistine gathers in a troop, will we quietly stand in the midst of the ground and say, This belongs to the Lord?
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: I cannot surrender it.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: May the Lord give us grace not to defend ourselves, not to preserve a name, not to fight in the flesh, but to stand for what belongs to him.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: And may we stand with the whole armour of God, truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, the word of God, and prayer.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Then it may be said again, not that man wrought a great victory, but that the Lord wrought a great victory.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: That is the question for today, standing for our Lord and Saviour, with the enemy still attacking now, like he did in Sharma's day.