The Mission

          He set his feet in the dust and grit his teeth.  This was the moment it all came to.  All the pain, all the training, all the sacrifice came down to this day.  To his left and right stood men of courage and steadfast will like his own.  These were men he loved and aspired to be like.  He had never told them, but he wanted to make them proud today.  He wanted to stand tall with them and show them he was worthy to stand with them in this battle.

          The horn blows, and the training kicks in.  It feels like instinct as every shield locks into place with the shields on either side.  They form a shield wall, a barrier of steel against the oncoming horde.  “Spears!”  Immediately seven foot poles fitted with steel spearheads emerge from the shield wall.

          He grips the shaft of his spear tightly as he levels the weapon toward the enemy.  This is the instrument that will do the damage.  This is the tool by which the enemy will fall.  By this spear the mission will be accomplished!

          It is the weapon that has had the most impact in war since the beginning of time.  It has even been used as recently as the 19^th Century. It is a simple weapon made of two parts:  the shaft and the blade.  Both can be somewhat effective by themselves.  The blade can do damage.  The shaft can strike at range, but when you put them together, you have a weapon of substantial power.

          The spear is the mission!  The mission that God has put us on in this world is to, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations!” (Matthew 28:19a).  When it comes to people, there are two parts of the mission, just like there are two parts of the spear.  You must have a team of people that feel the call of God to go.  This is the blade.  They will bring the Gospel of the Lord Jesus to where it needs to hit and make the impact.  There it will pierce hearts and change lives.  The other part is the shaft.  These are the people that pray for and provide financially for those who go.  They make it possible for the team to reach across continents and help them to be effective.  The shaft gets the blade where it needs to be to do damage to the kingdom of darkness.  “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds” (1 Corinthians 10:4).

          You are called to be part of the spear as God has called you to go forth and make disciples.  You are to be the blade wherever you are while others are praying for you to be effective where you are.  Maybe you are called to be the blade in a distant place where the rest of the church will be the shaft that gets you there.  Maybe you are called to be part of that shaft, in prayer or in both prayer and financial support, which will send the blade further than it could have gone without you.

          We have multiple mission opportunities on the horizon at Eastlake.  We will be starting some mission work in our local communities before the end of the year, and the United Kingdom mission will continue next summer.  Pray and ask God what part He would have you play in the mission to reach this world with the light of Jesus Christ.

The Shield

We are centuries removed from the kind of combat that involves a shield, so the intricacies of such combat can be lost on us.  A wide variety of shields have been used on the battlefield from the large, rectangular Roman scutum to the buckler, which was sometimes not more than six inches in diameter.  The defensive capabilities of the shield are easily observable.  When your opponent swings a sword or a club at your head, putting a large piece of wood or steel between your skull and that strike is obviously beneficial to your survival.  Very rarely, though, do we understand the offensive capabilities of this marvelously simple tool.

The culture of ancient Israel and the Greek, Roman, and Near East cultures Paul spoke and wrote to would be well aware that the shield was not just a defensive weapon.  It was also used to pummel and batter your opponent.  A shield is a bludgeon, and it can kill as effectively as a mace.  Roman soldiers used their huge scutums to push and bully their opponents, and they often brought the edge of their scutum down on the heads of grounded enemies to finish them rather than using their gladius.  Spartan soldiers used their bronze shields to knock their enemies to the ground and the sharp edge to slash, wound, and kill.  The buckler was used as a steel fist, the bosses of many types of shields were used similarly, and the Scots even attached a steel spike to the boss of their targe.

The common knowledge in those times of the shield's offensive use in combat should help refine our view of the shield used in Scripture.  Paul tells us to, "In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one" (Ephesians 6:16).  The shield of faith is used to push forward and engage the enemy, to stand and fight against the darkness.

We have been shown the glory of God as He has spoken to us through His Son in these last days.  Our response to such love and grace is faith and trust in who Jesus is.  James reveals that the natural outworking of faith is works, "I will show you my faith by my works" (James 2:18b).  For more on this, see Faith That Works.  Faith is not passive.  Faith does not simply sit still and defend what we know is true.  It is active.  The world tells us believing in more than the visible is foolishness, and the shield of faith slams itself against such ideas.  Strong faith refuses to relent.  It refuses to give in.  It presses forward despite resistance.  It extinguishes flaming arrows.  It turns blades.  It pushes through obstacles.  It slashes, smashes, and crushes the evil that stands before it just like a strong shield.

God has given you a powerful weapon in faith.  Use it.  Push forward.  Be relentless as you seek righteousness.  When Satan tries to throw doubt and fear at you, let it bounce off your faith, but do not stop there.  Let your faith in the Bright Morning Star crush it to the ground and deal the death blow.  Fight the good fight.  Stay the course.  Keep the faith.

Round Shield with Boss

Scottish Targe

Roman Scutum

Spartan Shield