March 10, 2024
From The Series: When
God Rebuilds…
Part 11 When the Work
Comes to a Standstill
Ezra 4:24-5:10
Mountain View
Evangelical Missionary Church
We are once again continuing in our series from the Book of Ezra. We are going to jump right in and read the passage first thing.
Turn with me in your Bibles to
Ezra chapter 4 and this morning we are going to start at verse 24. Now, if you
have been paying attention, you should have noticed that we have skipped over a
huge section of chapter 4. We have gone from verse 5 to verse 24.
I know what you are thinking, “I
thought you said that you preach through a book in the Bible verse-by-verse. I
thought you said you don’t skip over any of the hard verses? What gives
preacher man?”
Well, we are skipping these
verses because they are out of chronological order. The events described in
verses 6 to 23 of chapter 4 actually occurred historically after the events in chapter
10 of Ezra.
I have said in the past that the
Bible is not written like a historical textbook. Sometimes the pericopes are
arranged in a book by theme, or in a grouping of lessons that the author wishes
to emphasize to the reader.
A similar thing happens in the
Gospel of Mark in chapter 14. Do you remember when Mary anoints the head of
Jesus with the expensive perfume? That event actually, occurs right at the
beginning of the Passion Week when Jesus first arrives in Jerusalem. Mark
places it just before the Last Supper so that it is recorded to symbolically indicate
the anointing of Jesus before the final night with the Twelve. The other
synoptic Gospels place it in the proper chronological order.
So, the verses that we are
skipping now, we will come back to them in their proper chronological order so
as to make the book of Ezra a little less confusing.
Let’s read the passage together,
Ezra 4:24.
READ Ezra 4:24-5:10
I need to make one correction from last week. I stated that the construction of the Temple was halted in the year 530 BC when King Cambyses took the reign of the Medo-Persian Empire. The Temple was actually halted about 6 years before Cambyses took control in the year 536 BC. Cambyses did become king of Persia in 530 BC, but the construction of the Temple occurred in 536 BC.
So, the
events in line 24 happened in 536 BC. We saw last week that the enemies to this
work, the neighbors to the north of Jerusalem, the peoples who would later
become known as the Samaritans in the days of Jesus had become successful in
their petitions to the authorities to halt the work of the faithful in
Jerusalem.
The enemies
were so successful that the timespan between verse 24 of chapter 4 and verse 1
of chapter 5 is sixteen years. Think about that, the exiles have returned after
a period of 70 years, they finally received permission to resume construction
of the Temple and after only three short years, a time that was spent primarily
gathering the building materials that they would need to reconstruct the temple,
their work is halted. They were able to erect an altar and begin worship of
Yahweh in the manner that was prescribed to them by God, then they got the
foundation laid for the building and their work came to a screeching halt.
We may
ask if the tactics of Zerubbabel and the other leaders were wise in being so
exclusive in refusing the offer of the neighbors to assist them in the building
of the Temple. Was this the best course of action for them when it resulted in
a delay of 16 years in the accomplishment of their goals?
We must
be careful not to judge them by today’s liberal cultural standards. The world
tells us we must be inclusive at all costs. Compromise is the accepted course
of action today. When a person is concerned with maintaining purity in any
form, they are accused of being hateful, hurtful, or a bigot, or any other title
given to them from a long list of names that are applied to those who wish to
remain faithful to the principals that run counter to culture.
The
Jewish leaders of that day were attempting to maintain the spiritual purity of
their ancestors. It may seem harsh to us, but we cannot argue with the results
of their actions. Judaism is one of the faiths that has remained true to its
roots. The Jewish people are not particularly concerned with winning new
converts to their faith. This has allowed them to remain relatively spiritually
pure over the years. There have indeed developed different sects within
Judaism, some are more orthodox than others. There has developed a small “L”
liberal group within Judaism that has lost some of its conservative values. However,
conversion to the Jewish faith is done largely through the marriage of Gentiles
to Jews and through the raising of the children of mixed-faith marriages in the
Jewish tradition.
So,
while the actions of the leadership in the days of Ezra may not seem like the
best course of action to us today, we cannot argue with the results of that
decision. There was wisdom among the leadership, even if it did result in the
creation of enemies outside the community. The inclusion of the Samaritans
would have avoided the delay to the building, but at what cost to the worship
that would later occur in the temple?
It
would be extremely difficult to accept the help of a group in the construction
of the building, only to then exclude them from the worship practices that
would happen in the very building that they helped to construct. We must be
aware of this when we as a church are willing to accept help from anyone
outside the family.
I’m not
saying that all outsiders will work in malicious ways against us when they
help. Some may. Some may have an agenda where they will deliberately work
against the orthodoxy of a local group of believers by inserting their belief
systems into the group. This may be done consciously or even subconsciously by
the outsider.
It is
the unconscious malaise that concerns me the most. This attitude can become
infectious, especially in a small church when it is just easier to go along to
get along. We don’t want to risk offending someone so we delay in standing up for
what is right. Sometimes we allow people to be in positions in a church because
someone needs to do the work. It is so easy for bad habits to develop in a
group of Believers because we want to be inclusive. Sometimes it is better to
delay the launch of a new program or ministry until you have the right people
in place. The people that align with your values and goals, so that you may
work at pulling in the same direction instead of having to make constant course
corrections because one member is out of step with the rest.
I keep
returning to the words that Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. I see so many parallels
with the Christian church as a whole today. Not necessarily this church, but so
many Christian churches are becoming Corinthianized. This is a concept that we
read about in the Men’s group a few weeks back. So many of today’s churches are
allowing themselves to be influenced too much by culture or other outside
influences that they are becoming ineffective witnesses to their communities.
Why would
anyone come to church on a Sunday morning, when the church does not look any
different than the Lion’s Club, the Elks, or the local community hall? Paul
warned the church in Corinth against this practice by concentrating on the one
thing that separated the church from everyone else. The crucifixion of Jesus
Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 3, verses 10 to 11 Paul wrote, “10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
Paul
is warning the Corinthians and by extension, warning us that the minute we
begin building on any other foundation than Jesus Christ we will run into
trouble. When we begin to neglect the foundational teachings of the Bible and
of Jesus Christ, we begin to put the very structure of our church in danger.
This straying does not just happen in the pulpit. It is easy for this straying
to occur throughout a church in the various ministries that a church may have.
When we do outreach events, we should be aware of the image that we are
projecting to the non-believing world.
People
are constantly watching us and judging us by our actions. The world measures
our actions against our words to make sure that our walk matches our talk. This
is another way that we “witness” for Jesus. When we call ourselves Christians,
yet we are constantly angry with our kids, is that an effective witness for
Jesus? If we are constantly at odds with our spouses, are we being effective
witnesses? If we regularly show up late for work, leave early, or only put in
half-hearted efforts, are we being effective witnesses for Jesus?
I’m
not saying we need to be perfect, but are we working on living Holy lives?
Lives that are set apart from the world. Lives that are in the world but not of
the world. Are we putting in the effort to grow in our walk with Jesus? Are we
being genuine with others? Are we being vulnerable enough to share our
struggles with each other and do life together in a Biblical manner?
Are
we being loving enough with each other so that when a brother or sister in
Christ comes to us and admits their struggles, we come alongside in a
non-judgmental and confidential manner and help that person? Do we let that
person know that we don’t expect perfection from them, but rather we hope for a
sincere desire for them to do better in their lives and to grow closer in their
walk with Jesus?
Are
we laughing together? Are we genuinely showing others the joy that we should
have that comes from the peace of knowing Jesus? The peace that we should have
from knowing Jesus is a peace that should carry us through the troubles that we
will face in our lives. I know that this is easier said than done, and if you
are struggling right now, I’m not passing judgment on you. The opposite is
true. I desire to show you where we should look for our peace.
As
Believers, we should always look to Jesus to be our rock. The firm foundation on which we build our lives on. Jesus Himself gave us these very words of encouragement,
not once but twice in two different locations recorded in two different
Gospels. Matthew records these words on the side of a mountain in the Sermon on
the Mount, and Luke records Jesus as having given us these words on a plain at
the base of a mountain.
Turn with me to Matthew chapter 7 starting at verse 24.
READ Matthew 7:24-26
Do you
see what our Saviour is saying here? When we remember to build our lives on the
firm foundation of the life of Jesus, we will be able to weather the storms
that life throws at us. Not just the life of Jesus though. We need to build our
lives on the completed work on the cross of Jesus Christ. The life, death,
burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that is what we must build our lives
on.
We must
trust that Jesus was who He claimed to be. God, who existed from eternity past,
deemed it worthy to take on human flesh and to be born of a virgin. Born to a
chosen people, under a time of occupation by foreign rulers. A simple man of
simple means, born to the working class and trained in the ways of a carpenter.
But He was more than a carpenter. He was to be the means that fallen man could
be reconciled back to the Creator whom mankind had turned his back on in open
rebellion to this Creator God.
This
God-man lived a perfect and sinless life so that He would be the only
acceptable and suitable sacrifice to pay the penalty to the Father on behalf of
the fallen mankind. A perfect God-man who bore the punishment for the sins that
I committed against a Holy and Just God. The punishment for your sins, and the
punishment for the sins of all of the elect, whom the Father has given the Son.
Almost
two thousand years ago, this God-man was nailed to a rough-hewn Roman cross between
two common criminals and executed on a hill named Calvary. This Jesus of
Nazareth bore the anger and righteous wrath of the Father that was due to each
of the rebellious, sinning children, in an effort to bring us rebellious ones,
who were chosen by God, back into a loving relationship with the Father. A
relationship that will extend past this life and extend into eternity in the
New Jerusalem.
This
gift, which we call Grace, cannot be earned, and we do not deserve it based on
our own merits. We can only accept this gift with humility and appreciation and
do our best to share it with others. This Grace is reinforced by ordinary means
in several ways. When we gather like this on Sunday mornings, we come together
and exchange Grace with each other in our fellowship. We also receive Grace
when we sing songs of worship, give our offerings to God, and when we sit under
the teaching of His Word.
By
reading and applying the teachings of Jesus to our daily lives, we are building
those lives on the rock-solid life of Jesus Christ. Those who do not, those who
have not, those who are lost and do not yet know Jesus in an intimate and
personal way, are the ones who are building their lives on the foundation of
sand.
I want
to implore you with these words, so please listen carefully. You may have sat
in a church for years and years, you may have heard countless sermons, you may
have read the Bible countless times over, but if you have done any or all of
that apart from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, then all that effort
is for naught.
I don’t
care what your pedigree is, I don’t care what degrees or what schools you went
to, I don’t care how many Christians you have in your family tree, none of that
counts for anything if you don’t know Jesus. If you haven’t
accepted Jesus as your Saviour. If you haven’t made Him Lord of your life, then
all your works count for nothing. What do I mean when I say “made Jesus Lord of
your life”?
When
you make Jesus Lord of your life, you are applying the teachings of Jesus in
the hours you live outside this building after Sunday mornings. If you are not
living these words, then Jesus is not Lord. You have simply set up an idol in your
life and stuck the name of Jesus on this false god so that you can find some
sense of community somewhere and belong to something.
Maybe
you think you have to clean up your life before you can accept Jesus. This is
wrong thinking. Thinking that way now negates the gift of Grace because you
would have earned something through your works. If you think you can earn God’s
love, then you are misreading the Bible. If you think that you can come to
Jesus on terms that you get to set, you are wrong.
Scripture
tells us, the only thing we earn is death. The wages of sin is death. All have
sinned through Adam. Through that original betrayal, all have been condemned.
We must accept this condemnation from Adam in order to receive the forgiveness
through Jesus.
Sitting
in church won’t save you. Tithing your money won’t save you. Serving in
ministries won’t save you. Church membership won’t save you. Only accepting the
completed work of Jesus on your behalf on that Roman Cross and acknowledging
that the resurrection from the tomb three days later is the only proof that you
need that Jesus is who He said that He was and that He is God incarnate. He
loves you enough to have endured the punishment of the Father for you so that
you may become reconciled to Him.
Please,
if you have not accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour if you do not have the
evidence in your life of a changed life, a life that can only be changed
through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, then do not delay and pray and ask
Jesus to reveal Himself to you and to come and change your life in a radical
way, a way so radical that it could only be explained as supernatural. A way
that will be so spectacular, that God will get the glory for that change
because it will be plain to all that only God could have done such a thing.
Galatians
chapter five tells us of these proofs of a radical change in our lives. They
are called the fruit of the Spirit, and I encourage you to read them and see
how your life compares with that list. If you are coming up short in
comparison, then please come and talk with me and we will be able to change
that for you.
Let’s turn back to Ezra and pick up on today’s message. The enemies of God’s work were external enemies near Jerusalem, but the church today needs to guard against enemies of the Gospel within the church. That sense of malaise I mentioned earlier is deadly to the spread of the Gospel. When we lose the sense of urgency for the need to spread the Gospel we are on the wrong path. When we become self-centered and begin to think that “I’m not getting enough from church” then we are turning our backs on the work that Jesus Christ has given all Believers.
My wife Marilyn came up with this saying years ago, and I really love the sentiment behind these words. “Once you are saved, it’s not about you anymore”. What she means by that, is once you have accepted Jesus, you should continue to work on your sanctification, but you shouldn’t be only concerned with yourself. Once you have the gift of Grace, once your Salvation is sure, then we must go and share the Good News with others to further the Kingdom of God. We do it not to earn favor with God, but to show appreciation for the gift that has been given us. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “If you love me, you will obey me”.
I’m not
saying that it is wrong to expect to receive something from church attendance. The
thing that you should be “getting” is your batteries recharged and rejuvenated
to go back out into the world and slay some dragons as you spread the Gospel.
Perhaps you need to be recharged so that you can go on serving others through
the week. Maybe that means showing your family, your spouse, or your kids some
Grace during the week. Maybe you need to offer an encouraging word to a friend
or co-worker. Maybe you need to have coffee with a neighbor and get to know
them better or give them someone to talk to. If you are listening to the Holy
Spirit, you will become aware of what God desires you to do. How you can reach
out and be His hands and feet to the world.
But, why
did God need to pause the rebuilding of the Temple? Scripture doesn’t say
exactly, but maybe there needed to be a heart attitude check among those doing
the work. When we are in danger of getting off-track or when we have misaligned
our goals with God’s goals, the Lord will often put us in a time-out to allow
us to bring our hearts and plans back around to His plans.
Progress
may be slowed to prevent small problems from multiplying into bigger problems.
There may have been fear among those doing the work, or perhaps there was a
feeling of needing to compromise and work with the Samaritans developing among
those living in Jerusalem.
In the
New Testament, we see that God used jail to slow the Apostle Paul down from His
church-planting work so that Paul would have time to write words of
encouragement to the churches that he started. Words that not only encourage
the original audience that they were intended for, but with the oversight of
the Holy Spirit, those words are encouraging for us today. Just as they have
been for Christians between our time and Paul’s time.
If Paul
had not been under house arrest, awaiting his trial before Caesar, we may have
never had his crowning work, the Book of Romans. Imagine how less edifying our
lives would be without the great truths found in Romans. While he was in
shackles, Paul sat and worked out his theology, then wrote it down in such a
way that could be taught to others through the centuries.
Now look at chapter five and verse 1. “Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them.” Do you see that little white space in your Bible between the end of 4:24 and the start of 5:1? That little space represents 16 years of waiting.
What
was happening in the world around them during these 16 years? Cyrus continued
to expand his empire and try to solidify his control over it. Cyrus dominated
Mesopotamia and in the year 533 BC, Cyrus began to turn control of his kingdom
over to his son Cambysus. In the year 530 BC Cyrus was killed in a battle in
the Northern Frontier of his Kingdom and his son Cambysus officially assumed
the role of king.
Cambysus
went on to expand the empire and conquer Egypt during his reign, but he
returned to the city of Babylon in the year 522 BC to find an imposter sitting
on his throne Cambysus committed suicide and after a brief battle, the Persian
General Darius assumed the kingship.
Now
look in Ezra chapter 5 and read that first verse again. What happened while
they were waiting, they were not abandoned by God. “Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo,
prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel,
who was over them.” The God of Israel was over them. He was watching over them.
He was observing what they were doing while they were waiting. What do you
suppose that Yahweh observed?
It
was in the second year of Darius’s reign that the prophet Haggai was raised up
by Yahweh to speak to the people in Jerusalem. Why was Haggai needed?
Turn with me to the first chapter in the Book of Haggai. Haggai is a small book near the end of the Old Testament. Working backwards for the New Testament we have Malachai, Zechariah, and the Haggai.
We read that while they were waiting, the
people forgot to make God their first priority and began to spend their time and
talents on their homes and luxuries. The LORD declared to them the reason that
they were not prospering was because the Temple was still in ruins, while their
houses grew and were refurbished. Yahweh admitted that he withheld blessings
from the people because they were already forgetting about Him. They wanted to
see what they could “get” first, before worrying about what they could “give”
to the LORD.
We
are starting to run out of time here, so we will just quickly go through the
rest of the passage. We see in verse three that the enemies were still trying
to cause trouble. They sent officials to try and intimidate the builders, but
in verse five Scripture tells us that the eye of God was watching over them and
the corrupt officials could not stop them. Their work continued despite letters
and envoys being sent to the new King and his court to try and stop the work.
Notice the questions that were asked of the Jewish leaders and builders. “Who
authorized you to rebuild and finish this and give me the names of your
leaders”. They sound like a bunch of modern-day Karens who are trying to impose
their authority on the leadership in Jerusalem.
The
Jewish leaders did respond in writing, and they sent their response to the
king. We are going to have to wait a few weeks until we find out together what
that response said. You can go and read for yourself if the suspense gets to
you.
Starting
next week, I thought we might take a break from the Book of Ezra and do a
4-part mini-series on the Providence of God. I thought it would be interesting
to see how God is at work and examine some of the claims made against God and
the crucifixion of Jesus. Was that planned by God, or did Romans control the
situation and God just had to make due with a bad situation? We will examine
what Scripture has to say about it, and see if we can come to some biblical
conclusions.
CONCLUSION
What are we to
make about these lessons here in Ezra about exclusivity in the community? Is
there an application for us in the Christian church? Are we to be exclusive, or
are we to be inclusive to all people and all viewpoints?
One commentator
put it this way, “Great confusion has been imported into the controversy on a Church’s
capacity to keep it separate from the question of tolerance in its religion.
The two are distinct in many respects. Comprehension or admittance to the
church is an ecclesiastical matter. A matter for the governing body of the
church to decide. Tolerance is primarily concerned with the policy of the state
and it falls within their purview. While it is admitted that nobody should be
coerced in his religion by the state, it is not therefore to be assumed that
everybody is to be received into the Church.”
In other words,
some intolerance or exclusion of some who hold opposing views to that which the
local church holds dear is permissible. The church should be welcoming to all
that appear, but the Bible is also clear that a person may be asked to leave
for various reasons for the protection of the body. Should this be done
lightly, not at all. I know from speaking with some that there have been deep
hurts posed upon some of you because of knee-jerk reactions done by churches in
your past. The thing is, that churches are run by imperfect people and
sometimes we get things wrong. The one thing that should be done above all
these disciplinary actions is to reconcile with fellow Believers. There should
be harmony among the Universal Church.
Nevertheless, we
feel that there is a real and vital connection between the ideas of tolerance
and Church discernment. The question therefore arises, What are the limits to
tolerance within a Church? The attempt to fix these limits by creeds and canons
has not been wholly successful, either in excluding the unworthy or in
including the most desirable members. The drift of thought in the present day
being towards wider inclusion, it becomes increasingly desirable to determine
on what principles this may be attained.
In the eighteenth
century, the Church was in danger of being overrun by the ideas of tolerance
and acceptance. The result? Proper worship and thoughtful religion were nearly
swallowed up in the swamps of indifference. This deplorable issue of a
well-meant attempt to serve the cause of charity suggests that there is little
good in breaking down the barriers of exclusiveness unless we have first
established a potent center of unity.”[1]
What the author
is saying here is that inclusion is primarily the focus of the government and
the authorities. The church is not to lose its way by chasing after others down
the path of inclusion. We are justified in checking one’s credentials at the
door of service within the Body of Christ.
What is the
detail that anchors all the Believers in a church? It is what the Apostle Paul endeavored
to preach wherever he travelled; Christ crucified. Paying attention to this
detail ensures the long-term health and security of the Bride of Christ.
Pastor Paul’s Points:
1) Enemies may cause delays. Enemies may
be among us.
2) God raised up prophets to speak to
Jerusalem.
3) We can be inclusive, just not at the
expense of Christ.
Questions to meditate on this week:
W Why did God pause the construction of the Temple?
2. Did God need to pause the Apostle Paul occasionally?
3. When we are delayed, do we take our eyes off Jesus?
1.
[1]
Walter F. Adeney, “The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther,” in The Expositor’s Bible: Samuel to Job,
ed. W. Robertson Nicoll, vol. 2, Expositor’s Bible (Hartford, CT: S.S. Scranton
Co., 1903), 605–606.
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