Month: November 2015

Read the magazines and blogs on ministry today, and you will get a steady dose of two ideas:

First, the church has not shown enough love to the world in the way we have reflected Jesus to them, and

Second, the world is increasingly offended by our reflection of absolutes in the realm of morality – so we need to navigate sharing them with more care.

The best modern writers “thread a needle” to suggest we shouldn’t “abandon” any of our core beliefs, but we need to be more nuanced about how and when we share them. On first inspection, many in the church in America seem much more concerned with sensitivity than boldness, more with subtle influence than overt zeal. That is a matter of some concern for those who are paying close attention.

That isn’t all bad. I need to be reminded to be tactful and careful all the time! We must be prepared to present Jesus in a way that people can hear what we are saying, to be sure. We naturally shy away from the rude and overly blunt for good reason. Yet, there are times when I honestly question if that sentiment is an accurate portrayal of Jesus and the early church at all. I study the Bible. I study it a lot. I have read Jesus’ self-statements and His methods of ministry as revealed in the Gospels. I have walked the paths of the Apostle Paul and read every word of every letter carefully. Here is what I didn’t see: neither Jesus nor Paul seemed to project a greater concern about the possible offensiveness of their presentation to men than they did about the urgency for lost men’s souls and the need to clearly present critical the truths about God. The early church seemed to celebrate zeal and boldness for Jesus in the face of rising persecution. There appears to be a “disconnect” between the Holy Record and the modern authors.

Whatever happened to the call for ZEAL and the celebration of courage?

I took some time to read more carefully several authors in an attempt to understand what they were seeing that I simply wasn’t. What I found were several lines of argument – mostly framed by the notion that egregious violations from anecdotal Christian history should make us more careful about what we say and how we say it. Their line seems to be something like this: People who claimed Jesus in the past have sometimes been unbelievably unloving in their presentation of Him. That seemed true, so I took some time to ponder that as I reflected on a passage that is very tough to read if all the is true can be found in “syrupy compassion” (Ezra 10)…and the resulting study is today’s lesson.

God’s Word teaches that we must be compassionate, but we cannot make the world’s acceptance our chief goal. We represent God as expressed in His Word. Where that Word conflicts with our modern, ever-shifting and easily wounded sensitivities, we must still speak clearly. We cannot be driven off message by those who ask us to modify God’s Word to be less offensive to them. A message that presents men and women as broken and lost in sin was never, and will never be, truly popular.

Let us be very clear: Compromise of a believer’s call to stand for the revealed truths of God’s Word for the sake of displaying compassion to the world is wrong, for it places the world’s affirmation above loyalty to our Creator. In the short run it may make our faith more palatable to rebels, but it won’t please the God that called us to and for Himself. It won’t represent Him as He truly is. In fact, the lessening of the standards of God’s revealed will can never produce a people more sensitive to God – only people more sensitive to being accepted by a lost world. That isn’t our goal. An ambassador is much more concerned with accurately relating the message of the one who sent him than of being welcomed by his audience. Believers have to keep that in mind. We want to be winsome, but acceptance by the world cannot and must not be our exclusive concern. We want to connect emotionally with lost people because it is dark where they are – but we don’t want to offer them a blanket of comfort to dwell in darkness.

I mention all this because our passage is about a time when God commanded something He never did before, and has never articulated since. This is a “one off” deal, where God made clear that when His intentions were not followed, and people compromised on what He told them to do – the only right way “back” was to take drastic action. Remember our principle from the first part of this message…

Key Principle: There is a process to leading people from disobedience into a right standard.

How do we redirect people when they have done something God said MUST NOT be done?

The scene was one of disobedient Israelites that inter-married with local tribes-people, violating God’s command to remain distinct from such a practice. They were to define marriage “for them” only inside of the tribes of Israel. It didn’t matter what the world did, that was their God-placed limitation. Ezra came to the land, and the intermarriage was shared with him. He fell on his face before God and wept for the magnitude of the violation, and the hubris of leaders who accepted it. Last time we walked through the heavy-hearted response. We ended with the “refocus” on HOPE.

First, Ezra refocused confession toward HOPE (10:1-2).

The beginning is confession of sin – clear, broken and concise…

Ezra 10:1 Now while Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrating himself before the house of God, a very large assembly, men, women and children, gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept bitterly. 2 Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, said to Ezra, “We have been unfaithful to our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.

Talk about a place where “spin” wasn’t happening – I love the fact the verses show Ezra talking straight about the violation. He cried for chapter nine, but now it was time to be decisive.

Ezra attempted to start the wave of complete repentance. He was not putting on a show for the people around him, but rather deliberately falling before the Lord and asking him for much needed mercy. A contrite heart draws others toward God, while a self-centered heart deflects glory from God. Ezra did not wait for others to follow, but lived his life before the Lord, and others saw it for what it was and were moved.

While most people wept bitterly, two leaders stepped forward and spoke with promise and hope about the future. It wouldn’t help to wallow in guilt and despair if they could not offer the earnest expectation that people can change their behavior, and experience God’s grace. The call to repentance isn’t simply a call to an end of wrong behavior, but a call to a new shower of grace and an invigorated new walk with God. Look at the two elements of it in verse two:

• First, there is the admission of guilt: “We have been unfaithful to defining our fences where God put them!”

• Second, there is a call to hope: “God can renew us!”

These two ideas are at the heart of our message to men and women walking in error. We do not explain away the “error” in complexity and compassion – we define right and wrong with the clarion ring of the God’s command. We don’t END with the violation – but with the path to God. The path to the Holy One always leads through humble admission and a request for undeserved favor.

Second, Ezra called on the people to openly commit to difficult changes (10:3-12).

Guilt leads to wallowing in pain while godly sorrow leads to deliberate life change… Without change, hope is an illusion. Things don’t get better until people walk into God’s arms admitting they have been straying…

Ezra 10:3 “So now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law. 4 “Arise! For this matter is your responsibility, but we will be with you; be courageous and act.”

True leaders took up the matter before the country. It was the responsibility of the leadership, but the people needed to commit to stand behind them. It is worth noting that there are times when even the leader is so impacted by the weight of the decision, that paralysis sets in. Nothing motivates the heart of a leader more than followers encouraging him or her to stand for truth — and making a statement of loyalty to God’s purposes in the process.

The leader didn’t run ahead – he brought the people with him. He made sure the commitment was to God’s Word and not simply to him. Because a godly leader is not asking people to follow them apart from the restrictions of God’s Word, the leader can be bold and direct about expecting obedience. Ezra expected the people to make an open promise to do right — and any godly mature leader can do no less. We cannot sanction wrong out of compassion, nor can we make people feel good about denying God’s Word in their lives.

10:5 Then Ezra rose and made the leading priests, the Levites and all Israel, take oath that they would do according to this proposal; so they took the oath.

He was not content to simply address the problem before the people; he continued to be brokenhearted about it. It is the responsibility of the leader to move people past the problem, but that does not mean the leader will not suffer personally the setbacks of facing the problem. Ezra was a man, and as such he was subject to the pain and sorrow that anyone who counsels people out of sin choices in their life can recognize.

10:6 Then Ezra rose from before the house of God and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. Although he went there, he did not eat bread nor drink water, for he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exiles.

The people needed to be led to the point of decision and change. One of the expectations on them needed to be a specific time schedule. Left open ended, people are inclined put off making difficult commitments forever. Ezra chose a three-day time frame, based on the counsel of the leaders about him. Travel time, and other considerations were no doubt discussed.

10:7 They made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the exiles, that they should assemble at Jerusalem, 8 and that whoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the leaders and the elders, all his possessions should be forfeited and he himself excluded from the assembly of the exiles. 9 So all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month on the twentieth of the month, and all the people sat in the open square before the house of God, trembling because of this matter and the heavy rain.

Ezra clearly defined the expectation because people cannot follow an expectation they do not understand. It was his job to make clear the application of God’s rules. The people needed to face their wrong, and take the tough medicine required to right the wrong. Thankfully, the people agreed to do the tough thing.

10:10 Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful and have married foreign wives adding to the guilt of Israel. 11 “Now therefore, make confession to the LORD God of your fathers and do His will; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.” 12 Then all the assembly replied with a loud voice, “That’s right! As you have said, so it is our duty to do.

It is easy to read this without emotion, since the events were recorded twenty-five hundred years ago. Think about the scene. God’s command was violated, and the fence He originally called for needed to be set anew. That wouldn’t be easy, but it wasn’t optional either. We don’t get to be more compassionate than God, more understanding than the Almighty, more clear that the Absolute Light. He places the boundaries and we live within them.

Third, Ezra faced the internal tension and opposition (10:13-17).

There were some practical hurdles that needed to be considered (10:13-14). Ezra needed to listen carefully to the “push back” on the command.

Once everyone agreed that action needed to be taken, specific steps needed to be outlined in the work to make the appropriate responses. The people saw the greatness of the task in front of them, and decided that they would need more time to deal with the issue. This was not an attempt to deny fixing the problem, but a mere recognition that the process of overcoming the problem would be difficult.

Two Hurdles to Overcome

This “push back” was a potential land mine for Ezra. It is easy for the leader to misinterpret any question of clarification or problem presented as rebellion. It is important to recognize that there is a vast difference between opposition of the purpose and questions related to executing the goal. It’s important for us to allow people to explain the difficulties of completing the task, without implying that they are being disloyal or disobedient.

10:13 “But there are many people; it is the rainy season and we are not able to stand in the open. Nor can the task be done in one or two days, for we have transgressed greatly in this matter. 14 “Let our leaders represent the whole assembly and let all those in our cities who have married foreign wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of each city, until the fierce anger of our God on account of this matter is turned away from us.”

A second problem arose that was equally difficult and just as potentially treacherous for Ezra. Inside the practical hurdles, some will be suspicious and insist the only plan is the original plan (10:15). A mature leader must know who stands in opposition, and when it is time to adjust the plan. I think we can understand why SOME would object to appearing to “loosen the standard” to allow more time. Some did in Ezra’s case – but not all…

Ezra 10:15 Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah opposed this, with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supporting them.

I think it may be informative that these men included some from the list of Nehemiah 11, showing they apparently did not object to Ezra because he was moving to separate families – but because he wasn’t doing it QUICKLY ENOUGH. They were ON BOARD with the three day plan – but any extension looked like compromise to them.

Beloved, we who have been in the church for a long time need to be especially careful about this kind of attitude. When we see an issue as essential and agree on the prescription from the Word it doesn’t mean the wrestling is over. We may understand the gravity of the sin, and want to see immediate action taken. That all sounds good. When practical considerations were considered, some compromise of the TIMING of the correction was immediately opposed. Why? Because it is appeared to be some kind of compromise; but it was not! Here is the danger: These men adopted a GUARDIAN SPIRIT over the flock – as though they alone knew what was best. They didn’t. Ezra knew what he was doing. God wasn’t un-pleased with his response to loosen the time frame. Ezra wasn’t compromising of truth, only timing. He was wise and kind all at the same time!

If the four men: Jonathan, Jahzeiah, Meshullam and Shabbethai, had considered carefully all that Ezra already said and did before this easing of time – they could have trusted his intention not to be soft on sin, or allow the Word to be overlooked. After all, there was nothing in the narrative that suggested that Ezra didn’t see the sin clearly, and the remedy clearly. They needed to trust their leader – and I believe they DID when the rest agreed to wait longer.

Fourth, the leaders made a careful inspection of compliance to the rule (10:16-44).

Someone once quipped “You can expect what you inspect!” A specific process of investigation of families was engaged in order to decide to whom the order applied, and whether they were in fact following it. Part of facing opposition is taking people’s various positions and not mis-characterizing them or improperly grouping them with other views. We cannot expect people to understand exactly what they should do simply by offering edicts and commands. It is absolutely essential that God’s leaders be clear about God’s standards, then carefully but lovingly hold people accountable for their pledge to follow God – even when it is difficult.

10:16 But the exiles did so. And Ezra the priest selected men who were heads of fathers’ households for each of their father’s households, all of them by name. So they convened on the first day of the tenth month to investigate the matter. 17 They finished investigating all the men who had married foreign wives by the first day of the first month. 10:18 Among the sons of the priests who had married foreign wives were found of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib and Gedaliah. 19They pledged to put away their wives, and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their offense. .. 44 All these had married foreign wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had children.

Before we leave this book and this problem, it is worth noting the final verse – and the emotional pain it represented. How tough it must have been to divide homes and impact children in this way! How “judgy” and “uncompassionate” that must have seemed to those who did not follow God. Even God’s followers would find that hard to swallow. That kind of reasoning isn’t “new” and “modern” – it is as old as the rebellion against God itself. Men think they know more than God. They think God doesn’t know what is best. That was at the heart of the first sin of Eve, and every sin of men and women since. We know better. We get the idea that God is “out of touch” or doesn’t really understand and care for my needs. It is wrong, but it is common thinking.

Seriously! God broke up families with children? That just seems mean!

The truth is that many people think they have a reason not to obey a command of God that seems too difficult or doesn’t seem to take into account their feelings. We can only imagine that the division of these homes would’ve caused great pain to many people. We can hear the psychologists warning of how this will hurt the children for life, and how it would scar the land with broken people. NPR would have a field day with one expert after another who knew better than God what would be the best “for all concerned”. There is nothing more arrogant than a man or woman who looks straight at the Creator and tells Him He doesn’t have the right to set the standards, and should live with the fruits of our jumped fences.

Let’s be absolutely clear: God had no desire to cause such pain — the pain should be placed on the bearer of the sin, not the bearer of the truth. Because these families were united in a way that was utterly inappropriate, there was no way to alleviate their pain.

A recent case illustrates this point — a homosexual couple made their way into a local church, and subsequently came to Jesus as Savior, and were lovingly guided to divide their relationship because it did not conform to biblical standards. The church was not dividing something God put together, for God had never made the slightest hint that such a union was acceptable to Him. The fact that men declared such a marriage legal did not change the fact that the Scripture has spoken on this issue clearly. “What about the adopted children?” some immediately howled.

It didn’t occur to them how flawed their thinking was. They thought that by ignoring the Biblical standards clearly outlined in the Scriptures, somehow things would work out BETTER. We need to guard our hearts against such poor thinking.

Turning from sin to God’s arms is where real hope should be focused. That’s the plan. There is a process to leading people from disobedience to a right standard.

• It doesn’t include ignoring the standard – but applying it.
• It doesn’t assume we are the judge of God’s standards – but the creature for whom they were made.
• It doesn’t sound like an angry weapon – but is given from a broken heart.

Second chances with God have always been about recognizing the truth of Who He is, who we are and what life is truly about. Grace pours out on the broken, not the arrogant. It is clear that the Bible beckons the prodigal’s return – while the modern university calls on us to see the prodigal’s life needs as the “new normal” while we move the moral fences to accept their way. We must see clearly: that is the rebel’s path and God has consistently called men and women to make the painful and difficult choice to do right after we have done wrong and grown accustomed to it.

How many times would you let someone make up the rules in YOUR marriage? Would you let them wander in and out of your bed between trysts? One woman remembers the days after making the tough choice to draw a line…Someone clipped this for me, and I am not sure where it originated, but the author was a woman named Melodie Miller. Listen to how hard it was for her to do what she needed to do to follow God…

“… Unfortunately, my children were at a young age when their father left our home, and they had to grapple with feelings of rejection and abandonment. The first few weeks were brutal. Comforting my children was exhausting and added to my own heartbreak. I held my 3-year-old daughter, Emelia, and 2-year-old son, Elijah, for hours while they cried. Elijah was deeply saddened by his father’s absence, but he was unable to express his feelings verbally. So in the middle of the night, he would wake up screaming. Other times, Elijah wandered around my bedroom crying, not knowing what to do with himself, only to finally collapse exhausted on the floor. Minutes later, he’d despairingly rise to begin the pattern again. Sometimes I’d hold him in a big bear hug. Other times I would sit on the floor and rock him with tears pouring down my face. “Mama’s here,” I’d say. “I’ve got you. I love you. Stop crying, baby. Elijah, please stop. You’re OK. You’re safe. Mama’s here.” To quiet him, I began singing to my son. “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” Finally, I cried out to the Lord, begging him to comfort Elijah’s soul with the peace only Jesus can give. Proverbs 31:8 tells us, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.” So I interceded for my broken-hearted children and asked the Lord to protect them from the sins of their father. Elijah’s sobbing went on for many nights. I continued to hold him, rock him, sing hymns and pray until he fell asleep. His anguish began to diminish. Finally, he slept soundly through the night. I learned some valuable lessons about God through that difficult time. I realized that God is: My Comforter: …God cares deeply and shares in my sorrows. God sees my trouble and knows about the anguish of my soul (Psalm 31:7). Just as I shared the pain for my boy’s broken heart, my heavenly Father felt the pain of mine. I need to remember to crawl into my Daddy’s lap when I feel helplessly alone.”

I got only a small portion of her story, but it is one I have heard countless times. He plays around, and she doesn’t want to show him the door, but that day comes. She grows distant and he discovers she is in an affair with a guy at work…. Sometimes the person who draws the line in the sand feels like THEY are the one breaking things…but that isn’t so. They are calling their partner back to what God designed for marriage – not the nonsense and games some people prefer to call a life together.

Ezra stepped in and stopped wrong by drawing a line in the sand, redefining the terms back to what God made them. Nothing gets fixed while God’s standards are set aside…

This week, Jesus apparently spent much time on Social Media. He posted a tremendous amount. I took the time to read many of His thoughts on His pages. They were filled with Bible quotes, but seemed to lack clarity at times…

For a while, He appeared in favor of throwing open borders and swallowing the hurting of the Near East in the name of love and compassion. He seemed quite against any religious or loyalty test affiliations for immigrants; that idea apparently seemed thoroughly unloving and unkind. He also seemed to attempt to make some moral equivalent out of the Pilgrims that long ago settled the New World. Jesus used a number of catchy sayings and cartoons and made His point on thousands of posts. Important sources of Jesus’ thinking, like “The Huffington Post” and “Upworthy” shared His thoughts as He poured out important and pithy sayings that made clear what He thought compassion looked like when it applied to our post-Paris immigration scene in the US.

I kept reading… and then I noticed that Jesus didn’t seem to keep one track of thinking, but used other media outlets to swing in other directions on the same issue. I didn’t comment on any of His posts, because I wanted to see where He was going in the evolution of His thinking…

As the week progressed Jesus’ opinions waffled back and forth. Just as firmly stated as His early compassion statements, but supported by different verses than in Jesus’ earlier posts – Jesus started to come out in favor of careful state scrutiny of immigration when there was a significant risk to state security. He didn’t want any state to welcome people without significant assurances that immigrants did not come to bring terror or harm to the streets of that place. Jesus called His people to protect their children and His command to be inviting to strangers did not include people hiding among them who desired to bring violence to their homes.

Jesus was firm and sure on each side – but appeared conflicted. His voice became more muddled as the week went on. He was on both sides of this complex set of issues, and I felt less and less sure where He was going with His thinking. If I were a betting man, I would put money on the fact that many around the world still don’t know where He stands on the issue – even after His many posts.

Let’s be honest: Our newspapers are filled with complex issues. The Jesus of the church of the internet age often seems represented by opposite opinions from His own people – but all of them are quite sure they know what He is thinking based on selections from His Word – even though they don’t seem to agree. I notice that the opinions of Jesus’ people even seem often to be offensive to others among Jesus’ people! Doesn’t that frustrate you?

Wait, I am not trying to be cynical, I want to make an essential Biblical point. My point isn’t to present the definitive “Jesus position” on things like immigration issues of our day – not at all. My point is that followers of Jesus often can’t distinguish between His thoughts and their own perspectives on policy – and we ALL tend to speak as though our perspective is the whole of Jesus’ mind. We need to study Scripture not only to answer questions of morality and reason, but to temper behavior – especially toward one another.

You may ask: “Shouldn’t we disagree when we see it differently?” Truly we should, but we need to keep something in mind: Our testimony is most often best seen in HOW we present our differences – not the SUBSTANCE of those differences. That was true in the New Testament period on an issue – not immigration, but on meat offered to idols. THAT issue doesn’t get people roiled today – but it DID long ago. Paul’s instruction in 1 Corinthians 8 was not so much on the answer to the problem as much as the behavior of God’s people toward one another.

One glaringly large caveat needs to be placed here: There are many things about which God’s truth is clear – but not everything is that clear, so we all should be humble when we navigate murky water. Some followers will lack clarity because they lack information from the Scriptures – they don’t know them well. Others will lack clarity because they have an emotional attachment to the problem, and see it through their feelings. All this should be expected as we work, live, laugh and love each other. Let’s humbly admit that most of settle our minds and then believe our opinion is His opinion – so we all need to be careful. All of us – left, right and center. Those on one side must be as careful as those on the other side – so that in our behavior Christ is not divided, even if our opinions are not all the same.

Key Principle: When we follow Jesus’ teachings, we follow consistent and complicated principles, not simple verse “sound bites”.

Go back with me to the first century. Strip away Islam, immigration, 9/11 and Paris’ terrorism issues and go back in time. The problem was as much a “hot button” issue as these, but needs explanation to help you “feel the heat” lost over two thousand years… The text of 1 Corinthians 8 opened with a simple line that was to evoke deep feelings of certainty and division from the early church…

8:1 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge.

Paul wrote something that was true at the time, but not true now. THEY all had knowledge – but we don’t. We need help with the issue so we can understand the premise of his argument…

As most Bible students know, Jews had specific regulations placed on them by God in both their Constitutional Code of Law (how Jews were instructed to build a unique homeland) in Deuteronomy 14, as well as Criminal Code of Law (how Jews were to deal with the sin breaches of life before a Holy God in Atonement Law) in Leviticus 11, and only a passing comment in Civil Code of Law (Exodus 23 and 34) since they wouldn’t really have all the food choices in the Sinai to Nebo trip.

In any case, Jews were restricted as a sign of their special covenant relationship with God. As the first century rolled on, more and more Gentiles came to Christ. For a time there was tension by Jews who wanted to get the new followers of Jesus from the Gentile born community, and push them to conform to Jewish dietary and Atonement Laws – in part to get them subject to the Temple (a political reason) and perhaps also in part because they felt it would fully bind them to the God of Israel (a theological reason). Paul spent much of his ministry making clear to both Messianic Jews and former Gentiles now in Christ that Atonement (the covering of sin by animal blood) and the Temple system that supported it were no longer relevant to the wrath of God and salvation. He continued to attend special times at the Temple, because he saw great value in the unique identity he had as a Jew – even as a follower of Jesus. Yet, he made clear that Jesus’ death paid for all sin of any who called upon Him for salvation – regardless of their birth identity.

That message was loved by most, misunderstood by some and rejected by others. The early church needed to settle the crisis being created by differing views that confused the very essence of the Gospel itself. The Jerusalem Council was called, and scholars hotly debated. Coming out of the council, a letter was drafted and Paul carried the message back (along with a first-hand account and explanations) to those born Gentile and now committed to following Jesus. The letter had the following stipulations (found in Acts 15):

Acts 15:23 …“The apostles and the brethren who are elders, to the brethren in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia who are from the Gentiles, greetings. 24 “Since we have heard that some of our number to whom we gave no instruction have disturbed you with their words, unsettling your souls, 25 it seemed good to us, having become of one mind, to select men to send to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 “Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will also report the same things by word of mouth. 28 “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: 29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell.”

Gentile born believers didn’t need to become Jews, and Jewish believers could remain faithfully kosher (since the regulations said nothing about them at all). That’s where the problem started. Several issues began:

• We can easily surmise that not everyone knew where the meat their local butcher sold them came from – and some felt they needed to do “investigative reporting” to let believers know if the meat came out of the bargain market of post offering meat outlets.

• Many Christians came from the lower rungs of society, and the meat at Temple outlets seemed to be consistently cheaper. To serve more expensive meat wasn’t’ simply a luxury; it may have cut into their daily meals by a good bit.

• Most were “a part” of a temple for years, a place for celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, holding monthly guild meetings and getting contracted for labor projects in their field. If they were forced to discontinue attendance at pagan sacrifices, and could no longer participate in the rituals that were so familiar, did the really have to leave the public house, the poppinae (ancient pubs) associated with their former temple? Did they really have to stop getting a glass of conditum (mixed wine drinks) and some meat with their buddies and co-workers because it normally served meat that came from within the nearby temple?

These were first century problems, and Paul addressed some questions about them in 1 Corinthians 8-10. We will be here for a few lessons, because though the issues are different, the principles for the solutions are identical. The point is this: Not every believer was willing to fit into the rules, and not all of them understood what they were and how to apply them. In the vacuum of understanding, disagreements evolved quickly. Like all Christian discussions, people have a tendency to take their strong feeling and equate it with the truth – even if they would readily admit they don’t really know the Word very well. Imagine how much harder it was when much of the New Testament hadn’t even been written and distributed yet!

1 Corinthians 8 can be broken into two parts.

The first part contains the general principles I need to consider in framing my view of a doubtful issue – they are found in 8:1-9 and are a part of this lesson. The second part contains the applications found after verse 10.

An Initial Warning

Paul essentially opened: “Concerning things we feel strongly about but aren’t all in agreement concerning the ‘right and wrong’ of…

Before Paul offered ANSWERS concerning the issue that was perhaps hotly contested, he “fired a warning shot” (verbally) in the air. Look closely:

8:1 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. 2 If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; 3 but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.

Essentially, there were six immediate truths imparted in the warning of these verses:

First, we all have opinions and most of us feel they are fairly well informed (8:1b) – “We know that we all have knowledge”.

A careful investigation of the ministry of Paul at Corinth will lead any student to recognize Paul was disrespected by some and even openly challenged by others. They, no doubt, would say, “Well that is HIS opinion!” We hear it all the time when believers are challenged to think in new ways. The truth is that many people have made up their minds long before they opened their Bibles. Let’s be honest: There are times when each of us has a rebellion issue within that may be “informing” our opinion.

Second, we all tend to care more about what we think than how our expression of it hurts our brother to whom we don’t listen well (8:1b). Paul said: “Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies”.

Don’t misunderstand him; as a teacher he didn’t enshrine ignorance – rather he balanced opinion with compassion. There are things God has said in His Word and we know they are true. The things Paul prepared to address in this passage concerned issues about which believers disagreed. Paul’s point was simple: Without a view to the needs of our brother (speaking and acting in love) our knowledge would easily serve ourselves, making us feel better about ourselves even when we are hurting others– and that would be a tragedy. If we must offend another, it should (as much as possible) be for the sake of eternal truth, not advancement of some personal opinion.

Ted Sutherland made an observation worth sharing here: “People who live for self, die. People who live for others, live! In Yorkshire, England, during the early 1800s, two sons were born to a family named Taylor. The older one set out to make a name for himself by entering Parliament and gaining public prestige. But the younger son chose to give his life to Christ. He later recalled, “Well do I remember, as in unreserved consecration I put myself, my life, my friends, my all, upon the altar. I felt I was in the presence of God, entering into covenant with the Almighty.” With that commitment, Hudson Taylor turned his face toward China and obscurity. As a result, he is known and honored on every continent as a faithful missionary and the founder of the China Inland Mission (now known as Overseas Missionary Fellowship). For the other son, however, there is no lasting monument. When you look in the encyclopedia to see what the other son has done, you find these words, “the brother of Hudson Taylor.”

Third, Biblically speaking, we must be humble enough to admit that our opinions may not be the absolute truth on the matter (8:2) – “he has not known as he ought to know”.

I know you didn’t come here to learn about your human teacher, but about your Perfect Savior. May I make a very personal observation? This is a constant temptation to any serious Bible teacher or avid Bible student. This truth chastises me all the time. There are times when I think I see something clearly because of my study – but in truth it is probably “clearer to me than to God Himself.” I don’t want you to lack trust in our lessons together; that isn’t the point. I need you to see that when the Word is taught, perfection is poured through an imperfect vessel. Try as I may, I must honestly admit the clear, crisp water of the Word can be tainted at times as it passes through a flawed vessel into the cup of your heart. I need you to pray constantly for me concerning this. Yet, I freely admit it, and 1 Corinthians 8:2 teaches it. We don’t know as much as we think we do. None of us.

Education helps you think and grow, but it doesn’t solve all the issues! It isn’t even close! A lot of really educated people in our society think very proudly that we came from apes, but that doesn’t make it so.

In fact, I think they didn’t hear this little poem…
Three monkeys sat on a coconut tree, Discussing things as they are said to be,
Said one monkey to the other :
“Now listen you two, there’s a certain rumor which can’t be true,
that man has descended from our noble race; why, the very idea is an utter disgrace,
No monkey has ever deserted his wife, starved her baby and ruined her life,
and you have never known a mother monk, who will leave her babies with others to bunk,
and passing them off from one to the other; till those poor babies hardly know which one was their mother,
and another thing a monk won’t do, is to go out at night and get on a stew, and use a club, a gun, or a knife, to take some other monkey’s life,
……yes, man descended the noble cuss, but hey brother monkey, HE DIDN’T DESCEND FROM US!” (By Adlai Naidoo).

I love that! It reminds me that being educated doesn’t mean being right. A little humility about life is called for by God.

Fourth, whatever position we take on any opinion, it should be rooted in our love of God and our identity as His child (8:3) – “he is known of Him”.

Be humble, but don’t wallow in self-loathing. You can know many things, and you and I will become, if we follow God, something significant for His Kingdom.

Remember this observation: The caterpillar, when checked for DNA by a scientist, is in every way already a butterfly. The fact that it LOOKS like a butterfly has nothing to do with what it is becoming. It IS what it IS inside. It eventually will become on the outside what God has already made it to be. Honestly, if we will follow the Master, we will be like that. He Who began a good work in you is still working. If you are open to that work, it is progressing miraculously forward…

Fifth, the judgment must not be made solely on the intrinsic argument of the right or wrong of the act itself (8:4-6).

Paul wrote these words:

1 Corinthians 8:4 Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one. 5 For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.

Paul began with what mature believers should KNOW. There is ONLY one God. Every other “so-called god” is not real. It doesn’t matter if that is commonly felt among non-believers (8:5), for the believer (he wrote “for us” in 8:6) the belief of others about their god has no relevance.

Paul continued with how that knowledge informs our PURPOSE. In 8:6 he made plain that BECAUSE there is only ONE true God, we aren’t moved to follow the concerns of other gods, the purposes or ideas of other gods. We exist for the God we know is there. We know He is a Father with a Son. We serve God as Father and Son – eternal, perfect, united as One in Essence. We recognize He holds everything together, and nothing competes with Him in the end. Evil is not His equal. It is a temporary foe. He is the Bringer of our life, the Companion of our journey and the Smile at our destination.

The issue cannot and will not be decided on the basis of whether or not meat was placed before anything that was OF ITSELF real, powerful or dangerous. The idol represented a god that was NOT – and some believers, no doubt thought that was the whole point… but it wasn’t. Just because there is only one God, doesn’t mean that there is no spiritual influence and emotional attachment that should not be considered when one is making a decision about an issue that isn’t initially clear.

I may not be right for doing something that technically won’t hurt me and isn’t necessarily wrong in and of itself. That isn’t the only standard by which I make decisions about my participation in something, or make my opinion about it. There are other factors.

Let me say here that clearly if the issue under consideration can be found to violate a clear principle of Scripture, we have our answer in the passage that addressed it. Yet, if it ISN’T clearly out of bounds, and we struggle with what God truly wants, we must begin with this:

Am I prepared to place this choice under the Lordship of Jesus Christ? Do I recognize His right to rule my life? Do I know I was made for Him, and therefore am to please Him in every respect? That helps me understand Paul’s comments about God and His purposes. Even when I may be allowed to do something, it may not be what God wants me to do – and that matters more.

Sixth, my opinion, as informed as it may be, must take into account a brother that is not as mature! (8:7-9).

Paul warned them:

1 Corinthians 8:7 However not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.

Some experienced SPIRITUALLY DARK POWER in their pagan past. Some don’t really know what to think and the issue under discussion may push them back to a sinful practice, like acting out of hatred or fear. Some may be swayed by our opinion to go back into some part of an unsaved past that doesn’t honor God.

The fact is that my opinion about participation in something is never as important as reflecting Jesus well in front of people.

My opinion cannot override my love and care for my brother (8:8-9). Paul said it this way:

1 Corinthians 8:8 But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat. 9 But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.

So what of immigration then?

I know, you will feel ripped off if I don’t answer the question I posed in the beginning about this issue. My end point will probably please no one – yet I believe it to be that which will please the Lord.

The Word offers instruction on BOTH individual compassion and national caution. Any policy rooted in Biblical thinking should attempt to address both. We must use the Scripture properly and remember there is a significant difference with what God calls a nation to do, and verses that tell individuals how to reflect Jesus.

Maybe you believe it is naïve to think we can “vet” people from the Near East without any real mechanisms to “check” stories. Maybe you believe we as a nation are at war with a group that is motivated, at least in part, by a religious strand of Islam. Does that mean we as individual believers are relieved of any responsibility to get involved, informed and then engaged in reflecting Jesus in this problem? It does not. We must seek ways to offer practical and loving help – and positive ways we can address the deep needs and suffering of people. You may applaud the policies of governors to block the refugees – but let me ask you: “What are you willing to do to help people who are honestly and truly being CRUSHED by the situation?”

For those who feel rejecting the refugees is like keeping Jesus out in the cold, I have an equal challenge. I don’t agree with those who think Jesus is on one side of the issue – because He never saw people only as ISSUES or POLITICAL PROBLEMS, and we cannot see them that way and properly represent Him.

If you are going to represent a Biblical position on a complex issue like immigration of Syrian refugees – then use ALL the principles of His Word – not just a few sound bite passages. For example, did God say His people should have compassion on the strangers they encountered – yes! Did He also call those strangers to come under the complete laws of the God of Israel – yes. In other words, Israelites were under no compassionate obligation to take in a wandering family of Amalekites from the desert unless the new comers agreed to become part of Israel’s legal framework and fabric. They weren’t to be settled in some “Amalek-Israelite” subcultural corner of the camp, and be allowed to stand culturally apart while they built a resistance movement to Moses and Yahwist teaching. They had an obligation to become ONE with Israel and pledge loyalty to the nation. Is that parallel simple, direct and with no complexity – of course not! The point is that if you cite the “compassion statutes” without the “responsibility statutes” attached to them – are you truly reflecting the whole picture of what God said? I think not. The proper use of the Scripture in debate over complex issues requires careful application of as many of the principles that relate to the situation as can be found – not by taking the moral high ground on any side with one-sided sound bites.

When we follow Jesus’ teachings, we follow consistent and complicated principles, not simple verse “sound bites”.

Sound bite Jesus is easy. You don’t need to know anything about His Word but the clip you are using to prove your point. The problem is, that isn’t the real Jesus. For His views, there are 1189 chapters of Scripture – and few voices that seem to know what He said in the other places.

Does that mute Jesus’ voice today? Not at all! The Bible HAS spoken out clearly on many direct moral issues of our day. Yet, the sanctity of life and definition of marriage – both of which are crystal clear to anyone reading the Scripture without bending it to unduly suit their need CANNOT be presented with the same clarity as a specific position of God on “single-payer health care” or “Pacific rim economic agreements”. The issue of life is addressed head on in the Bible. Economic policies are often a blend of Bible and a social education framework that is very culturally laden. We have to choose to speak with authority in places God addressed most clearly, and use the principles of Scripture carefully to argue the complexity of other issues of our day. Christians need to reflect God’s Word in the broader way. Complex modern problems are not unaddressed by the Bible – but sound bites won’t get us to the heart of what God truly said.

If you are on the “left” in immigration, and believe that love demands we settle people in your state – you are welcome here. If you think the vetting cannot be thorough in a place that has a destroyed government and you distrust the intentions of some of those who desire to come into our country – you are welcome here. Let the world be divided by left and right, red and blue, donkey and elephant. Let Christians unite in our love for Jesus, and our desire to express that as best we can to a broken world. We will agree on some things, disagree on others. None of us gets to claim that we have all knowledge is something this complex and serious. We will stand together as a team, even when we don’t agree on every aspect of what we should do. We will do it because God’s Word taught us an attitude toward one another in 1 Corinthians 8.

Brethren, we need to grow up and lovingly reflect Jesus in how we disagree about difficult things that still seem unclear even when the sound bites are placed in their context.

Jean Lloyd, PhD, is a teacher and a happily married mother of two young children. When she shared her story about the journey through rough waters toward a fulfilling walk with God, it got my attention. She has a voice worth heeding. She wrote:

“…Recently, my dear friend Diane was lamenting the fact that there are few places for Christians who experience same-sex attraction and wish to be faithful to Christian teaching to deal openly and honestly with those issues. Our culture’s sexual floodtide is breaching many individuals’ and churches’ fidelity to truth, and now, post-Obergefell, there is mounting pressure on any traditional morality “hold-outs” to give in and affirm all sexual acts as long as they are consensual. Thus “safe spaces” for Christians like Diane and me are fewer and farther between…When I use the term “safe space,” I … mean a space where people can openly share their experience of same-sex attraction, where others will affirm their dignity as children of God and accompany them in friendship. But I mean something [else] as well. In my vision, those with same-sex attraction can take refuge in this space and trust they will be sheltered from harm precisely because there is a steadfast refusal to affirm falsehood or to encourage any behavior that is contrary to human good.

Diane and I have journeyed together for over twenty years. I remember well the summer we met … She wore a ball cap and had her girlfriend in tow, while I wore my hair buzzed in keeping with my masculine style. Both of us were confused, wondering whether we should continue to embrace our lesbian identity with abandon, give it up for our faith, or try to have it both ways by twisting the Scriptures and suppressing the voice of conscience. Those were difficult times. That summer, I had gone to a well-known Christian professor on campus and begged her to tell me—as a Christian—her thoughts on homosexuality. In a reluctant voice, she said slowly, “Well, I can’t see anything in Scripture that would condone it, but . . .” Her voice picked up speed as she listed disclaimers of how the prohibitions couldn’t possibly apply to every situation, no one can judge, and so forth. As well-meaning as I’m sure my professor was that day, she did not have the fortitude to let God’s “yes” be “yes” and “no” be “no.”

I practically ran from her office, confused and desperately wanting someone to show me where the boundary line was. Greg, a classmate who was also a military chaplain, overheard the exchange and followed me out. As I wept, he grabbed my shoulders and commanded my attention: “Jean, Romans 3:4, let every man be found a liar, but God be true. You know the truth.” I was in dangerous waters, and rather than being given consoling words as to why I shouldn’t feel bad, I needed to be pointed to the shore. Despite all the “Safe Space” stickers decorating professors’ offices on campus, it was Greg who provided one that day.

However, I not only needed to be pointed to shore, I also needed hands to pull me out of the water and help me learn to walk uprightly. A few years later, I moved to attend graduate school and found myself in the same city as Diane. I knew that Diane had found a strong church, one that was providing the safe space she needed to heal and grow. So I visited, and as is typical with such generous lovers of God, they made room for me as well. These were rough and imperfect years for both Diane and me, but they were also deeply blessed. We had found hope. We became part of a group of Christians who were committed to truth and willing to honestly share the messiness of life as we all walked toward maturity and sought holiness together. These spiritual friends and mentors were a wonderful example of a welcoming and accompanying community who made us feel safe and protected us from harm. I am forever grateful to God for their life-changing love, prayers, counsel, and friendship.

Over twenty years later, I am a teacher and married with children. Diane is an excellent businesswoman, lay missionary, and highly esteemed friend to many. She is still single. Our individual fulfillment lies neither in our marital state nor in our sexuality, but in our surrender to our Creator’s truth, love, and will for our lives.

When the Supreme Court redefined marriage and everything from the White House to corporate logos turned rainbow, I recalled that year of monumental personal decision when I was struggling with my relationships with God, women, and myself. I remember digging out my Bible, which was dusty from disuse. I dared to look at the first chapter of Romans. The words blurred through my tears as I read. My mind was also blurry, for having opened a door to sin, I had opened a door to deception. I prayed, “If it’s wrong, You’ll have to show me another way, because I can’t see it.” I honestly couldn’t see the truth—it was as if there was a veil over my eyes.

These days, when I see the multitude of profile pictures on Facebook bearing a rainbow filter, I think of that veil. The rainbow veil tints reality with false hues, blurs the vision, and prevents one from seeing clearly. But what is most distressing is seeing the rainbow veil over the faces of Christian friends and family…” (http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2015/11/15873/).

She went on to offer straightforward advice to those of us in ministry in these days. Her advice was well founded, and her words dripped with humility and love. The Witherspoon Institute printed her letter in their “Public Discourse” and I am grateful for the tone as well as the content. We have been investigating the direct teaching from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians about human sexuality, celibacy, marriage and divorce. It was always a concern to the church through the ages, but never more than now. God’s Word is sharp in focus, careful in prescription and effective in result – but we must teach it thoroughly and hearers must embrace it fully. Remember our Key Principle for these few lessons has not changed…

Key Principle: The Designer knows the design, and His Word makes clear what it is.

There is a Biblical Context for Marriage

Before we look back at our primary passage, we should briefly remind ourselves that the Bible relates the PRIMARY PURPOSES for marriage:

• First, the Bible paired man and woman for the purposes of procreation – (To keep the race going). Sex wasn’t PRIMARILY given as “entertainment” but rather as the mechanism of procreation. Note that in Genesis 1:28: God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” This isn’t the Creation account, but the summary found in the story of the Seven Days of 1:1-2:3 in the prologue to Genesis. Yet, it included the detail that God intended procreation from the beginning, and made a system for reproduction to occur.

• Second, let’s not be prudes – God intended us to WANT to be involved in sexual expression. It was a pleasure both in its immediate physicality and its emotional by-product. In other words, it was both fun and fulfilling – because it was designed to create an emotional bond after it was over. God referred to sexual pleasure as something we would hunger for like water in Proverbs 5 – and that is what made it ripe ground for the enemy to torque into sinful mutiny from God’s standards.

• Third, a man and woman were paired because God wanted relationship at the center of our lives. He made man to be a guardian, and woman to be his helper. This was his provision for completion of both the man and woman. We weren’t generally meant to live outside of relationship (Ephesians 5:25 – 32 makes that clear).

• Finally, the picture of something greater was given in this union – in the Hebrew Scriptures it was a picture of YHWH and Israel in relationship nationally (cp. Hosea); in the Christian Scriptures it is a vibrant picture of Christ and His betrothed, the Church (see Ephesians 5).

When Paul wrote on these delicate subjects, he did so in the context of much revelation already available. The Bible affirmed “TWO PRIMARY PRINCIPLES CONCERNING MARRIAGE”:

First, Scripture offers the Permanence Principle: God’s original intention was that marriage be one man for one woman, PERMANENT until the death of one of them. This was His ideal (Gen. 2:24). Jesus echoed the same thought in Matthew 19: 1 -12 (cf. Mk. 10: 1-12). Though God allowed polygamy during the centuries when the infant mortality rate and the high death rate in delivery prevailed – that was never His design according to the revealed Word. When Jesus affirmed it was so “from the beginning” (Mt. 19:8), He rejected some rabbinic claims that Dt. 24 was an “easy out if the paperwork was proper” (Mk. 10:4). God wanted marriage to be permanent.

Second, Scripture presumes the Purity Principle: God’s stated desire for every man and woman was that their relationship be PURE by each pledging a covenant of faithfulness to one another (Ex. 20:14). This purity was to extend into their thought life, as they were not even to foster a desire for another’s spouse (v.17). Jesus reminded His followers of the PURITY standard including their “thought life” in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:27, 28. God is serious about our purity – even in a sex-soaked culture.

The Biblical Context for Divorce

Beyond marriage, it is probably also important to mention something else. In addition to setting out God’s design for marriage, the Word also included a sharp-focused teaching on DIVORCE. God knows man, and God knows the brokenness of sin would drive men and women apart. As a result, God offered “TWO PRIMARY PRINCIPLES CONCERNING DIVORCE” to match what He revealed about marriage.
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First, Scripture made clear a Principle of Practice: Divorce was a Biblical practice, insomuch as God himself placed regulations on it in some cases – and set the standard for when it was appropriate and disallowed. In one special event He even required it (Ezra 10), when the marriages were specifically forbidden by Him beforehand. The formula was offered “..she is not my wife, I am not her husband…” in Hosea 2:2. Though He hated the sin which caused the hardness between people that ended in divorce – and He hated the process itself (Malachi 2), God did acknowledge this practice (Isa. 50:1; Jer. 3:8) and regulated the procedure of the PRACTICE (Deuteronomy 24). The emphasis was on protecting the weaker party from abuse by the law. Jesus acknowledged that the PRACTICE of divorce was regulated (“epitrepo” means allowed – Mt. 19:7,8), but this was only due to the “hard heartedness of sin”. Even in cases where God allowed divorce, He limited the circumstances which were allowable – but there were some. Jesus appeared to limit the “uncleanness” of Dt. 24 to the specific moral uncleanness of immorality (Mt. 19:9). That didn’t offer His complete position, but it settled a debate of that time on the meaning of Moses in the Law.

Second, the Word offered an often forgotten Principle of Presumption: The Hebrew Scriptures PRESUMED that remarriage would follow a divorce (Dt. 24:1-4), and regulated this practice to show the gravity of divorce, and minimize the continual damage to others. Jesus also PRESUMED that divorced people would remarry (Mt. 5:32). For that reason, He warned that others could suffer from the sin of one couple! Remarriage was not always sin, but was sin in cases where the divorce was not on Biblical grounds (Matthew 5:32).

Let’s say it this way: God gave us a gift of procreation that included pleasure with the one who was His Divine completing provision for us, as a picture of eternal and spiritual truths. It was intended to be a pure expression of a permanent earthly covenant – lasting as long as our sojourn on earth together.

In that context, God used Paul to add more Revealed Truth.

As we combed 1 Corinthians 7, we saw a number of truths that help us with God’s plan for our lives and relationships. We have seen in the chapter important truths:

• Believers were called to base their practice on God’s Word – not the culture, or even the LAW of the LAND in 1 Corinthians 7:1.

• The Bible defined marriage as one man to one woman in 1 Corinthians 7:2.

• The Bible defined the proper places and participants for sexual expression in 1 Corinthians 7:3-5.

• Men and women are equal in the sight of God in regards to the practice of sexual expression, and need to consult one another and care for one another as in 1 Corinthians 7:3-5.

• For some people, marriage is the best option – even when persecution grows, 1 Corinthians 7:8-9.

• God did not call a believer to leave their partner if one came to Jesus after marriage and the other partner did not, 1 Corinthians 7:10-16.

• God’s distinct call for us is found in our birth; we are to be the person God made us (cp. 1 Corinthians 7:17).

Paul Continued with a simple idea:

Be what God made you and celebrate that! (7:18-20)

1 Corinthians 7:18 “Was any man called when he was already circumcised? He is not to become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? He is not to be circumcised. 19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God. 20 Each man must remain in that condition in which he was called.”

For believers in our time, (unless you come from a Jewish background) you may easily ask: “What is the big deal with “circumcision”?”

Let me explain. In the time of the early church, the message of Jesus was moving from a tiny Messianic movement within Judaism to a transformation movement of God appearing and working all across the Roman world. The earliest followers of Jesus were Jewish. He was Jewish. As the message spread, it came largely through the hands of Jews. As a result, and aided by some Jews who mistakenly wanted everyone in the Gentile world to see this movement as still something within Judaism, some Gentiles were feeling pressure to enter the Jewish world (and its prescriptions of Atonement Law) as part of knowing Jesus. They felt pressured to join Jews in worship and walk because they thought it was closer to God – or at least that is what they were being told by some traveling teachers. Circumcision was the beginning point of entry to a Jewish world that called people back to the Atonement taught in the Torah. Paul wrote letters like that of Galatians designed to counter than thinking. The problem was that Atonement was replaced by Justification – and there was no need for them to go backward.

Here is the point: If you were called to Jesus as a Jew – don’t try to stop being one. Things God has said to Jews and for Jews are YOUR things. The replacement of a “one size fits all” sacrifice of Messiah made your sin issue something that did not require atonement – but that wasn’t all there was to being Jewish. You had food restrictions, you had Sabbath requirements and you had national identity. Those things weren’t stripped from you when you came to Messiah. No one need trade his gefilte fish for a ham, nor their menorah for a Christmas tree. If you know Yeshua as your Messiah – you are complete in Him. You are part of the body, and you came to it the same as a Gentile did – through the completed payment of the sacrifice of the Perfect Lamb – your Messiah. Because you were saved the same way, does not mean you LIVE after salvation the same way. Women and men have different restrictions. Slave and free have different restrictions. All are saved the same way. For this reason, there are some Epistles that were specifically written to instruct Jews who came to Yeshua – such as Hebrews and James.

Conversely, if you were called to Jesus as a Gentile – don’t try to play the role of a JEW. Don’t wrap yourself in Jewish garb and try to become something you aren’t because it will somehow be more holy or more powerful in the Spirit of God. Your Designer made you the ethnic background He intended you to be. Dare I say it: Be the person God made you. Be that person for God’s glory. Stop letting someone tell you that what you are isn’t good enough.

Let me bring it even one step closer. If you are a believer, celebrate your identity as a follower of the Creator.

If you are a woman – don’t try to dress like a man, act like a man or imitate masculinity. I am a man – and I totally believe we have enough men in the world. Look like a woman. Act like a woman. Celebrate your womanhood. The world will tell you children are a burden – don’t believe them. Celebrate your womb and intentionally shape a life if God gives you the opportunity. It is a career – I don’t care what the world says. Don’t let the world convince you that being a man’s helper is some kind of DOG WORK – that demeans God’s Word concerning your design. At the same time, you are God’s beautiful creation whether you are 22 or 92 Don’t let the world tell you that your value is found in the outward traits of your body. It isn’t. Become within the person God is making you to become – that beautiful creation that God will take joy in watching and hearing. Paul continued…

Sexual participation by force is never the fault of the victim (7:21-24).

The Roman world was filled with slaves. Robert Garland at Colgate University offered a course I took on this subject a few years back. He opened the class with these words:

“Imagine working down a mine ten hours a day and then being shackled for the other fourteen as you try to catch a bit of sleep or simply huddle with your fellow slaves to keep warm. Or, if you happen to be in a more “favorable” situation, imagine hearing with unimaginable dread your master’s heavy tread and knowing that he is about to force himself upon you yet again, as he has four nights in a row.”

Roman citizens believed they had as much right to own a slave as you do to own a microwave – and they thought about it in moral terms about as much as you think of your vacuum cleaner in moral terms. Slaves were a fixture. Snatched up as the common spoils out of the many Roman wars, slaves were abundant and filled the streets of Roman cities. Some came to Christ in the early years, and they couldn’t “walk out” of the brothel they worked within or the domestic service they were bound into. Paul wrote:

1 Corinthians 7:21 Were you called while a slave? Do not worry about it; but if you are able also to become free, rather do that. 22 For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave. 23 You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. 24 Brethren, each one is to remain with God in that condition in which he was called.

It may not appear so, but these few verses are a comfort to many people in modern churches. Why? Because they may not have been sold into slavery, but for one brief period of their personal history, someone forced them into a sexual situation from which they did not have the power to free themselves.

• Perhaps they went on a date, and someone slipped into their soft drink a tablet or powder of Rohypnol (roh-HIP-nol), the trade name for flunitrazepam (FLOO-neye-TRAZ-uh-pam). When they regained their controlling senses, either they were engaged in something or had clear evidence that something had happened to them. For all practical purposes – they were enslaved.

• Perhaps they weren’t drugged, but were overpowered in a physical exchange. During the time they were forced to do what they did not choose to do – they were essentially a slave of someone else’s desires.

In both cases, and many like them, Paul offers a simple set of words that bring powerful comfort: “Do not worry about it; but if you are able also to become free, rather do that.” I don’t know if that will mean much to those who have never had this experience, but I can tell you from counseling people in the Word this truth: the fact that God told them to put away any sense of worry about it has freed many in the past. You are not responsible for actions beyond your control – period. It didn’t have to be hurtful on unpleasant – that isn’t the point. How you felt about the experience doesn’t determine your culpability or guilt. If you had no power to break free from the situation – you are not guilty before God in any way. If you were not of age to know what was happening – you are not at fault in any way. If you hid what happened because it upset you – that doesn’t make you guilty of wrongdoing in the actions… only that you should have spoken up. Let me say it this way: If you were not in control of the situation because of the power of another, you are free within and God understands what your place in that situation truly was.

Paul urged them not to CHOOSE to be in a situation where they could be abused – but not to beat themselves up if they worshiped Christ and served until freed in the local brothel. It was terrible, but it was real in the first century, and is real to some of our beloved brothers and sisters under a yoke of bondage today! Don’t think this is over…

Human trafficking represented an estimated $31.6 billion of international trade per annum in 2010, and is thought to be one of the fastest-growing activities of trans-national criminal organizations. We will lead some to Christ, and they will need to know how to deal with the pain and sweeping guilt. Paul continued…

When persecution comes, it may be easier not to be married (7:25-38).

Because Paul said things that confused them when he taught on the subject, he had to come back yet another time to make God’s design clear to them. He wrote:

1 Corinthians 7:25 Now concerning virgins I have no command of the Lord, but I give an opinion as one who by the mercy of the Lord is trustworthy. 26 I think then that this is good in view of the present distress, that it is good for a man to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 But if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you.

Paul offered a clear, concise opinion that came from his broader view of the increased tensions of the time. This is specific to the time of persecution, and is important. At the same time, this reiterated what we already spoke about extensively in the series, so I will avoid more on this subject. Keep reading…

Use caution: Marriage is designed to both complete the ones called to it but it will divide them (7:29-38).

Paul made clear that persecution was rising and the end appeared very near. It has a number of times in history, and we are always told to be on watch and ready for the end. He wrote:

1 Corinthians 7:29 But this I say, brethren, the time has been shortened, so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none; 30 and those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess; 31 and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away. 32 But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; 33 but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. 35 This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure un-distracted devotion to the Lord.

Paul understood the needs of men and women. He knew the desire to marry and build a life here was from God. His caution was this: “It is getting bad out there. If we have only a short time left, let’s be careful about using it for ourselves.

Let me ask you a question that gets to the heart of this issue:

If you found out tomorrow that you had six months to live – but you would be healthy until that time, what would you change about your life? Would you simply consume the remaining time on your own interests? Would you drop your responsibilities and take off to travel the world? Would you place more emphasis on your spiritual life or on having a good time?

That is at the heart of Paul’s concern. He thinks he is facing the time before Jesus will wrap up the program – and he is calling them to “pour it on for Jesus” and take a back seat with their own desires. His words are tough. They challenge us at a level we need to be challenged. He is stripping our life down to this: “What is REALLY the most important thing about your sojourn here on earth?” Do you consider FAMILY at the center of your being? Remember, you will not be a marriage partner or a momma in Heaven.

Let me say it plainly: If your walk with Jesus is second to ANYTHING, it is in the wrong place. Your family is important – but second to Jesus and your walk with Him. Your accomplishments may have Kingdom results – but honoring the KING is the point of it all. Paul continued…

God gave each believer His Spirit, His Word, and their own choices (7:36-38).

Paul knew his view of the lateness of the hour was not God’s complete call for everyone. They were to steward what God put in their lives. They had choices to make and he wasn’t going to stop them from doing it. He wrote:

1 Corinthians 7:36 But if any man thinks that he is acting unbecomingly toward his virgin daughter, if she is past her youth, and if it must be so, let him do what he wishes, he does not sin; let her marry. 37 But he who stands firm in his heart, being under no constraint, but has authority over his own will, and has decided this in his own heart, to keep his own virgin daughter, he will do well. 38 So then both he who gives his own virgin daughter in marriage does well, and he who does not give her in marriage will do better.

If a young woman is in a culture where the father chooses her spouse as they were in Corinth, it was that man’s responsibility to make his own choices based on the Word’s fences and the Spirit’s guidance. Paul understood that, and wanted them to be clear.

Your pastor isn’t responsible to make you obey Jesus – that is your job. Your spiritual parents led you to Jesus, but they aren’t commanded to carry you through your walk – that is your job. Yet, there is more. Paul wrote…

Marriage is for this world (7:39a).

I cannot imagine life without my sweetheart, and I don’t want to. I do know that Scripture is clear that in Heaven the “shadowy earth” picture of marriage will give way to absolute intimacy:

1 Corinthians 7:39 A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband is dead, she is free to be married to whom she wishes…

That underscores the point we just made – that your marriage is NOT more important than your walk with Jesus. It also says that if you lose a spouse due to death – you are not being “unfaithful” by finding another mate. That seems simple, and straightforward… but the last part of the sentence CANNOT be neglected…

A believer should only marry another believer (7:39b).

I see no “But he is such a nice guy!” caveat to the standard. The Word says:

1 Corinthians 7:39b … only in the Lord.

For believers, we limit our choices to those in God’s family! Don’t take this lightly. Don’t think that because marriage is only about this life, you needn’t be concerned about the eternal destiny of your spouse. What kind of love is that? I suspect that many people honestly believe a lie that goes like this: “When we get married, I will get him/her to Jesus!” Here is the problem: That isn’t what Jesus told you to do.

Let me close with…

Six Truths for the Tempted Christian

First, if you struggle with sexual desires, you are normal. That doesn’t mean you are free to do what you want – it means we are all struggling with you. The battle between the flesh and the Spirit has been going on since the Fall in the Garden of Eden. We don’t need false promises, and we can’t solve it with a cheap-grace that simply “forgives my failures. God calls us to obedience and surrender of every area of life – and this is part of that call. The continued struggle of life in the fallen world is the truth, and part of the Gospel. Deeply rooted in the Gospel is this truth: All are bent toward sexual sin of some sort, because all of us entered the world with fallen DNA and a corrupt nature (Romans 5:12-21). Your struggle is common to us – so you need not feel alone!

Second, sexual attraction is (and will likely long be) a part of your life. Coming to Jesus doesn’t change that. The Holy Spirit will soften you and transform your mind – but it will probably take a long time and come slowly into a changing heart. I need to be clear: surrendering to Jesus isn’t guaranteed to automatically and instantaneously take wrong desires away. We must recognize that as long as we are in this body, we stand the chance of fighting this fight. We should not be seeking a “healing” of sexual desires – because though they have been skewed – they are part of our design. In fact, this is true of those who are opposite sex attracted, and yes, those who are same-sex attracted. Jesus can do a work in us to heal us – but there is no Biblical mandate that we will lose these urges quickly any more than there is a mandate that we will stop getting hungry – so don’t hold your breath on a false promise.

Third, Jesus commanded us to flee from any sexual behavior that is not according to His holy design – no matter the context. Biblically speaking, whether this is a “one night stand” borne out of drunken promiscuity or a so-called “loving act” in committed monogamy, sexual behavior outside of marriage is a detestable evil because it is mutiny to the design God made and revealed – period. Because one situation is more acceptable to the world than the other doesn’t make one more acceptable to God. His plan is the right way. Any opposing plan in simply more rebellion – no matter how polite it appears to be to the people of our age. Consider this:

“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around about drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are too easily pleased.” (C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory)

Fourth, you must not accept the premise that your identity is found in your fallen desires. This is one of the true tragedies of the homosexual movement – they are convincing people that their very identity is bound up in their hungers and desires. We must assert anew this truth: You are not defined by your flesh – that is only the home where YOU live. The desires in this body are temporary, and our identity is tied up in Christ forever (2 Corinthians 5:16-17). In the end, Christ will come again, and your journey will be over. You be like him – beyond the clutches of sin, for “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion” (Philippians 1:6).

Fifth, God will redeem every struggle against the flesh for His glory. Sexual attraction can have a divine purpose! It can humble us and make us seek Jesus for the strength to simply get through the day. It can help us become more empathetic toward the struggles and needs of others as they face their sinful desires. It may keep us from becoming Pharisees. It may help keep us in tune with a broken world we are called to reach. It is a mystery, but yet a truth: God is using even your battle with your own sexuality for the good of telling His story through your life (Romans 8:28).

Sixth, the Restrictions of your sexual desires are a practical altar on which you can sacrifice something for your Savior in His honor. Obedience in this area entails celibacy at some stage in everyone’s life. Celibacy requires restraint. Restraint requires choosing to deny our biological wiring in favor of our Savior’s smile. There will be deep fulfillment in loving Him more than yourself. That is at the heart of Christian thinking. He will also use your life in a more wondrous way. Nothing given up for Jesus gets overlooked by Him.

The Designer knows the design, and His Word makes clear what it is.

She was fourteen when he met her. She came from a small village in the Mexican countryside. He was well-dressed. He was a smooth talker. He told her she was his princess and she would be treated to anything she wanted. One afternoon she finished hanging laundry in the side yard, and jumped into the car that changed her life. He pulled up, and in she went. That was twelve years ago. She has been beaten, used and abused on the streets in three American cities. Her spirit was all but crushed… until last week. Dropped off at an abortion clinic by her pimp, she walked toward the door, with a broken heart and empty eyes to match. Standing by a tree was an old Hispanic woman with a sign that said: “Jesus loves you!” The woman looked like her mom – but that just couldn’t be. She turned a second time to look and the woman smiled kindly. She hadn’t seen a kind smile in… she couldn’t remember. She walked a few steps toward the woman, and the smile grew bigger. Her arms extended. She said, “Come, child. This is too heavy for you to carry!” She fell into the woman’s arms. She sobbed the cries of the fourteen year old that left her village. She was broken, used and felt worthless. The woman held her and whispered: “It doesn’t matter where you have been, child. He loves you… He really does. A new life began that day… and a tiny life inside was saved. It wasn’t by preaching. It wasn’t by arguing. It was by meeting a girl at the place of her pain. That’s where Jesus wants us to take Him.

What was the most important news event you recall that took place in your lifetime? Do you remember where you were when you heard it? What did you do immediately after you heard the news? Did you sit down and reflect, or try to get more information? Did you run to share it with someone?

Some of the oldest walking the planet will recall the infamous words of President Roosevelt the day after the Pearl Harbor attack that took place on December 7, 1941. Others may recall the shooting reports of President John Kennedy, cut down by an assassin’s bullet in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Some five years later, just after 6 p.m. on April 4, 1968, 39 year old Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed while standing on the balcony outside his second-story motel room in Memphis. A few months later, Senator Robert Kennedy was killed in Los Angeles just after speaking at a campaign event. Perhaps you recall one of these moments…. Maybe yours was a more positive memory, like the 1969 Apollo 10 lunar landing – or the 1989 fall of the Berlin wall that divided East and West Germany. Maybe the 1991 dissolution of the USSR into twelve republics is more your memory. Perhaps you can’t shake the ever-played video clip of fall of the Twin Towers on 9/11, back in 2001. It is hard to believe, but today’s college students were in Pre-K or Kindergarten when that event occurred.

Facing bad news and responding to it is part of life – but it is especially difficult to do if you are the party responsible for the lives and actions of others. If you are “in charge” of people – the news about what happened “on your watch” must be even more powerful.

We think of leaders as power-brokers. We think of them as affecting the outcome of many things – and so they do. It is also equally true, however, that they are subject to the winds of history. Presidents, generals, governors and even sport’s coaches have watched judgment fall on them like a bitter rain when they had no control over events that were shaping the area that was supposed to be their responsibility.

The lesson of Ezra 9-10 is about a leader in a crisis. It is about right response to terrible news. It is about offering a pattern that is intended to replace panic.

Look at the scene…God seemed far away. Most of them wanted to do right, but they were in a strange place, and the opportunities were quite limited. They felt like they needed to take bold steps or nothing would get better. With few choices, they acted – but not in accordance with what God told them to do. In fact, one bad decision led to other bad choices…until they were no where near the path God intended for them. Some people knew they were going in the wrong direction, but they did not have the means to turn people back. When a new leader came on the scene, they saw an opportunity to bring to his attention the terrible choices, so they brought the violation to his attention.

They didn’t want to wound the leader – they wanted to fix the problem. Inevitably, he was brokenhearted. New to the scene, what should he do with a delicate and complex people problem caused by disregard to God’s instructions? Could they not understand what they were doing? The leader left a written record of his response, rooted in this truth…

Key Principle: There is a process to leading people from disobedience to a right standard.

Truthfully, I am very glad that is the case. God doesn’t drop people the first time they walk willfully away from His instruction. He doesn’t ignore their rebellion, but He offers a path back to obedience and blessing… and some of us need to hear about it. Drop into the scene of a “bad news” moment…

The Report:

9:1 Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites. 2 “For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has intermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the princes and the rulers have been foremost in this unfaithfulness.”

As the word came to him, what steps did he take?

Step One: He collected all the information. (9:1-2)

He grasped the nature and scope of the problem before he did anything else! Ezra heard about the sin of the people, and by the account, it appears that he was blind-sided. He was presented with a problem that he did not know – but the nature and complexity of it necessitated that he listen to those familiar with the scene. He allowed their approach and listened intently.

Every leader needs to learn to listen. The faster the pace, the higher the stakes, the more emotional the issue – the more the need to listen:

Charles Swindoll once found himself with too many commitments in too few days. He got nervous and tense about it. “I was snapping at my wife and our children, choking down my food at mealtimes, and feeling irritated at those unexpected interruptions through the day,” he recalled in his book Stress Fractures. “Before long, things around our home started reflecting the pattern of my hurry-up style. It was becoming unbearable. I distinctly remember after supper one evening, the words of our younger daughter, Colleen. She wanted to tell me something important that had happened to her at school that day. She began hurriedly, ‘Daddy, I wanna tell you somethin’ and I’ll tell you really fast.’ Suddenly realizing her frustration, I answered, ‘Honey, you can tell me — and you don’t have to tell me really fast. Say it slowly.’ I’ll never forget her answer: ‘Then listen slowly.‘” (Bits & Pieces, June 24, 1993, pp. 13-14.)

I like the advice of the late General George Marshall, a leader of men, when he offered this:

Formula for handling people: 1. Listen to the other person’s story. 2. Listen to the other person’s full story. 3. Listen to the other person’s full story first. (Gen. George Marshall, Bits & Pieces, April, 1991.)

The testimony was critical of the leadership – so it needed to be handled with special care. Many eyes were watching. As Paul warned the younger Timothy later in Scripture, leaders were under special scrutiny:

1 Timothy 5:19 Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. 20 Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning…

The testimony was verifiable. This was again underscored in Paul’s words to Timothy (1 I Tim 5:19: “two or three witnesses”). In the case of Ezra, it would certainly be easy enough to ascertain the truth of the accusation because the matter was public.

What made the leadership think that they could openly violate the Word of God? There are several scenarios that may be in view here:

• People don’t always know the Word, because the teaching of it is very scarce, in spite of the ‘religious environment” of their time. We wake up and find we have some leaders in Washington that were shaped by compromising Christian churches from their youth. Their values are a mix of ethical peculiarities shaped by a warped notion of justice and truth by poor teaching of the Word.

• People dismiss the Biblical injunctions as unduly limited – because they see their situation as different. They shape in their mind the notion that because the situation looks different to them, they need not fall into the timeless truths and principles of God’s unchanging Word.

• People don’t put together cause and effect – they don’t take sin seriously. Note the contrast with Ezra, who was broken because of the sinful practice.

Step Two: He identified the seriousness of the issue (9:3-4)!

Ezra recognized the issue as a violation of the Holy Word of God – and therefore it was serious and potentially devastating to the people if not corrected.

Note his “first response” was seen when he got quiet and personalized the pain (9:3).

9:3 When I heard about this matter, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and sat down appalled (from shaw-mame: destroyed, crushed).

I cannot help but think of what Paul wrote to the Corinthians when there was immorality in their ranks. He told them: “You haven’t mourned for the sin!” (1 Corinthians 5). Ezra was shocked at what he heard from the men. Before responding to the problem, he took some time to get alone. Even before he left the others he showed the power of what he had heard in his life by plucking at his beard, tearing his garment, and sitting quietly in deep pain. It is significant that Ezra did not rush out to solve the problem. In our desire to do the right thing, we can react rather than respond. A mature believer must learn to take some time. A mature believer must process the emotion internally as well as before the Lord before making a response before other men. Our first response is often not our best response because it reflects our emotions much more than it reflects our long-term values.

Observe how he gathered quietly with other serious believers (9:4)

9:4 Then everyone who trembled (from charad: became fearful) at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until the evening offering.

There are three specific helpful comments that Ezra gives us in chapter 9:4 –

• First, we see the kind of people he surrounded himself with when trouble came;
• Second, the text implies that some close by knew already what God’s Word instructed and were consulted at that time;
• Third, everyone in the room understood the power of God, the nature of God, and the truth of His Word. It was because of this they trembled.

A failure to take God seriously regarding His Word and presuming on His grace has often been a fatal flaw in the lives of believers. Those who witnessed the destruction and aftermath in Jerusalem should well have understood the words of the prophets and taken God seriously. It seems rooted within the nature of fallen man, to look at those who have gone before refusing God and his Word, and not heed carefully the lesson of their example. The bottom line is this: believers must take God seriously. Failure to do so will destroy their testimony, and their future. God is not playing games though God is patient. Peter warns that in the end times people will mistake God’s patience for impotence. Many a believer has fallen into that belief trap of the enemy.

How did Ezra take truth seriously?

• He surrounded himself with those who revered God.
• He consulted God’s word and stayed with those who took it seriously.
• He was thoroughly invested in understanding the nature of God as much as the nature of the problem.

Especially when facing times of crisis, we must learn to be as hungry to know God as we are to know the intimate details of the problems we face. Some of us act as though we are famished as we devour every ‘scrap of detail’ about a news item, but show little hunger to read, study and know of the Author of life itself. This allows us to be over-informed while under educated. We spend more time obsessing over celebrity behaviors and colored coffee cups than soaking up the goodness of the one who colored the Heavens and whose fame is sung among the stars above. That leads us from misery to misery – not glory to glory.

Step Three: Got alone with God and prayed (9:5-15)

Shocking news required time with God…

9:5 But at the evening offering I arose from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the LORD my God; 6 and I said,

Notice how he personally embraced guilt. Leaders take personal responsibility in intercession! He prayed:

9:6b…“O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown even to the heavens. 7 “Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and on account of our iniquities we, our kings and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity and to plunder and to open shame, as it is this day.

I am always disappointed when I see leaders in our day deflecting responsibility – blaming the other party, or finding an excuse in the “chain of command”, etc. There are a number of places in Scripture where deep personal responsibility is reflected by a man of God when he looks at the fault of his nation. Daniel models this, as does Nehemiah. Every time I read one of the kinds of prayers I am deeply struck with the personal nature and responsibility that these men felt over the sin of others. We live in a time where it is easy to be outraged at others. Yet, seldom do I see believers who fall before God and take responsibility for their nation in our day. We may be tempted to “write that off” to culture and say that the Hebrews were collective in their thinking, but I am left to question whether or not there is some deep biblical truth behind taking responsibility for the greater nation and its sin.

• Do we call out to God on behalf of our nation feeling as though we are also partly responsible for its laxness regarding sin?

• Do we “pawn off” on others the disobedience of our day and claim it is simply someone else’s responsibility to repent? I am convinced that God will respond to believers who humble themselves not only for their own sin, but also for the sin of their nation, and their family. Though I understand that God’s promise to hear the prayers of his people if they call was specific to Judah in the ancient world, I agree that there is a broader principle of Scripture that reminds us to pray not only on our own behalf and on behalf of others.

• Do we not share some responsibility because of our own lack of testimony and fervent seeking of the Lord? I suspect we know the answer.

I am also struck by how he acknowledged God’s grace and thanked God for His goodness at that hour!

Judgment withheld is grace at work…

9:8 “But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage. 9 “For we are slaves; yet in our bondage our God has not forsaken us, but has extended lovingkindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us reviving to raise up the house of our God, to restore its ruins and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

I think another significant insight into the prayer of Ezra is the fact that he was very aware of the goodness of God in his life. It is not enough to serve God out of fear, for that is not all there is to the vastness of our God. God is good, and He cares for us on so many levels throughout the day. Yet, I often find believers who mature into a negativity about the responsibility of following God without the delight of knowing him — walking with him in joy and in delight to be his!

Ezra acknowledges that they are technically still slaves, but he acknowledges that there is much that God has done for them! They are in the land now because of God’s goodness. The favor of the King was planted by divine decree. Ezra recognized that he had what he had because he followed the God he followed. It is important for us to grasp the goodness of God even when we’re facing very difficult decisions as a result of the sin of people around us. The occasion of this prayer was not marked by a moment of praise, but by a difficult moment — the facing of sin. Yet, it was necessary for Ezra to tell the truth. God is good and has been gracious toward us. Recognizing that, is simply recognizing the truth.

Note the emptiness Ezra expressed as he asked God what to say…

9:10 “Now, our God, what shall we say after this?

I have to admit that verse 10 is very helpful in peering into Ezra’s soul. He wasn’t sure what else to say! How do you defend the absurd actions of rebellious men? One need only read the daily newspaper today to ask such a question! Here is the truth: when we do not know how to pray we should honestly ask God to accept our hearts and read well past our words. Broken hearts pray with deep pain but not always great words. God is not your English grammar teacher, worried about the structure of your sentence. He delights in the surrender of the heart.

Ezra didn’t cover up, but rather carefully articulated guilt. He offered specific enumeration of their crimes…

9:10b “For we have forsaken Your commandments, 11 which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from end to end and with their impurity. 12 ‘So now do not give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters to your sons, and never seek their peace or their prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and leave it as an inheritance to your sons forever.’ 13 “After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and our great guilt, since You our God have requited us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us an escaped remnant as this, 14 shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? Would You not be angry with us to the point of destruction, until there is no remnant nor any who escape?

In the careful articulation of the specific crimes Ezra turned to the Lord and:

• He flatly took responsibility for violating the command of Scripture.
• He specified the sin.
• He made note that God had already blessed them by not giving them the full punishment of their former deeds.
• He ended with a question: “How can any of us escape if we do all of this again?”

One of the things God responds to in Scripture is specific prayer. The prayers like “Bless the missionaries” seem like vain repetitions because they offered no specific request. It is not that God does not know how to bless missionaries, but the prayer of this nature often reveals the laziness with which we have approached our brothers and sisters in Christ and their needs. This same tendency can carry over into the issues of our own sin: we can simply ask God to forgive us all of “everything we may have done”. Yet, this lacks the sense of personal responsibility and big knowledge meant that is so required for God to teach us of his grace and goodness.

It is very important for us to note that we do not receive the full penalty of our sin. As believers, we know that we do not receive the ultimate penalty of an eternity apart from God, but there is much more. Even in this life, we do not receive the bill for all that we have charged against the account of our personal sin. The proverb “what you sow you reap” (Galatians 6:7) is a proverb — a truism. In my life, thankfully, Jesus has paid for much of my poor sowing.

Consider how Ezra accepted God’s right to respond, as he humbly opened to the consequences…

9:15 “O LORD God of Israel, You are righteous, for we have been left an escaped remnant, as it is this day; behold, we are before You in our guilt, for no one can stand before You because of this.”

Another essential feature of the prayer of Ezra can be seen in the close of his sharing with God. Ezra acknowledges that God is right to respond in judgment. He outlines the clear argument that there is no defense for what the people have done. He stands with his people “guilty”. Anything God decided to do as a result of their sin was justified. Ezra called on the mercy of God and recognized God’s rights and God’s just nature.

Even among believers the fighting and quarreling that we experience often is a reflection of our ego. Our prayer can reflect a wrong view of God’s plan. We are heavily invested in our own pleasures and easily led astray to work against the kingdom we represent. God deeply wants us to yield ourselves to Him and His Spirit. In the process of surrender, we open the doors of our life to God’s unmerited favor. Our resistance against the enemy grows in direct proportion to our submission to God’s gentle Spirit within. Our open desire to be nearer God sets in motion His drawing nearer to us. God cleanses our hands. God purifies our hearts. God shapes a single-minded man to please Him. Yet, all of this comes from a seriousness about sin, and the surrender to the Lord and his presence. James, led by God’s Spirit, could not have said it better.

Step Four: Refocused Confession to Hope (10:1-2)

The problem was prayed for – but not yet dealt with…

10:1 Now while Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrating himself before the house of God, a very large assembly, men, women and children, gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept bitterly. 2 Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, said to Ezra, “We have been unfaithful to our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.

Ezra was committed to complete repentance. He was not putting on a show for the people around him, but rather deliberately falling before the Lord and asking him for mercy. A contrite heart draws others toward God, while a self-centered heart deflects glory from God. Ezra did not wait for others to follow, nor did he put on a show for them. He lived his life before the Lord, and others saw it for what it was and were moved.

While the people gathered and wept bitterly, two leaders stepped forward and spoke with promise and hope about the future. Leaders cannot simply wallow in guilt and despair, they must offer the earnest expectation that people can change their behavior, and God will open his heart to them.

From Parade magazine comes the story of self-made millionaire Eugene Land, who greatly changed the lives of a sixth-grade class in East Harlem. Mr. Lang had been asked to speak to a class of 59 sixth-graders. What could he say to inspire these students, most of whom would drop out of school? He wondered how he could get these predominantly black and Puerto Rican children even to look at him. Scrapping his notes, he decided to speak to them from his heart. “Stay in school,” he admonished, “and I’ll help pay the college tuition for every one of you.” At that moment the lives of these students changed. For the first time they had hope. Said one student, “I had something to look forward to, something waiting for me. It was a golden feeling.” Nearly 90 percent of that class went on to graduate from high school. (Parade Magazine.)

The SS Stella left Southampton with Captain William Reeks at the helm. She was 253 feet long, with a beam of 35 feet. She was designed to carry 712 passengers and had aboard some 754 life jackets and 12 lifebuoys, but her lifeboats could only carry 148 people. Thick fog banks rolled in fast and her speed was reduced twice while passing through the misty darkness. Approaching the Channel Islands, more fog overtook her, but speed was not reduced. Unable to see, the Captain Reeks ordered his first and second mates to stand fast of the both starboard and port near the front to listen for the warning buoy bells or signals from a known nearby reef. When the signal was heard it was too late, as the rocks were directly ahead. Captain Reeks ordered the engines full astern and attempted to turn away from the rocks, but as the Stella scraped along two rocks, her hull was ripped open. She sank eight minutes later. Four lifeboats were successfully launched, while a fifth capsized. Women and children were ushered off first according to maritime protocol. One stewardess, Mary Ann Rogers, gave up her life jacket and refused a place in a lifeboat to allow others inside. Survivors remarked at the many mariners who helped the passengers (there is a memorial for her still in Southampton), and some who gave up their life vests for the ill-prepared. In all, 86 passengers were killed during the sinking, but also 19 crew members, in all, resulting in 105 fatalities. On board the vessel that day was the famed English opera soprano Greta Williams, who used her voice to comfort the ship’s frightened survivors as they rowed in the deep awaiting some rescuers. A poem by William McGonagall, published just after the shipwreck, contained the lines:

“But the sufferings of the survivors are pitiful to hear, And I think all Christian people for them will drop a tear, Because the rowers of the boats were exhausted with damp and cold; And the heroine of the wreck was Miss Greta Williams, be it told. She remained in as open boat with her fellow-passengers and crew, And sang “O rest in the Lord, and He will come to our rescue”; And for fourteen hours they were rowing on the mighty deep, And when each man was done with his turn he fell asleep.”

Some apparently sat aboard the lifeboats angered at the captain and crew, even voicing complaint about the cold, the loss, and the bitterness of it all. Yet, in the end, most survivors remembered what brought them through the ordeal. It was not mere stamina and energy – it was HOPE from one voice. Miss William’s song rang out repeatedly the source of hope. Survivors recalled those “songs of the Lord” from deep, fog-ridden places that night. They were rescued the next morning, but when they were, very few of them doubted they would be – because they heard the Lord was watching over them throughout the night. The call to “rest in the Lord” was in their ears, then their minds, and finally their hearts. Those who wanted to hurl blame helped no one. Those who sought God and trusted His salvation – helped everyone.

There is a process to leading people from disobedience to a right standard.

It doesn’t include blame or deflection.
It doesn’t include anger.
It includes brokenness.
It is bathed in humility.
It is kept alive by trust in God’s goodness.

It was a kindly group of people. They loved God. They had their problems, but what group didn’t? They wanted to see great things happen in their community, but now they were but a few – and the great dreams had all settled down. They once had lofty goals, dreams and visions, but it didn’t happen, and it wasn’t happening. It seemed like “out of thin air” God materialized help for them from another city – simply because He had something He wanted to accomplish. The new infusion of life, help and hope took the old ministry and revitalized it… because God wasn’t finished with that work. I hope that is the way some of the churches we are sending help to feel – but I am not talking about them. This is a story from long ago – recorded in the book now named “Ezra” – which fittingly means “help” in Hebrew. You see, Jerusalem was about to get a new vision from another wave of exiles on the return, because the call of God was being answered.

I have a question: “How does an aging and perhaps declining ministry hit the reset button?” Many people have been in churches that sadly had to answer that! How does a group go back into the mode of excitement and regain joy and vision when they have settled into a pattern that seems to lead only to defeat, disappointment and discouragement?

God has a message from the ancient collection of His Word. The book of Ezra is unique, however, in that it is actually two different pieces of writing put together into one “book”.

• The first six chapters detail the work of Zerubbabel as he returned with people from the Babylonian exile.

• Chapter seven through ten, offered the story of Ezra who came many years after the first group. In fact chapter 6 closes in the year 516 PCE, and chapter seven open after the year 464 BCE, some 60 to 70 years later.

This small scroll of Ezra 7 through 10 gives us the details of two events:

• 7-8 Offers the story of the Return of Ezra;

• 9-10 Offers the story of the Reforms of Ezra after he arrived back in Jerusalem.

Stepping back and looking into this part of the book that comes much later than the first part, we learn something significant from a little story about the journey to Jerusalem…

Key Principle: Though God does not hold us responsible for what we cannot do, He delights when we do what He has called us to do.

Here is the truth: We must resist the temptation to spend our energies doing what God has not called us to do.

I mention this because I live in a time when people are throwing their energies at great political movements trying to save the morality of a fallen nation – but they don’t bring the Gospel to their neighbor and they don’t pray for their leaders… As we face yet another election season…I recognize my responsibility to be a part of the democratic process. I recognize my responsibility to be a community leader, an organizer of positive events that underscore a moral path of life. At the same time, there must be limits even in a ministry — we can only do what we were called to do and maintain our peace. There are too many stirred up brothers and sisters who seem to be trying to do things beyond their call and get us to do things that are beyond our ability.

God offers insight in a simple story from long ago. It begins with a focused group of people on a mission.

This will help us focus first on what they did and what we can do as we serve together for God’s purposes:

First, Ezra understood the need for a people-centered view of the work (8:1-14)

The first fourteen verses are a list of people who headed up the campaign of return in this second “wave”. Ezra recorded:

Ezra 8:1 Now these are the heads of their fathers’ households and the genealogical enrollment of those who went up with me from Babylon in the reign of King Artaxerxes: 2of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom; of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel; of the sons of David, Hattush; 3of the sons of Shecaniah who was of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah and with him 150 males who were in the genealogical list; 4of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah and 200 males with him; 5of the sons of Zattu, Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel and 300 males with him; 6and of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan and 50 males with him; 7and of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah and 70 males with him; 8and of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael and 80 males with him; 9of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel and 218 males with him; 10and of the sons of Bani, Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah and 160 males with him; 11and of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son of Bebai and 28 males with him; 12and of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan and 110 males with him; 13and of the sons of Adonikam, the last ones, these being their names, Eliphelet, Jeuel and Shemaiah, and 60 males with them; 14and of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud, and 70 males with them.

As obvious as it sounds, there are many today who forget that teamwork is people work. God’s vision was set forth, and now people needed to get there and get going. The vision didn’t OPPOSE the people – it was FOR the people. Let me say it this way: There are many in ministry who see the goals of the ministry as greater than the people that work in that ministry. The fact is, ministry is about relationship for people by people empowered by Jesus. I love that Ezra took the time to share the names of so many households. I love that he took the time to tell us that they were from genealogical records that could be verified. I do not want to spiritualize the passage, but look at what he says in verse one. Ezra reminds us that he checked out the people before he involve them in the work.

The only way a church can protect itself from the kinds of waves of attacks that are going on in the media today against good churches continues to be to attempt to carefully check out the people that it places in ministry. That means, when people wish to be involved in ministry, they must open themselves to inspection. There is no such thing as moral privacy when you involve yourselves in communal work. We have individual rights, but we forego many of those when we sign on to be a part of community at this level. I am not suggesting that there is no more privacy. I’m suggesting that my sin affects the whole team, and as a result I must expect that others are paying when I am not walking as I should. As a result, even leaders need someone who can “tag them out” from ministry when it is apparent that there is a deep problem that is not being resolved. Ezra took the time to check the people out. Today, we must not allow the work of the ministry to become so large that we forget to keep our eyes on the people of the ministry.

One of the great blessings of ministry is that it is intended to be a team sport. I think of the words shared by Pastor Skidmore: “Have you ever heard of Lieutenant Hirro Onada? He was the last Japanese soldier to surrender after World War II. He was left on the island Lubang in the Philippines in 1944 — along with three other soldiers. They were left with the command to “carry on the mission even if Japan surrenders.” Eventually the others were killed or surrendered. But Onada continued his war alone. Through the years, he ignored messages from loudspeakers announcing Japan’s surrender. Leaflets were dropped in the jungle begging him to surrender so he could return to Japan. During his 29-year private war, he killed at least 30 Philippine nationals. More than half a million dollars were spent trying to locate him and convince him to surrender. Finally, on March 10, 1974, Onada surrendered his rusty sword after receiving a personal command from his former superior officer. His lonely war was finally over. When he returned to Japan as a prematurely aged man of 52, he made this comment: “There was nothing pleasant during those 29 years in the jungle.” (Newsweek, 1974) Well, that was a bit of an understatement. But people can spend long years fighting lonely battles when they are determined to “go it alone.” The Pastor finished with this insight: “People spend years battling secret sins and weaknesses and addictions — when they could end the battle IF they would let other people help them.”

Second, Ezra got the right people together for the work (8:15-20)

Having a people centered work is only going to be truly effective if you have the right people. Ezra knew who he WANTED – but that isn’t always who volunteers. I think it is clear in the text that he was disappointed that the “right guys” didn’t seem quick to step up and volunteer?

Ezra 8:15 Now I assembled them at the river that runs to Ahava, where we camped for three days; and when I observed the people and the priests, I did not find any Levites there.

No matter what team it is that you are ministering with, we all have to admit that there are times when we are discouraged. Discouragement comes when our expectations aren’t met in reality. Sometimes we have to take a step back, even when we are doing what God desires us to do.

The truth is that God understands setbacks and times of limitation. I remember years ago I first encountered this truth when Philip Yancey wrote a selection in his book Disappointment with God about Jesus and way God understands us. Speaking of Jesus, he wrote:

“Imagine for a moment becoming a baby again: giving up language and muscle coordination, and the ability to eat solid food and control your bladder. {In the Incarnation story was see] God as a fetus! Or imagine yourself becoming a sea slug – that analogy is probably closer. On that day in Bethlehem, the Maker of All that is took form as helpless, dependent newborn.”

I guess it would be safe to say that God understands disappointment and limiting setbacks, though it’s difficult for me to understand the feeling of leaving the highest place in heaven, to put on the skin of the baby. Jesus knew what it meant to do the hard thing for the right thing.

Ezra thought the problem through, and delayed moving forward to get the right people in the right positions. What a smart move. We read:

Ezra 8:16 So I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah and Meshullam, leading men, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, teachers. 17 I sent them to Iddo the leading man at the place Casiphia; and I told them what to say to Iddo and his brothers, the temple servants at the place Casiphia, that is, to bring ministers to us for the house of our God.

Because I’ve been a long-time in leadership I can testify to the reality that delay can be one of the hardest disappointments for a leader. Once we ascertain exactly what God wants us to do in some area, we want to reach out and do it right away. Yet, there are many instances in Scripture, where we find God called upon His people to wait on Him — not to rush ahead and accomplish the task even when He has made it clear that is the task He wants completed.

I am struck by the record that shows how Ezra sent for leadership among the priestly class, but he also sent specifically for teachers. He needed people who could work, but he knew that in order to expand the work he needed people that could teach the work. Shortsighted ministry enables workers. Long-term ministry intentionally raises up teachers to build more workers. I came to this conclusion over the years of study of the text — many a church has failed to raise up leaders behind them, and their great work collapsed as a weight upon aging leaders. Jesus told us to make disciples. Some of those disciples must also be teachers. Others, fall into the last category of the text, those who are simply called ministers for the house of God – but are vital to the work!

Ezra knew he needed people who could do more than build, clean and fix – he needed those who could teach the people of the Holy One of Israel. They needed to know how the Temple was to function and what God said about pleasing Him. Nothing else would do. I cannot pass this moment without offering the words of A.W. Tozer, in “The Divine Conquest”, where he chided us to do this once again – to think about how we could serve God and not make Him serve US:

“While few would dare thus to voice their secret feelings, there are millions who have imbibed the notion that they hold in their hands the keys of heaven and hell. The whole content of modern life … contributes to this attitude. Man is made large and God small; How deeply do men err who conceive of God as subject to our human will or as standing respectfully to wait upon our human pleasure. Though He in condescending love may seem to place Himself at our disposal, yet never for the least division of a moment does He abdicate His throne or void His right as Lord of man and nature. He is that Majesty on high. To Him all angels cry aloud, the heavens and all the powers therein: … heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory.” … before Him prophet and Patriarch and saint have knelt in breathless awe and adoration. Our God has now become our servant to wait on our will. “The Lord is my SHEPHERD,” we say, instead of “The LORD is my shepherd,” and the difference is as wide as the world.

Beloved, we must remember that we are called to serve him and He is not called to serve us. Whether we are leaders, teachers, were servants, whatever we do is for Him – His glory and His kingdom. We did not earn our way onto the team, nor do we choose the others that are on it. We request that God would give to us those that are necessary to do the work he is called us to do.

What is so important is that Ezra recognized God’s provision when it arrived. He recorded:

Ezra 8:18 According to the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of insight of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, and his sons and brothers, 18 men; 19 and Hashabiah and Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, with his brothers and their sons, 20 men; 20 and 220 of the temple servants, whom David and the princes had given for the service of the Levites, all of them designated by name.

Someone has said, “There are more prayer meetings for requests than for celebration.” Why is that? I suspect we often ask for things, hoping that God will answer us, and forgetting to praise Him when He does! I think it’s interesting that Ezra constantly pointed out that the good hand of God was upon him and the people. Note especially what Ezra was thankful for: each of the points of praise were attached to the names of brothers in the Lord.

Mahli was a man of discretion (seh’-kel: prudence, insight). The word denotes someone who is shrewd, disciplined, and loyal. Ezra gave a special note of thanks to God for this man — I suspect any really good leader would have. This was a man who knew when to speak and when not to speak. This was a man who knew how to look at a situation that would cause others to panic and be careful to lead with diligence and confidence. Along with this man of discretion Ezra points out the temple servants were those who belonged to the specific named group or appointed group of King David. Ezra had a big enough project on his hands that he insisted on leadership with a heritage and track record. When God provided the right people Ezra raised his hands in praise.

Third, Ezra called them to get their hearts ready for the work ahead (8:21a)

Ezra 8:21 Then I proclaimed a fast (tsom) there at the river of Ahava,

In order to move people from their busy lives into the work of God, Ezra took the time to separate them from their daily life. Fasting was an outward show of the “time of consecration” to the new work to which they were called. May I say something that must be pointed out here: Brothers and sisters, we are far too often rushing quickly into the world without carefully heeding the need in our own hearts to take the time before the Lord. We need to stop and examine our hearts and prepare more for our mission outside these doors. We too quickly lose vigor when we are not careful about our examination process. Dr. Martin Luther King penned in his book The Strength of Love:

“The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.” The man was a modern day prophet.

Fourth, Ezra placed his trust in God’s providential power for the success of the whole endeavor (8:21b-23).

He called upon the Lord for the specific needs.

Ezra 8:21b “…that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions.

Look carefully at the subject of his prayer. Ezra wanted God to meet him, lead and guide him and all his people. As a result, he humbled himself along with all the other people and got specific with God about what their needs were. My eyes were drawn to “our little ones”. How desperately they wanted to reach Jerusalem safely with the gold and silver and properties of the temple. How much more desperate they were to make sure that even their children arrived well. Prayer need not be a lofty thing — God answers the heartfelt cry of one who simply calls “Help!”

During the US Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln met with a group of ministers for a prayer breakfast. Lincoln was a man of deep, if at times unorthodox, faith. At one point one of the ministers said, “Mr. President, let us pray that God is on our side”. Lincoln’s response showed far greater insight, “No, gentlemen, let us pray that we are on God’s side.” If we want to know what God wants us to do, then we must first strive to live a life of conformity to Him. (Sermoncentral.com) We must not ask God to bless our vision – but rather that He would give us His.

I think it is also significant that he recognized the weaknesses of their flesh.

Ezra 8:22 For I was ashamed to request from the king troops and horsemen to protect us from the enemy on the way, because we had said to the king, “The hand of our God is favorably disposed to all those who seek Him, but His power and His anger are against all those who forsake Him.”

I love the integrity of Ezra that is revealed in his words of shame. Ezra did not think more of himself than he should, but he was rethinking words that he spoke to the king. He wanted God’s name to be elevated, and he wanted to explain the testimony of Who God is and how powerful He is. As a result, he spoke of God’s power before the king. What is striking to me about verse 22, is the candor with which Ezra admits what he had done. To admit shame is to admit human weakness. Many men do not show emotions easily. Still others, because of ego, refuse to admit that they are as weak as all others.

In 1960, Israeli undercover agents orchestrated the daring kidnapping of one of the worst of the Holocaust’s masterminds, Adolf Eichmann. After capturing him in his South American hideout, they transported him to Israel to stand trial. There, prosecutors called a string of former concentration camp prisoners as witnesses. One was a small haggard man named Yehiel Dinur, who had miraculously escaped death in Auschwitz. On his day to testify, Dinur entered the courtroom and stared at the man in the bulletproof glass booth. The man who had murdered Dinur’s friends, personally executed a number of Jews, and presided over the slaughter of millions more. As the eyes of the two men met – victim and murderous tyrant – the courtroom fell silent, filled with the tension of the confrontation. But no one was prepared for what happened next. Yehiel Dinur began to shout and sob, collapsing to the floor. Was he overcome by hatred? By the horrifying memories? By the evil incarnate in Eichmann’s face? No. As he later explained in a riveting “60 Minutes” interview, it was because Eichmann was not the demonic personification of evil that Dinur had expected. Rather, he was an ordinary man, just like anyone else. And in that one instant, Dinur came to a stunning realization that sin and evil are the human condition. ‘I was afraid about myself,” Dinur said. “I saw that I am capable to do this – exactly like he.” (Donnie Martin, SermonCentral.com illustrations).

Those are the words of a real man – one who came to know himself. He wasn’t a pompous man, filled with righteous indignation about the actions of others – He was a man broken by the sameness of another’s sin.

I think it is also telling that Ezra and the others were not presumptuous with God. Just because they had a call to do something, didn’t mean they didn’t need to be very careful about HOW they completed the vision God gave them. Ezra recorded:

Ezra 8:23 So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter,

Previous fasting wasn’t sufficient for this new call. They were Jews, and they knew fasting. They could have said: “I just finished fasting”. I wonder if some thought yesterday’s sanctification was sufficient for today’s problem. They would have been wrong. The fact is, we must constantly return to the Lord to seek Him. Note that Ezra says they sought Him concerning this matter specifically – to be sure about what He told them to do and how to do it.

Note that Ezra spotted the blessing and empowering of God when it came. He wrote:

Ezra 8:23b…and He listened to our entreaty.

Isn’t the confidence inspiring! Ezra prayed, God answered, Ezra celebrated. I’m not suggesting that Ezra knew that moment but God answered, because the passage is reflective – it recalls the story in a truncated way. I simply make note that nothing escaped the leader when it came to being able to point back to God’s blessings. I wonder if Ezra ever had to be prodded to have more time for testimonies of God’s goodness – but I doubt it. Good leaders celebrate a GOOD GOD often.

Ezra divided tasks for the work (8:24-30) and that is one of the most important and yet difficult tasks for any work. How should it be done? The text offers the steps:

First, he identified the key leaders (8:24)

Ezra 8:24 Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and with them ten of their brothers;

Ezra had a choice as to how to proceed with the work. He could have put all of the gold and silver and utensils for the temple together into wagons and surrounded them with all the men. Sometimes the best way to minister is to collect everyone together on a single project. In this case, Ezra thought it safer and wiser to split up the people in teams, and divide up the goods and spoils for the temple amongst them. This meant that there was no single place where bandits could get all of the goods. Yet, Ezra needed trusted man — and indeed leading priests he found them.

Second, Ezra distributed the work (8:25-27)

Ezra 8:25 and I weighed out to them the silver, the gold and the utensils, the offering for the house of our God which the king and his counselors and his princes and all Israel present there had offered. 26 Thus I weighed into their hands 650 talents of silver, and silver utensils worth 100 talents, and 100 gold talents, 27and 20 gold bowls worth 1,000 darics, and two utensils of fine shiny bronze, precious as gold.

President Ronald Reagan used to say of the weapons treaties of the US with the former USSR: “Trust, but verify”. Ezra trusted these men, but everything was carefully weighed and checked so that each man could report to Jerusalem with exactly what was given to him. In order for the ministry to restart in Jerusalem, many people had to do what they could do. Each one had to take responsibility for their part of the body. Failure of any one leader to lead properly, or anyone’s servant to betray the others, may have led to disaster, or at least hindered the work significantly. The body has many members — each one must do their part. Yet, each part counts on the other parts!

Third, Ezra charged the workers with the tasks (8:28-29)

Ezra 8:28 Then I said to them, “You are holy to the LORD, and the utensils are holy; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the LORD God of your fathers. 29 “Watch and keep them until you weigh them before the leading priests, the Levites and the heads of the fathers’ households of Israel at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the LORD.”

I think it’s significant that Ezra reminded them verbally of their commitment to the Lord and to his things. There must be calls to holiness — they must be frequent, they must be strong, they must be convincing. A ministry filled with information, but not characterized by pointed calls for transformation, is cheap ministry. Ezra put them back in front of the work of God and the Master of that work – God Himself. People should feel the awe of God if they are going to understand the weight of fulfilling God’s mission.

Fourth, the Leaders accepted the challenge (8:30).

Ezra 8:30 So the priests and the Levites accepted the weighed out silver and gold and the utensils, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God.

The leaders clearly accepted the challenge that was given to them, and took responsibility for their own actions. They understood the objectives, and each one was working toward fulfilling them. Though they traveled separately, each one was working for one great goal understood by all — to honor God by bringing a new team into the Temple, complete with support and utensils.

Fifth, Ezra saw God’s protection in the work (8:31-34)

As each got busy with their tale of the adventure (8:31), Ezra watched like a general at headquarters…

Ezra 8:31 Then we journeyed from the river Ahava on the twelfth of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was over us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the ambushes by the way.

The service to the king is always an exciting adventure. No once again that Ezra says the hand of God was over them — he delivered them from traps of the enemy. In the day in which we live we are given armor by God to put on (Ephesians 6), but we must constantly remember that there are more on our team than can be seen whether physical eyes. God is fielding a very large team — and we are part of a very mighty army!

Ezra established a check point, and got to the first goal where he planned to gather the people (8:32-34).

Ezra 8:32 Thus we came to Jerusalem and remained there three days.

I think the only reason Ezra tells us about the arrival to Jerusalem and the three days of rest is to remind us that not everyone arrived together. As each party came in from across the desert, new excitement began to build in Jerusalem. The excitement wasn’t only over the assets that they brought — the gold and silver, but over the people themselves. It is an exciting thing to stand in the ministry where God is assembling a great team. We must remember to rejoice in these days!

Ezra didn’t neglect accountability! They weighed out each arrival’s goods to check the work was completed according to the plan (8:33-34).

Ezra 8:33 On the fourth day the silver and the gold and the utensils were weighed out in the house of our God into the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; and with them were the Levites, Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui. 34 Everything was numbered and weighed, and all the weight was recorded at that time.

Finally the team came together in Jerusalem. Each person was checked, each bag was weighed. The total inventory of accountability was offered by every single person. The Ministry of God was now about to be renewed — the reset button was in sight.

Sixth, the people had opportunity to testify about God’s help in the work (8:35-36)!

The came in and turned their attention to celebrating the journey with the Lord (8:35)

Ezra 8:35 The exiles who had come from the captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: 12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, 12 male goats for a sin offering, all as a burnt offering to the LORD.

Gathering together at the temple in Jerusalem, Ezra immediately called for the people to offer burnt offerings (of full dedication) and they wholly dedicated the people to the Lord. They offered sin offerings — remembering that it was not their goodness that brought the team together, nor was it them that made all of the celebration possible. God was on their side, but they would need him daily to be the God of grace to the undeserved team.

They saw God’s hand extend beyond the Temple to the region (8:36)

Ezra 8:36 Then they delivered the king’s edicts to the king’s satraps and to the governors in the provinces beyond the River, and they supported the people and the house of God.

When God is doing a great work people will find out! No fires or bulletins needed to be handed out on street corners to suggest that God was doing something. It started in the hearts of the people, it moved to the heart of the King, it worked its way through the hands and feet of the leaders, and it ended in the ears of lost men! What a great moment to see the “reset button” press effectively. The work was God’s Temple. It was not simply to keep it going, it was to instill new vision, new leadership – new hope in a dying organization that went stale.

To get the vast project completed they needed people. The right one’s didn’t show up immediately, but with urging and time, they were able to field the team. They got the team ready for the work and admitted that if God didn’t show up, they were finished. With organization ready and hearts attuned, the leader divided the tasks among other leaders that were obviously among them. This protected the work by spreading it out to make it harder for the enemy to take it all apart at once. Off they rushed, each into their own part of the work for God’s glory, bounding toward the first major goal – the collection of the materials into the right place. Trusting God and seeing His hand through the adventure, the people re-gathered and gave an account of their part of the work. They celebrated and honored God, recognizing their own sinful inadequacies – and God’s provisions beyond their abilities!

Look at the part of the work they were called to do and could do:

• Plan: call people to the work,
• Wait: Hold when the work was not ready to advance,
• Organize: Collect and choose responsibilities,
• Pray: Recognizing they couldn’t do God’s work in their power.
• Be Accountable: Check one another at intervals.
• Celebrate: Mark what God did every step of the way for them!

Now look at the part of the work they could NOT do:

• Selection: Get the best people in the community to respond (they got who chose to come).

• Guarantee: They could not ensure complete safety nor victory – only that God would be pleased.

Though God does not hold us responsible for what we cannot do, He delights when we do what He has called us to do. We must resist the temptation to spend their energies doing what God has not called us to do.

Don’t forget the prize here… it was an active and vibrant Temple to meet Him daily. It was more time with God! It was intimate, personal relationship with the Creator.

God was delighted. He loves it when we put ourselves in His shadow, and bow to listen to His voice. I watched an IKEA YouTube yesterday that moved my heart. Children were told to make a list to “the three kings” – the Spanish version of the Santa story – for Christmas presents. After that, they were told to make a list of what they wanted FROM THEIR PARENTS. One after the other wrote some version of “time with you, mom and dad”. When the children made their first list, it was filled with toys. When they made the one to their parents, it was time, time, time. Wouldn’t it be great if we wanted that with God?