Men of Action and Politics

When last we left the book of Ezra, the discussion was focused on several men that were instrumental in the re-building of the temple of God upon return of the exiles from their Babylonian captivity.  In particular, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak began the work under the order from Cyrus king of Persia; stopped the work under orders from King Xerxes and Artaxerxes (based on the complaint of the enemies of Judah and Benjamin); and began the work afresh on the order of God through the prophets Haggai and Zechariah which was later ratified and endorsed by King Darius.

In this post I want to look at the political aspect of this account and what we can and cannot take from it in terms of application in contemporary culture.  Firstly, the return of the exiles and re-building of the temple was ordered by official proclamation.  In the last post we discussed the reason behind this return and how it was nothing short of the miraculous change of heart of the King of Persia, Cyrus himself, by which God brought the return to pass.  This point bears further emphasis here, that God detemined in His Sovereignty and timing that the re-building should take place and so He changed the heart of the King to bring that about.  So, generally speaking God used those in power to bring about His plan for His people.  Can we then make a specific rule then that God works this way all the time?  Obviously not.  Cyrus was King of Persia, not a Jewish leader.  God allowed Nebuchadnezzar to carry away His people into captivity.  God also sent Moses to Pharoh and in that case his heart was hardened such that plagues and death forced a ruler whose heart was hardened to relent and release those under his rule albeit reluctantly and who he later determined to seek to re-acquire only to lead his army to ultimate destruction.  So what we can say without making errors in specifically limited application is that God Sovereignly works all things according to His own good purposes to accomplish His own ends, which are by definition right and good.

Politically speaking God used a king to release His people so that they could re-build His temple.  So what of the stoppage ordered by Xerxes and Artaxerxes?  Was God unable to see that one coming?  God had brought his people from captivity with orders and supplies so why did His people stop when orders came down from governing authorities?  Were God's plans thwarted by a simple decree and disruptive behavior by a small group?  Obviously that would be an error in thinking since that sort of description of God does not comport with the rest of Scripture, nor does it acknowledge the many accounts of God Himself fighting the battle for His people, turning opposing forces against themselves and routing whole armies without the loss of even one of His people.  Again, we don't want to make a mistake in the particular case, rather we want to see the Truth that is applicable across circumstances.  Again, God is Sovereign - it may not seem to make sense to have the work stop, but whether it is obvious to man or not, God is most capable of knowing how things must work such that He receives maximum glory.  In this case, the work stoppage brought about two prophets who spoke for the Lord about not only the continued re-building in the absence of permission from ruling authorities, but also regarding the coming Messiah - all of which came to pass!

Finally, and again politically, why didn't Zerubbabel and Jeshua stage a rebellion when word came down that they had been ordered to cease and dissist in their efforts.  Why didn't they organize and declare that they were building the temple of the Lord (which He had directed by means of a heart change of previous leadership) and no human king was going to stop the Lord's work and fight to the death to continue working?  It seems best to always consider the context and the Truth.  In this time, God spoke to the people through the prophets.  Cyrus decrees the Israelites be given materials and released to re-build the temple - no problem there.  No prophet has spoken, but returning to their land and re-building the temple is a great blessing, so praise God for moving on Cyrus's heart to bring this about.  The stop work order comes down from the same authority that decreed the work start.  Perhaps confusing and disappointing, but God made a way before and He will do so again.  Then the prophets speak.  God has said re-build.  Now, there is no waiting and no fear of retribution from government.  The men immediately begin re-building.  Later the records are checked and the re-building is not hindered by government or others, praise God for working this out in His timing.  God's people are not called to political activism as a pursuit in order to bring about justice in this world.  God's people are called to love God with all their hearts and to love others as themselves, with this love manifested in the bearing of the fruits of the Spirit.  This is not to say belivers should not be politically active, but great care should be taken, as with everything else in the life of the believer, that motivations remain focused and pure and that we do not behave as though God is not Sovereign or somehow needs our help to make sure the problems of this world get solved, whether by sit-in, occupation, or armed rebellion.  Where the sacred is being profaned, believers must be in opposition even unto personal persecution, without fear, but in much prayer and knowing that God is Sovereign and will bring about all things according to His own good pleasure and for His ultimate glory.

What is the one main idea to take away - God is Sovereign over all things and He knows best how things must come to pass such that His glory is maximized.  Let us not presume to need to help out or know better than God.  Love and obedience is a great place for us to start, and i'm thankful we can see that even in a book like Ezra written so long ago.

A Report From Abroad

We had a wonderful report Sunday morning from our team that went to Colombia for a short term mission project back at the end of 2011.  It was a real blessing to hear the team, from youngest to oldest, speak of how God had taught and moved them about the real physical, emotional and spiritual needs abroad.  Each team member expressed the humbling nature of going to serve and seeing in person both that there are needs worldwide and that God is moving worldwide.

Personally, the richest portion of the testimony was hearing of how the family that once was present as a local member of our body and is now a foreign member of our body, serving full time in Colombia, is impacting lives in another culture.  God is receiving glory because this family is not impacting lives by pressing American culture on the people, but rather living a Godly life in the midst of these peoples and preaching Christ crucified and raised from the dead and discipling through biblical teaching applied in daily life applications.  Something as simple as asking a local man to consider taking his son with him to work on a side job in a culture where boys do not interact with their fathers as they are often left to grandparents for their daily training can change a generation.

We need to teach sound doctrine, we need to preach the gospel, we need to care for the needs of the hurting, we must have the strength and ability that comes from a Sovereign God so that He is glorified in all things.  I am so thankful for the testimony of faithful brothers and sisters, for those willing to serve both at home and abroad, for a loving God that turns the hearts of a sinful nature to Himself and uses those sinners to accomplish great things for His glory.  May we all continue in the faith, hold fast to the Truth, love God with all our being, love one another, and live according to the purpose for which we were created, for God's glory as we proclaim the gospel and live lives according to the calling for which we have been called as God gives us strength.

Rich blessings and much love to our brothers and sisters around the world, and to our dear friends in Colombia.

A Changed Heart and Some Persevering Men

I felt compelled to spend February in the book of Ezra and so I have been reading daily through the short 10 chapter book concerning the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem in Judah following the return from captivity in Babylon (among other things).  There is a wealth of issues to cover, so i'll take them as time permits in brief and hope that you will be encouraged from the reading of them to read through Ezra yourself, and be blessed.

Just two quick points today.  The first is a phrase that reaches out and slaps me across the face every time it appears in scripture.  I'm speaking here of the first two verses of the book:

"In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing:"

Wow, it's amazing every time.  Cyrus king of Persia ruled over all the exiles from Jerusalem, taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzer, and had no intentions of letting them go back home.  Then something happened, no less than a miracle.  God, in keeping with what He spoke through Jeremiah, moved the heart of Cyrus.  Then the king sent them back home, and not only sent them back but sent with them silver and gold, goods and livestock and freewill offerings the temple in Jerusalem that was yet to be rebuilt.  So we see several things here.  God is not sitting up in heaven, having wound up the universe, just sitting back letting things happen as they will.  He is intimately involved.  You know, like what is written in Colossians 1:17 "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."  Not sitting back watching, but Sovereign over and in control of all things.  All things that God has said will come to pass - will come to pass.  Also, only God can change hearts.  Many fine arguments can be made to make someone consider changing their way of thinking about a certain topic, but no amount of human effort can bring about a change in another's heart.  This is a possible source of error for many people who rigorously pursue apologetics.  Obviously there is nothing wrong with study, with discovering the wealth of resources and evidences of God's existence in all aspects of human existence and with making arguments for God among people who do not believe.  However, we must be so very careful not to become so proficient in making arguments for God that we put ourselves in the place of God - believing that it is the argument and the arguer that turn people to God, moving to the place where we devote all our time to arguing for God that we neglect a relationship with God, spending a larger percentage of our time reading what other people say about God than we do reading what God Himself has revealed in His Word.  I thank God for the surge in interest and captivation by a new generation who have the largest abundance of resources in the history of the world at their fingertips, but we can have all that and still go astray.  Let us never forget that our commission from God is not to make converts, but to make disciples, and that only God can move the heart of man.  So we study to show ourselves approved, we stand up for the Truth and pray that God will have mercy and extend His grace to those He places before us, that He will shine the light of Truth into their heart that they may believe and confess in the Son and be set free so that we may have the privilege of continuing the process of discipleship all for His glory.

Second, we must persevere.  Paul speaks of finishing the race and keeping the faith as he implores Timothy to press on toward the prize.  We see in the first few chapters here an example of this lived out and recorded for our edification.  Consider Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak:

"When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled as one man in Jerusalem.  Then Jeshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel...Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation...though the foundation of the Lord's temple had not yet been laid...Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building.  They hired counselors to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia...As soon as the copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimsai the secretary and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and compelled them by force to stop.  Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of of the reign of Darius king of Persia.  Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them.  Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them." (Ezra 3:1-5:2)


So much to say here so I will continue on this theme next time, but notice two things now.  First that these two men are mentioned by name as leading the building effort based on the decree of Cyrus king of Persia, whose heart was turned by the Lord, were forced to stop by the people of Israel who petitioned the then king Artaxerxes, and resumed the effort with the proclamation by the prophets of God (Haggai and Zechariah).  These two men persevered.  What an encouragement to us, that although there will be times when people (even the people of God) set themselves to discouraging and frustrating God's will that ultimately what God has decreed will come to pass.  It is reasonable to believe that the reason Zerubbabel and Jeshua did not lose heart and fall away is because they were not looking to their plan or their efforts.  How easy it would have been when the decree came down from King Artaxerxes to have exclaimed, "Oh no, our plans have been thwarted, why oh why did you stop us, Lord.  All we wanted was to rebuild your temple and worship you as you've commanded us to do.  We built the altar and offered sacrifices and yet you have abandoned us!"  Their confidence must have been in something beyond themselves.  It is also reasonable to believe that their confidence was in their Lord, not themselves.  They began building based on the decree by King Cyrus, but not because he decreed it.  Cyrus decreed the people be allowed to return and rebuild the temple.  Zerubbabel and Jeshua first built the altar and offered sacrifices to God, before setting the foundation for the temple.  There was something beyond King Cyrus driving these men, the God that moved the King's heart.  This is also why the men did not wait for another King to give them permission to return to building, the prophets of God spoke and they went back to work.  They served God, they placed their confidence in God, and God was with them.  More on these men and the prophets of God next time.

Dangerous Territory

I have been in a discussion on another blog site for a few days and a theme has developed that I felt important enough to address on its own.  Here is how the thinking is presented without reference to a specific topic so we can concentrate on the framing of the position and not the details of the issue.

"I read explicitly the words of the Bible on topic X, but the Bible does not make any explicit statements about a corollary topic X'.  Since the Bible is silent on topic X' I look at the world around me.  Contemporary culture says that topic X' should be viewed equitably with topic X.  Based on the observations I have made in the culture surrounding me in my every day life I conclude that topic X' is acceptable Biblically and further determine that I should accept and celebrate topic X' and treat it as equitable with topic X."

Is this a logical, proper and reasonable way for sincere Christians to think in areas where the Bible does not explicitly state anything regarding a specific topic?  I would say this is very dangerous territory and that this line of thinking is logical is not proper and is not reasonable for sincere Christians.

The line of thinking is logical because it begins with a proposition, states the assumptions and forms a conclusion.  That is all that is required to make a logical argument.  The conclusion is either true or false based on the myriad rules of logic that govern such matters.  So, the line of thinking is at least logical in that sense.  More on this point later.

The line of thinking is not, however, proper or reasonable and I will only present one reason below as it should be the only reason necessary.

God is Holy.

Is it really as simple as that?  Yes, I believe it is.  Think of the assumption made in the logic developed in the position.  If there is no explicit wording in the Bible for a position (X' in our faceless example) then we look to contemporary culture and the observations we make there to determine what is Biblically acceptable.  Did you catch that - look to contemporary culture to determine what is Biblically acceptable.  What is the danger there?  It seems obvious - the popular majority of contemporary culture will in the main behave contrary to God's will.  Granting that the law of God is written on the heart of man such that all recognize moral categories and non-Christians can do good things, this is not the requirement of the Christian.  God did not call us to be good.  Be holy, be perfect, be conformed to the likeness of Christ, live worthy of the calling to which you have been called - these are the requirements for disciples of Christ.  Even more striking is the dangerous ground on which one stands by using this reasoning, at it is similar to Pascal's wager: what if you are wrong?  Since you don't know because the Bible does not explicitly cover topic X' if one looks to contemporary culture and celebrates topic X' and deems it equitable Biblically with topic X and is wrong, what is been done is a profaning of that which is sacred.  Holding such a viewpoint is the trivialize the Holiness of God in that we are willing to make extensions of God based on the world around us which we are certain is fallen and by and large is still fighting against God.

If the mistake is made and the person is a disciple of Christ, whose sins have been atoned for by acceptance of Christ at the atoning sacrifice for sins then His blood will cover that sin as well.  But how are we to live our lives as believers?  The knowledge of what was done on our behalf and the resultant love we have for our Lord and Savior should drive us to desire to glorify God in every way and not tread on such dangerous ground, clearly placing ourselves in the terrible position of endorsing and celebrating that which is against God's will.  This should be reason enough to decry such an approach.

Two Happy Returns

I'm returning today from two different breaks.  For one, I am returning from more than a year departure from the blogosphere.  I have been working diligently on a book since late October of 2010, which is now in the hands of the publisher and will be available by Christmas (I hope).  I'll post more on that later.  With responsibilities at work and at home I could not write daily for the book and keep up the posting, following and responding on my blog network.  It was a difficult decision to make, and I know it will take some time to return to the wonderful discussions and relationships formed, but i'm looking forward to working at that.  I also returned on Saturday evening from our annual Antioch Community Church  Men's Retreat at Holden Beach.  The trip is always a wonderful time and several great themes emerged from our trip.

First, we had a speaker from Kentucky who completed research related to the family aspect of churches in the United States.  His name is Ryan Steenburg and he has a ministry called Daddy Discipleship in which he challenges men to take a Biblical role in being husbands and fathers.  It was a wonderful time and also quite convicting in that no matter how well one seems to feel one is doing there is always more to learn and improvement that can be made.  The two main points that stuck with me was the need to be intentional daily to know the personalities of your children and train them up according to how God created them.  I have four young children, each with a different personality.  So it is critical that I don't train each one as if all children are alike in all respects.  This takes time and communication between my wife and myself so that we agree on how to work with each one.  Second, Ryan challenged us to understand that the same construction is used in the Bible for "bring up your children" and "nurture and cherish your wife."  Therefore we must not stop loving our wives in a nurturing and caring way just because we have children.  Our responsibilities as men in the home are great, and we must come alongside one another to do it well.

Next we had a discussion on giving in the church.  We focused on the understanding that giving is a physical representation or expression of the recognition that God owns everything.  Many facets of giving then come to the fore.  There is a promise of blessing when we give, even though we don't give for the sake of receiving.  There is a command from the Lord to give, and even if we gave for no other reason than to be obedient there is more to the issue.  Ultimately, God entrusts His people with many different quantifiable elements for which to oversee.  Our time, talents, possessions are existential realities with which we must deal as a part of the nature of our existence.  They remain with us so long as we move about on this planet.  Our responsibility is to recognize that all of them are provisions from God that we are expected to manage.  An attitude to not give is a denial of the One who owns all we have.  We must acknowledge the Owner of all things by managing well that which we have been entrusted and be joyful in generosity as we have been commanded.

I had a quick presentation on the book and some themes that came to the forefront through the year of writing (which i'll take up in the next couple of posts).  And then our final session was dealing with prayer.  We focused in on the fact that a robust prayer life comes with a more complete understanding of our position of desperation.  Put another way, the better we understand how limited and finite and contingent/dependent we are on God for everything the more we will desperately seek Him out for direction, ability and guidance.  That is the essence of prayer.  Approaching God because of our understanding of our desperate state is a return to our original state of being.  Created in His image to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever, as opposed to how we behave a react since the fall - constantly seeking autonomy and separation from God to do our own thing. To approach it from the negative, we could say the more we see ourselves and our ability as the means to live out our lives on a daily basis, then we will look to God less and therefore pray less.  So then it follows that what we need is a constant refreshing in our minds of how dependent we are on God, which will naturally drive us to talk with Him and express our dependence and need for the grace and mercy of the Lord in all things.

So, as is many times the case, it was good to have been away and great to be back.