Purity is Unpopular
Notes
Transcript
Intro & Structure
Intro & Structure
More than one way to skin a cat; and whether you love cats or hate cats, it’s either an awful or a great illustration.
Or, put it another way: Do you take the interstate or the back roads? When you cook, do you prepare everything first or prepare as you go?
Chapter four holds some interesting structure that we have to deal with before we can get into applying this to our lives. 1-5 happens right after ch. 3;
THEN we get into parentheses. If you want help understanding your bible better when it comes to Ezra, just put parentheses around 6-23. This is an insert of history into this passage before returning to the current period of discussion in v. 24
Like the age old adage about cat furs, the Chronicler was telling history thematically, whereas you and I read history in order. All of the opposition the Jews faced in rebuilding was truncated into this chapter to show that the opposition was all the same, from generation to generation.
I could have skipped telling you all this and just acted like none of it existed, and I’m sure not many would have caught it. I didn’t catch it. I’m not that familiar with the history of Persian royalty or Ancient Middle Eastern regime changes.
But you know, if I hadn’t gone into this detail to tell you what’s going on in your Bible, someone could have told you there was an error here and you might have believed it. When I read this and realized the discrepancies, I literally said to myself, “Well, that’s a problem!”
This is why I’m thankful for people who understand Hebrew better than I do. Because it’s not a problem, I’m just a dumb Westerner that can’t read simple Hebrew history.
T: So, knowing that, let’s move deeper into the text.
The Importance of Purity
The Importance of Purity
Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.” But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”
EXP
These people are the Samaritans, with whom you’re probably familiar from Jesus’ day. The Jews would have nothing to do with the Samaritans, as these were people who intermarried with the people of the land.
Let me bring this into light for our modern sensibilities. This wasn’t about color of skin. This was about the purity of their devotion in following God.
The Samaritans didn’t just marry foreigners. They accepted their religious idols and practices along with that.
God did not want this to be the case. The heart of God toward His people is a jealous heart, like a husband has for his wife, or vice versa. No, those are my people, the idols cannot have them! Don’t give your heart to that worthless idol, it cannot do for you what I can do for you!
Or put it this way: What about when someone wants to go in with you on a business deal? Typically, they don’t just give you money and tell you to have fun. Because they helped you, gave you money, etc… they want a say in the business! So too, these Samaritans likely wanted a say in how they would worship God at this Temple.
So Israel, wanting to keep their devotion to God pure, did not allow the Samaritans to join in with the building of the Temple
APP
Believer, in what areas do you need to keep your devotion to God pure? What half-hearted efforts do you need to say no to? What once-small sin has grown and festered and wrests you from your focus on God?
In the Old Testament, it was much different. Purity was about a people of God who were born into God’s family. Now it’s different.
BUT God still desires purity of our hearts. The bad news is, none of us can be pure. We’re hopelessly impure. All of us have a terminal condition called sin, and that causes us to be impure before God. Not just separate from Him, but AGAINST Him.
It’s not like the duckling that got stuck in an oil spill. It’s like the pig that chooses to go back to the mud pits to wallow.
Oh no, you say… I can feel God… I do good things. Hell is just for bad people, right? Yes, Hell is for bad people. The problem is according to Scripture, we’re all bad. Romans 3 paints the picture for us:
as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
The problem is, like the pig, we return to what makes us impure. Our very style of life makes us impure. We return to sin over and over. We make our home in it.
What is sin? It’s anything that goes against God’s standard. The Bible tells us we are born into it. Any time we choose anything over God it is sin.
The good news is that Jesus can make us pure.
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
INVITATION mid sermon - Are you pure before God? Without Christ, no. With Christ, He sees Christ instead of you.
Purity Upsets Enemies
Purity Upsets Enemies
Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.
be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you to us have gone to Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations. Now be it known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue will be impaired.
EXP
Everyone surrounding Israel decided that if they couldn’t get in on the Temple, then surely the Israelites shouldn’t get the ability to build it.
So they intimidated them. They frightened them. They threatened and discouraged them. They terrorized them. They insulted them. They made sure that it would be as hard as it could be to build that Temple.
APP:
In your life, isn’t this the same way? You want to go about doing the right thing, and somebody has it out for you. Maybe it’s at work and you have a bully who doesn’t want you to succeed. Maybe it’s at school and there’s some punk picking on you for being a Christian or choosing not to engage in ungodly practices. Whatever the case, we know that purity is not a popular decision.
When you choose to follow God with no compromises, you will have enemies. Satan can’t stand it, and he will raise up enemies against you.
Really, any time you choose to follow God instead of submitting to the world, you will make enemies. And it’s not because of you. It’s because of who you serve.
That’s not an excuse to be a punk. The enmity should not be because of your entitlement or bad attitude. It should be in spite of your loving demeanor.
EXP
Notice what Israel’s enemies do: They lie about the Jews. They gossip to the king about them.
In other words, they’re just not playing fair. Listen, your enemy does not play by a set of rules. The only rule is to take down the Kingdom of God.
Karate Kid - Sweep the Leg!
Purity will Cost You
Purity will Cost You
Then, when the copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their associates, they went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease. Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
EXP
Now, even though Cyrus had decreed that the Jews could do what they do, there was a lot of going back and forth on that. Not from Cyrus, but from kings after him. That’s what we see from verses 6-23.
This commitment to purity ended up costing the Jews their security, followed by their ability to rebuild the Temple.
The Jews’ choice to remain spiritually pure before their God meant that they would have to delay finishing the Temple.
And remember, this is happening over multiple generations!
APP
Following Jesus is costly. It’s not a popular thing. Sometimes, even among Christians, it is not popular!
Refusing to gossip can hurt relationships just as much as engaging in it can sometimes.
Even further, the persecution you may face for following Christ may hinder your obedience. Have you been intimidated about sharing your faith for fear of what others might think of you? Yeah. That’s a similar state to the Jews’ rebuilding of the Temple.
Teens, afraid to say no to something you know you ought not do because of what others will think?
When it comes down to it, too many times we fear people more than we fear God. And this is costly to our relationship with God, and costly to our obedience.
The fortunate thing for us is that we have a guarantee of a better eternity.
Conclusion
Let’s be a people who follow hard after God. Let’s not let fear control our responses and the way that we obey God.
God offers us a relationship of love, the world wants to stain us with impurity.