Helloooo,
WOW what a fantastic book Nehemiah is! And what a lot of ideas which get thrown out.
Now rather than talk about the usual findings in Nehemiah (impossible task of rebuilding the city's walls made possible with God) I'd like to focus in on a few particular verses which stood out to me...
1. God's word is for everyone
Nehemiah 8 v1-2
'All the people came together as one in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel. So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand.'
So the walls have been rebuilt, opposition faced and overcome, prayers prayed and now there is a gathering of all the peoples to give glory to God and to hear his word. I LOVE the wording here. ALL of the people came together regardless of status, gender, background, skin colour and so on to hear God's word. Isn't it fantastic that we can all come together under one common purpose in Christ. Christ brings unity, togetherness and oneness. We should most definitely practise this more!
Not only this but I love the fact that those who are able to understand are separately mentioned to 'men and women' many of whom I suppose did not understand. How often do we tailor our 'church' gatherings to those who already understand? How often is our language only geared towards those who understand the 'Christian jargon'? Don't get me wrong, yes there is definitely a need to feed Christians so they can grow together and go deeper in their faith. But what about those among us who are new to the faith and who don't understand? I was shocked recently to hear that one new Christian spent the first couple of months of her new found faith not really gaining anything from church because the language was just too complicated and the ideas too deep for her to take on board. I suppose a balance is quite difficult to achieve, but definitely worth thinking about.
Let us not forget, God's word is for EVERYONE, not just those who already understand. And let's be praying for God's spirit to open our eyes and ears also to the bits we don't understand.
2. God's Word is for everyone part 2!
So again this morning, Nehemiah 13 threw out some interesting ideas. Please forgive my ignorance and my own personal lack of understanding, however there seems to be an acknowledgement that God's word was just for a certain race. It seems that the Israelites were not allowed to marry into other races. Perhaps at the time that was right - and definitely was for the 'chosen' people of Israel. Now whilst I can understand the disadvantages of this in the cultural context in that some people may be pulled away from their faith and create prejudices and so on, did it not deprive other races from hearing God's word? I have no answer here and am just toying around with the idea.
What really struck me was the fact that it was Nehemiah who instituted this rule i.e. not marrying those of other races, cultures and presumably different faiths, not God. And what did Nehemiah do when this did happen? He 'rebuked them and called curses down on them. (He) beat some of the men and pulled out their hair' (v25). Which is worse? Did Nehemiah really show grace and love to his neighbour here? Now God may not want have wanted his 'chosen' race to be joined with other races. I don't know. My biblical knowledge does not go far enough to point out verses where God may say otherwise. BUT I do know that Jesus came to prove that God's word is for everyone - one look in the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) proves this in that Jesus hung out with sinners, shared God's word with many, He spoke to women, He was gracious to adulterers, loving towards his enemy and graceful towards even Judas Iscariot his principal betrayer.
So often I feel we are so comfortable in our own little church bubble with our own christian friends that we don't even socialise or hang out with those who are yet to believe. We are quick to criticise and condemn those who are in Christian/non-Christian relationships (often rightly so and out of concern rather than judgement I might add), we spend our Sundays in church with Christians, and go home to our nice Christian houses, go to our nice Christian jobs and talk to our nice Christian friends. When we do go into a non-christian workplace or other environment we take a deep breath, keep our head down and come up gasping for air when we are back home in our nice Christian environments again. Ok Caroline, definitely a bit controversial here. I can totally understand why people want to do this. I've been there. I've done it.
BUT it really annoys me! Are we not called to go and make disciples of all nations? Are we not called to love our neighbour? Are we not called to be salt and light? Are we not told we have authority in Christ to stand on serpants? Are we not told that we will not be harmed when we walk through water or fire? Doesn't God's word say that no weapon formed against us will prosper? Aren't we supposed to be Christlike and hang out with those who are yet to know Him?
When was the last time you had real contact with a non-believer and by this I don't mean an exchange in a shop or an 'outreach event'. When did you last invite a non-believer out for a drink or to dinner? Our churches are too full of Christians!!! And nothing against christians whatsoever, but do you ever wonder why our Alpha courses are so empty, or our outreach coffee mornings are scarcely populated? Do you think it may be because we don't know any non-believers to invite, because our lives are so full of believers who are already saved?
Come on church. Let's get out there! The only reason God's Word isn't available to everyone is because we prevent it from being so! We attack those who are taking the word out - just like Nehemiah by attacking any attempt made to breech the gap. God's word IS for EVERYONE! Let's make it!
NB: Please don't take this as criticism - there are many wonderful people doing many wonderful things, this is intended as a motivational read, not a condemning judgement.
Be blessed today :)
No comments:
Post a Comment