Jump Start # 1102

Ezra 4:4-5 “Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.”

  Some people are just mean and against anything good and right. That’s true today and it’s been that way for a long, long time. Our verse comes near the end of the Old Testament. The united nation of Israel under David’s reign had divided into Israel and Judah. Israel, through the leadership of twenty pitiful kings, continue to march away from God and further into idolatry. God had enough and allowed the Assyrians to take them away. Judah was following the same way. Because of God’s promise to Abraham and David, some of Judah would be spared. The nation was captured by the Babylonians and most were taken away. The city of Jerusalem was destroyed and the temple ransacked. After seventy years and a change of world power, Judah was allowed to return. The city was rebuilt. Then came the task of rebuilding the temple. This is where our verse today comes from. The governor of Judah, Zerubbabel, led the people of God into laying the foundation for the new temple. It was smaller than the original. Some wept. But with great fan fare and ceremony they went about the task of getting things started. Then comes our verse.

It seems whenever a good project begins, the thoughts of our verse can be found. The people in the area, those not taken to Babylon, first wanted to be part of this building project. Zerubbabel would have no part in that. They, in retaliation, try to stop the temple project. Our verse uses three key words. These words are the death to any idea and hope. They DISCOURAGED, FRIGHTENED, and FRUSTRATED the people.

They weren’t through. They wrote letters accusing the people of God of all kinds of fabricated lies to further halt the temple plans. The last verse of Ezra four states, “Then work on the house of God in Jerusalem ceased…”. The enemies succeed. Using threats, lies and fear, they stopped the people of God. The next chapter shows how God’s leaders ought to handle error and rally the people to work and finish what they started. It’s a good study.

God’s people have to recognize that there are those who want to see them fail. There are evil people who have no desire in seeing God’s kingdom prosper. They will use everything they can to discourage, frighten and stop the work of God. They will accuse. They will spread lies. They will write erroneous letters. They will spread rumors.

The arrogance of wicked people often silences God’s people. Get a loud, angry atheistic college professor ranting about the evils of the Bible in a class that has nothing to do with literature, Bible or theology, it’s his time to try to destroy what little faith there is in the students. Much too often he succeeds. Through bullying, fear and intimidation the student hides his faith and begins to doubt everything he was once taught.

Wicked people flaunt their sins. They are proud to be offensive and rude. They like to see the people of God run in fear. They will continue their ways until the victory is theirs. The homosexual advocates have politicians hiding in fear. No one dare says anything lest they be accused of being a bigot and worse, homophobic. So, in fear, and in silence, they stand on the sidelines while liberal judges overturn the will of the people in democratic elections. Fear, intimidation and false accusations are allowing evil to grow. What a dumb idea it is to legalize pot. I’d expect that idea from a sixteen year old not adults who went to college. While the country is on an “anti-smoking” campaign, states are caving in to the hypocrisy of smoking marijuana. To stand up in opposition is to be attack with force and accused of all kinds of evil things. So silence, looking the other way, becomes the chosen route.

This is not a political article. It is everything about faith, conviction and the people of God. What happened in Ezra was about stopping the temple. Evil people will use fear and intimidation to stop God’s people. Too often they succeed. Like Peter, in Acts, we cannot stop speaking the things we have seen and heard. That must be our motto and driving spirit. We cannot stop doing right. Church buildings need to be built. The community needs to know about God’s people. Classes must be taught. Sermons must be preached. We cannot hold up, nor hide behind the closed doors of a building. Out in the community our voice and the Gospel message must be heard. Advertise anywhere and everywhere. Pass out literature. Use every form of media. And when challenged, answer back. When accused, don’t back down. Don’t get in the mud with evil people. Don’t forget the golden rule. However, likewise, do not hide in a corner, shaking in fear.

God is on our side. If God is for us, who can be against us? Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. Stand up, stand up for Jesus. God’s people must not be silent, tolerant nor hiding in fear. It begins by standing up to your family. When that dumb cousin spouts off a bunch of nonsense that he read on the internet, challenge him, kindly. Ask the tough questions. Defend your Lord and God. Then when the co-worker rants about things, speak out, kindly. Ask the tough questions. Throw the fast ball.

Study up. Know how to answer the arguments of evolution. It’s not that hard. Study up your Bible. Know the verses. Study up on people who faced challenges and stood with God. The three who refused to bow to Babylon’s idol. The faithful in Revelation. Ezra in our text today. Peter in Acts. Paul in Acts. Jesus before the mean Pharisees. The choice of silence is sometimes the choice of a coward and the choice of fear. Faith conquers fear.

You’ll quickly see two things about those who spout error. First, they are loud. They believe that thunder kills people. It doesn’t. Lightning does. Their arguments are shallow and few. Their power is in their arrogance and volume. Speak kindly and don’t raise your voice. Second, those who thrive in error, love a crowd. They like to put down people in front of others. Get them alone, one on one, and they don’t have much to say. There is no volume, there is no crowd. Now, where are the arguments? Now, where is the proof? It works. Get that nutty cousin off by himself and he’ll be talking in circles. Get that co-worker by himself and have a discussion. Things are different that way. Don’t fall into their trap. Don’t play their game. Don’t get in a shouting match. Get them one on one and with the Bible in hand, you’ll do fine.

Don’t live in fear of error. Know your God and walk by faith.

Roger