August 6
Ezra 3:1-4:23 | PS 28:1-9 | Prov 20:24-25 | 1 Cor 2:6-3:4
There is not a lot of boldness in the American church. We, like all others, have been commissioned by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20, to boldly move forward with the gospel message into a world that is often ignorant to this message and frequently quite hostile. We are not told to move forward if it is easy, or if we are liked in the process, we are simply commanded to move forward with the message. When we realize the fate of all of those who reject this message, and if we claim to love others, why is it that we remain so silent, and sad to say the overwhelming majority are deafeningly quiet. Boldness is often seen when we gather together. Bold shirts and hats are worn. But what about when we are all alone at work, in our homes, at the store. Why is it that the Christian church in America is so complacent and quiet, because we are. Realize evangelism was not meant to occur primarily in the hands of a few people at large gatherings, it was meant for the rank and file foot soldier in our own mission fields.
Notice the initial boldness of the people who returned to Jerusalem under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Jeshua. In Ezra 3:1-6, they boldly built the altar of God and began burning sacrifices once again, celebrating the various festivals, etc. They then began the construction of the temple in 3:7-13. Again we see them boldly respond as we read in 3:11, "With praise and thanks, they sang this song to the Lord: "He is so good! His faithful love for Israel endures forever!" Then all the people gave a great shout, praising the Lord because the foundation of the Lord's Temple had been laid." Well this loud shout alerted the nearby hostile neighbors who then set out to stop the building project as we read in Ezra 4:4-5, "Then the local residents tried to discourage and frighten the people of Judah to keep them from their work. They bribed agents to work against them and to frustrate their plans. This went on during the entire reign of King Cyrus of Persia and lasted until King Darius of Persia took the throne." The nearby leaders then reached out to the new king of Persia and the building of the temple which began in 535BC, ceased for 15 years, only resuming under the leadership of two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah. So much for true boldness when confronted with difficulty.
Why did they stop? Why are we often so timid and weak once outside of our own circles? We read Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, "Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world?" I would argue that most of the church in practically every denomination are milk drinkers or less. Most pastors remain in certain popular passages, give topical messages of encouragement, etc. Most individuals own a bible but never take the time to actually open it and abide in it from cover to cover. We read in Proverbs 20:24, "The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?" The prophets spoke forth, often not even understanding what it was they were saying. They were not careful. They were bold. They trusted their God and were willing to accept the consequences of speaking boldly for God. We do not have to be able to speak forth the future or speak forth some hidden meaning. We need to be armed with the Word of God and move forward unashamedly in our mission fields, even if we don't quite understand it all. The Holy Spirit will provide the rest if we are willing to step out in faith. The time is now. We can't keep talking about this in small safe circles. We need to get out and warn those we know and those we don't know of what happens to those who have not accepted the Lord Jesus as Savior.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: