afterWORD Nehemiah 5-6 Prophet's Reward

Well the follow up list is much worse than usual today. We covered Nehemiah 5 and 6 yesterday and I managed to miss a couple cross references worth showing today.

1. small group discussion [Judges 10:1-5]
For those who missed, as you know we've been doing a small group discussion on verses from the book Pastor Ray preached from. This week was Judges 10:1-5, two complete stories in those 5 verses. Each week we take the passage and answer one of the gospel storytelling questions:

• what did you like about the story?
• what did you not like about the story?
• what does the story tell you about man?
• what does it tell you about God?
• what are you going to do with it?
• who are you going to go tell now?

Tola and Jair. The question was "what are you going to do with this?" Tola and Jair served 23/22 years respectively. Tola did his work, up in the mountains, died and was buried. Jair had 30 sons, 30 towns named after him that still are there today. So what are you going to do about it? Seek a name, serve whether you have no name and no one remembers?

Go read Gen 50:24-25
Ex 13:19
Joshua 24:32
And ask the question, how did those bones get there? Who carried those bones around for 40 years and during the conquest of Canaan?

here's the afterWORD:
Now read Heb 11:22. Joseph was accounted for his faith to say "take my bones with you." Jesus said, "he who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward."  What kind of faith does it take to serve in the shadow, to do the labor and toil? And what kind of faith does it take to serve the faith of others?


2. Nehemiah 5-6. We walked through the two passages and found that Nehemiah was an amazing leader, but so much moreso he was a tremendous example of following.
a. he "consulted with himself" (sought deeply what the right thing to do was, evidence God had endowed Him with the Spirit for this task)
b. he made a "covenant with the people" and entered a faithful relationship
c. he "continued the work" always dedicated wholly in fear of God to the burden for the people the Lord had given him
d. he interpreted "counsel with prayer" and sought the Lord's character in what others outside and inside told him, even testing the prophets against the Word of God to find them false.

3. afterWORD
When Nehemiah spoke to the leaders and the priests about financially enslaving their own people, who he was trying to buy out of slavery said, "shall I now by our brethren from you?!" And "they had nothing to say." Romans 3:10-18 makes an inescapable case that no one seeks after God. Rom 3:19 says the Law is so comprehensive, complete in exposing our guild, it leaves us utterly indefensible, and it stops our mouths (Rom 3:19)

Nehemiah could have take the governor's portion but chose not to be a burden to the people God had given him a burden to serve. Put in context of Tola, Jair, and Nehemiah, look back at Romans 3:1-9. Whether you claim tradition, upbringing, position, or name, they do not offer you righteousness in God. Rather, as we serve we must remember "we are no better than they" and that the burden we have for others should be Christ-centered, aimed at showing them God's glory and righteousness--not our own. So whether we have rights or not, a name or not, we can't make God famous or more righteous or more glorified by our righteousness (ours is but filthy rags). Rather

a. our transparency and passion for "truth" can show God's glory in His work in us through faith (v4)
b. our transparency in failure can show God's righteousness in contrast, even His righteous judgment (v5-6), for we cannot earn anything of ourselves
c. our pursuit of holiness for the joy of His glory shown through us or even in spite of us is our only hope when under attack of slander of the enemy and lies of the false brethren (v7-9)
d. including ourselves in "for all have sinned" gives us the only hope of showing the exceeding glory of God in that "the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (v10-23)



Conclusion.
Lord, fill us with a burden for others constrained only by a fear of You. Fuel the burden with a pursuit of your glory, in context of, through admission of, because of, in spite of, and regardless of our sin. That all might believe and repent and give You the glory You alone are due.

afterWORD Ezra 9-10 Married to Perfection

Life Truths family,
This week's afterWORDs are not mine.  Suggest you have a hanky ready though.  I'm not going to lie to you, this may hurt a lot.  But "He pierces with the Word that He might then apply the balm of the Word."

This week we founded our conversation on the principle of justice: starting in Joshua 19 (recall we're doing a weekly small group discussion from the Bible book Pastor Ray is preaching through). It was of sorts a running start through Ezra 1-8 in order to look squarely into the deep hurt, agony, and struggle by all accounts in Ezra 9 and 10. This is where the repatriated Israelites put their foreign wives and children away for the purity of the remnant's sake.  Right? Wrong?  I think in general what came through our conversation left a lot of loose ends about what in the world this means about holiness, sanctification, consecration, and purity in individuals, families, marriages, and what role faith should play now that we've not only heard OF God but seen Him face to face in the person of Christ...

And then last night, the other foot fell:

“The creation of the world seems to have been especially for this end: that the eternal Son of God might obtain a spouse, towards whom He might fully exercise the infinite benevolence of His nature and to whom He might, as it were, open and pour forth all that immense fountain of condescension, love and grace that was in His heart, and that in this way God might be glorified.”
–Jonathan Edwards, “The Church’s Marriage To Her Sons, And To Her God,” in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 25, Sermons and Discourses 1743-1758. Ed. Wilson H. Kimnach (WJE Online Vol. 25), 187.

What we learned through the words of Ephesians and 1 Peter, through the life example of Hosea, and through the shed blood of Christ on the cross--who "while we were yet sinners" ""for the joy set before Him" "gave Himself for [the church]"  "endured the cross, despising the shame" "that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she should be holy and without blemish."

afterWORD?  In the language of creation, God brought all of creation to His Son to show that there was not a mate for Him to be found of this world.  And the bride He took was weak, deceivable, deceived, fallen, riddled throughout with unrighteousness and replete with selfish and self-corrupting unholiness. We were and are infused with our world, but we are redeemed and married to perfection.  For what is man that You should be mindful of him? and what is man that he could be holy?

But Jesus didn't put us away as an act of holiness or justice...Instead, His justice is swallowed up in love.  Through all His power in holiness, giving all of Himself even to the point of bloodshed, He "exercise[s] the infinite benevolence of His nature...and pour[s] forth all that immense fountain of condescension, love, and grace that [is] in His heart, and that in this way God might be glorified."