Unity of Believers

This topic of unity has been on my heart and mind for a while and keeps popping up in reading, sermons, scripture, and becoming increasingly important in my daily walk.

I’m currently studying in Ezra for my weekly coffee shop Bible study group, and specifically today, in chapter 4 where the Jews have been sent back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. There’s a lot going on in this book and passage that I’m not here to talk about today, so to understand a little deeper, I’d definitely suggest reading the book of Ezra.

What I am here to talk about today is from verses 4:1-3, when the locals, immediately identified as '“enemies”, heard that the exiles were rebuilding the temple for the Lord, they came as said, “Let us help you”. To which the leaders said no, “You have no part with us”. See, they were working off the book of the Law of Moses, and rebuilding according to those standards which would have been very important to them to maintain the purity of the covenant community and relationship.

I love what a commentary by Mervin Breneman say on the matter: “This attitude of exclusiveness displayed by the Jews is troublesome to our modern society, where perhaps the highest virtue is the willingness to accept and cooperate with persons whose beliefs and practices differ from one’s own.”

It goes on to say that these outsiders were immediately identified as enemies and their motives being clearly subversive. These neighbors said in vs 2 we seek your God as do you, which may very well have been the case, but they were also known to worship other gods which is sinful and rebellious and would have hurt the spiritual life of the Jewish community seeking to rebuild under the Law of Moses. To have allowed them in would have hurt their obedience to God, so while it seems rude, un-neighborly, or even self righteous to refuse them, they were preserving the unity of the body of believers, of the church.

To have let these enemies work on the temple would have had an affect on the purity of what God had called them to. As enemies of God (because they did not worship the one true God, but many gods), the motivation behind their actions was subversive. Whether they were seeking to maintain control of the temple site (perhaps they used the destroyed location in their pagan sacrifices), or wanted it rebuilt their way, or were seeking to pervert the focus of what God had called the Jews to accomplish in rebuilding, the scripture doesn’t specify. We do know that they made the work environment very hostile, even having their building efforts halted for sixteen years after writing a letter to the king reminding him of the Jews past rebellions to former kings.

My question, or thoughts on this scripture, is…. did they know they were allowing Satan to work through them as they subversively worked against the Lord’s plans? Was is selfish ambition that blinded them from both Satan’s involvement AND God’s will, or was is outright wickedness seeking to thwart God’s plan?

Don’t we see this in churches still today? Subversion…derision….breaking of unity and trust…gossip…lies?

IN the church?! These locals weren’t part of this Jewish community, but claimed to worship the same God. In the same way, we have those in church who claim to be Christian but their worship of the One True God is based on social capital, and not a full submission, a daily dying to self, and acknowledgement that God is Lord of their lives. Were these people blinded to the darkness in their heart? To the way Satan was using their selfishness to hinder the work of God? Are there those today claiming to be believers who are blinded by their selfish desires and ambitions, who want things done their way at all cost, who are seeking their own glory, comfort and motives, over God’s will and in the process subversively causing derision in the church through selfish motivation, gossip, lies and the like?

Yes. The sad reality is… yes, Satan is still working against the church, attacking from the inside as much as from out.

How are we to respond? I believe there are two angles to this…. 1) We need to consistently pray for God to search our heart and reveal if there is any unrighteous way in us (Psalm 139:23-24), and make sure we do not become the ones within the church blinded to the fact Satan may be using our own selfish ambition to work against the will of God or the unity of the Church, and 2) I have no idea. Historically, we see that Satan has always fought against God, and will until the second coming of Jesus Christ, who has defeated and shown dominion over death and the grave…we know He wins in the end, but in the meantime, Satan is going to continue to pull out all the stops, using those who are willing participants as well those within the church to come against what God is doing. Satan has no reason to attack where God is not glorified, where He is not moving in a mighty way, where His Church is not accomplishing His will.

Read that again, SATAN HAS NO REASON TO ATTACK WHERE GOD IS NOT GLORIFIED.

If Satan is indeed attacking the church through subversion, derision, and the breaking up of unity of brothers and sisters, based on the actions of the Jewish people in Ezra who were sent to rebuild and told these subversive ‘enemies’, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God”, I wonder if this is our example? Are we to have the hard conversations? Are we to call to attention the subversive words or actions and say, “you have no part in what we are doing here"?

I have no idea. I’m praying about this a lot right now. I’m curious the roll of God’s people when Satan attacks. In the next couple chapters of Ezra we see that those trying to stop the building get it done by a letter to the king, but only for sixteen years, then God’s purposes prevail, and not only that, but those who came against God in the first place end up funding the project! Won’t God do it!

God makes a way where there is no way. God requires our faithful obedience, in action and in waiting; to trust His will and plan, but I think when He calls us to act or speak, we must be as faithful to that as when He calls us to wait, remembering He is Lord of all, fully in control, always good, always just, always for His names sake and His glory. The unity of the church, of brothers and sisters in Christ is important to God. Dare I even say, it’s worth the hard conversations, as uncomfortable as they may make us.

Exodus 14:14 says, The Lord will fight for you, you only need to be silent.

So, that is today’s musings from the book of Ezra. I’d love to hear your thoughts, or experiences.

Faithfully waiting,

Jules