Responding to Ridicule

laughs, he insults you, and the crowd roars...someone sneaks up behind you and pulls your pants down, and everyone is rolling on the floor and pointing.

This is how it was for Nehemiah and his crew. But what Sanballat failed to recognize was that God was standing behind His people. And though it sometimes looks like the world is winning and we are such a minority that we are having no effect, or we're just a bunch of weirdoes...remember, we are on the winning side...read the back of the book!

President Woodrow Wilson, "I would rather temporarily fail with a cause that will ultimately win than to temporarily win with a cause that must ultimately fail."

-They ridiculed their faith as being foolish.
v. 2b "Will they sacrifice?" He's making fun of their religion. This is blasphemy, they are calling their beliefs foolish. And it continues today.
1 Corinthians 1:18
18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
"Virgins don't give birth, and angels don't sing, and no one can rise from the dead, and I've never seen anyone riding on a white horse!"

1 Corinthians 4:10
10 We are fools for Christ's sake,
But there's a bigger fool...
Psalm 53:1
1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.
Yes, I'm a fool for Christ...whose fool are you? I feel sorry for those who choose to be the fool of the devil!

-They ridiculed their work as being frail.
v. 3 Tobiah jumps on the bandwagon and said, "It won't last," and everyone laughed.
Maybe people said that about you when you got saved. It won't last! They said it about this church more than once in the past...and about me 9 years ago when I got here, and on several occasions since. Today they say, you won't last preaching standards. You won't last w/ those old fashioned values. Hey, we're still here!

It wasn't man building those walls, it was God using man. And we aren't trying to build a church here on our own, we're letting God do it in us and thru us. The church isn't frail, we've got a Godly glue holding us together. We're fastened by the Father! We're built on the Rock and held together by a duct tape of deity you can't pull apart and can't knock down.
Matthew 16:18
18 ...upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

How to respond to ridicule:
-Remember the cause of ridicule.
Ridicule is a substitute for reason [laughter is a substitute for logic]. It is very reasonable, when you look at the evidence, to believe the Bible is the Word of God.
The Bible is a miracle in its origination, its preservation, its circulation, and its application. There's the testimony of its scientific accuracy, its prophetic accuracy, the archaeological proofs. It's a very reasonable faith. But when the world cannot reason you out of believing the Bible they will try to ridicule you out of believing. When they can't logic you out of believing they will try to laugh you out of believing.

The world's thinking--When you don't have a good case based on the facts, just make fun of them -- look for something dirty, something personal, use smear tactics, insults, and call names. Tell lies and try to rally people to your side. Incidentally, if ever you hear