1. How did the opposition respond to the remnant?
a. With distrust (1)
b. With deception (2)
2. How did the remnant respond to the opposition?
a. With discernment (3a)
b. With determination (3b)
c. With direction (3c)
It would be nice if everything in life was easy, wouldn’t it? It would be nice if there were only downhills with no uphills. If there were only mountaintops with no valleys. If there were only roses with no thorns. But that’s not the way things work in this world, is it? We are always going to be faced with opposition. I’m reminded of the story of the crusty old sea Captain who was piloting his boat one night during a bad storm. As he was trying to make port, it seemed to be making no headway. There was a brand-new, very nervous sailor on his very first cruise on board. He nervously asked the Captain, “Do you think we’ll make it OK?” The Captain replied, “Son this is a leaky old boat. Because it’s so leaky, the fact is, we may go down. And the boilers are old and not in very good shape. Because they’re in such bad shape, we just may go up. But in spite of all that, no matter if we go down or we go up, it doesn’t really matter. Because whatever happens, we are going to go on.” That old Captain had a way of facing opposition. He faced opposition head on. In our passage tonight, the remnant is facing some opposition. Once they had celebrated the laying of the temple foundation, they started to work on the temple itself. But just like anytime God’s people get to work, we’re going to experience opposition. And that’s what happened here. No sooner had the shouts of celebration begun to die down than the frustration of opposition started to crop up. See, the question isn’t whether we’re going to encounter opposition. The question is, how are we going to handle it when it comes. The remnant did exactly what they were supposed to do—well, almost. They stood strong in the face of opposition just like that old Captain did. Just like they were supposed to. But in spite of the fact that they stood strong in the face of opposition, they still didn’t get it all the way right. They stood strong just like they should have. They just forgot something. They almost got it right. What are we going to do when we face opposition? Are we going to get it almost right? Or are we going to really get it right? I want us to really get it right. So, in order for us to respond to opposition the right way, first we’re going to take a look at the opposition and then look at the remnant’s response. An ancient Chinese warrior named Sun Tzu once said that the key to victory in war is to know your enemy. So first, we’re going to look at the opposition. We’re going to look at how the opposition responded to the remnant. The first way the opposition responded to the remnant was with distrust. Look back at verse 1.
EZRA 4:1
Our opposition responds to us with distrust. Have you ever met somebody who is inherently suspicious? You know the kind of person I’m talking about. The one who thinks everything is part of some grand conspiracy. I’ll never forget—several years ago I was sitting in my Air Force recruiting office in Asheville, NC. I had only been in that job for a few weeks. I was sitting in my office one evening when the phone rang. I answered it, and on the other end of the line was this nice sounding lady. Or at least I thought she was. Until she got on the subject of black helicopters. And the airplanes that would fly over her house and drop chemicals to test them on her. When she got into UFO’s and alien abductions, I knew it was time to hang up the phone. There are a few people in this world who are like that. Those people go beyond suspicious into paranoia. That’s probably a nice way of saying “crazy”. But aside from the crazy people in the world, many people are suspicious of people who are different than them. That’s the way these people that verse 1 calls “adversaries” were. The attitude in their hearing about the building of the temple was one of suspicion. One of listening intently—almost like spying or eavesdropping on a suspicious character. They were keeping an eye on them. Think about it. The remnant was different. Here they were. They had just recently come in from Babylon. When they got to Jerusalem, the first thing they did was gather together in the middle of a big rubble pile. And then they got real noisy and excited over an altar and a slab. They were different people. And different people draw suspicion. Just like we do. When Christians live like we’re supposed to live, we’re different from the world. When other people get all worked up and worried and angry—Christians are supposed to be different than that. When people are rude and crude and fowl-mouthed—Christians are supposed to be different. When people gossip and backbite and tear each other apart—Christians are supposed to be different. And when we’re truly different, some people will view us with distrust. If you want to see a prime example of how our opposition responds to us with distrust today, turn on the political coverage sometime. Turn it on and see how evangelical Christians like us are viewed in this election. We are viewed as something strange. Something suspicious. Something to keep an eye on. Something to distrust. Just like the remnant’s adversaries viewed them. The first way our opposition responds to us is with distrust. The second way they respond to us is with deception. Look at verse 2.
EZRA 4:2
Our opposition responds to us with deception. Isn’t it ironic how the world works against us? “I don’t trust you. So I’m going to try to deceive you.” Look at how the remnant’s adversaries tried to deceive them. They went to the leaders, and what did they say to them? Did they say—we don’t trust you, you need to leave? Did they say—you aren’t like us so we’re not going to have anything to do with you? No—they said, “We’re so much alike, we need to join you.” They went up to the leaders and said, “Hey—do you need some help?” They asked if they could join with the remnant in building the temple. But they were being deceptive. They weren’t coming for the purpose of helping the remnant build. They were coming to infiltrate them. They were coming to mix with them just like they had done in the past. See, these people were what we know of in the New Testament as Samaritans. Years before, before Babylon carried Judah into exile. Even before Babylon conquered Assyria… Assyria conquered the northern tribes of Israel. They laid siege to their capital of Samaria and carried all the Jews of the northern kingdom off into exile. Well, they couldn’t leave the land empty. So they repopulated Samaria with Assyrians. And those Assyrians intermarried with the remaining Jews. The children from those mixed marriages were the Samaritans. Here’s where it gets interesting. When Babylon conquered Assyria, many of those Samaritans went to Jerusalem. Those Samaritans are the adversaries in our passage. Now, the Samaritans’ religion was very similar to their bloodline—very mixed up. They blended worship of God with worship of other gods. It was all mixed up, but they still called it YHWH worship. They called the object of their worship God—but it wasn’t really God that they were worshipping. It’s really no different today. Nearly everyone will tell you that they believe in God. Nearly everyone will tell you that they pray. But who are they praying to? Most people in our society today will tell you that there is no difference between the god of Islam and the God of Christianity. As a matter of fact, within the past couple of months, over 300 so-called Christian leaders signed an open letter to Muslims called “A Common Word.” In that letter, they embrace God and Allah on the common ground that God is love. What does that sound like? “We seek your God as ye do.” That is deception. The God of the Bible is not the same as the god of Islam. As a matter of fact, He is not the same as any other god. If he cannot be identified as the Jesus Christ of the Bible—as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of the Bible, it isn’t God. Our opposition uses the words of the Bible but empties them of their content. They will talk about loving Jesus. But the Jesus they love looks nothing like the Jesus of Colossians 1. Our opposition responds to us with deception. They respond to us with distrust and with deception. So, if that’s how the opposition responded to the remnant. And that’s how our opposition responds to us. Then how are we supposed to respond to them? Well, how did the remnant respond to the opposition? First, they responded with discernment. Look at the first part of verse 3.
We need to respond to our opposition with discernment. I believe that discernment is one of the traits a godly leader needs more than anything. As a matter of fact, I would ask that that is one of the ways you pray for me. Pray that God continually give me discernment. These folks had some discernment. They immediately recognized what was going on. They saw right through the opposition’s deception. And that was pretty amazing considering how they had been approached. “Can we come and help you with your building project?” Now, what was the harm in that? After all, they said they worshipped God too. They said that they worshipped the same God and even offered sacrifices to Him. Why couldn’t they join in the work? Boy, that had to be tempting. Remember how short they were on manpower. Remember how small the remnant was compared to how many people it took to do the work. They needed bodies. The practical thing would have been to let them help. But the practical thing isn’t always the right thing, is it? As a matter of fact, it seems like the practical thing is very rarely the right thing. But these weren’t practical people. They were godly people. They were people with God-given discernment. They could see through the deception. And they didn’t want to have any part in it. You see, God is honored by methods as much as He’s honored by mission. If you have the right mission, but use worldly methods to accomplish it, God isn’t honored. God’s mission is and always has been to spread God’s message using God’s methods. If we get pragmatic on the methods, we will surely spoil the message, and we won’t accomplish the mission. That doesn’t mean that we can’t be culturally sensitive and relevant and all of those things. And it’s not really a question of style. What it means is that we can never compromise on the principles of the Word of God in order to be practical. We can never let practicality overrule things like… the preaching and teaching of the Word. The Great Commission. The Great Commandment. Teaching, reaching, witnessing—those things can never be compromised for practical reasons. Could the remnant used a little help? Could they have used the extra resources and manpower? Of course, that would have been very practical. But they wisely discerned that practicality and pragmatism isn’t the goal. Faithful obedience to God is the goal. So they said, “No thanks—we don’t need your help.” “No thanks, we don’t need your money.” As a matter of fact—“we’re going to keep on building and we don’t want you to have anything to do with us.” Was that harsh? Was it exclusivist? Probably—but it was right. It was right because it elevated God’s Word above their practical reasoning. And in the process it showed faith in the promises of God. God told them to build. And if they were faithful, He would see them through. We should respond to our opposition with discernment just like the remnant did. They responded with discernment and they responded with determination. Look at the next part of verse 3.
EZRA 4:3b
We need to respond to our opposition with determination. I can imagine Zerubbabel and Jeshua sitting in a planning meeting with the rest of the leaders. I imagine them sitting there with a list of all the work that needed to be done to complete the temple. All the things that needed to be done to what God had given them to accomplish. I imagine all those tasks were in one column. And then they looked outside at the tiny remnant that was with them. Look at the remnant. Look at the tasks. Look at the remnant. Look at the tasks. How in the world were they going to be able to get all that work done with the people they had? The first thing that meeting might make most of us do is go back to the Samaritans and say, “I’m sorry, will you come help us now?” But they didn’t. Instead, what did they do? They showed determination. They said, “We have what the Lord has given us. We’ll work with that. And not only will we work with that, we’ll accomplish the work that God requires of us.” To quote the great theologian, Larry the Cable Guy, they were just going to, “Get ‘er done.” There was no complaining. There were no excuses. There was no question. They were determined to do the work. They were going to do the work and they were going to do it the right way. They knew it was going to be hard. Just from looking at it, it was going to be nearly impossible. But God specializes in impossible. 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 says, “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.” Just knowing that, shouldn’t that give us determination? Instead of using weakness or size or finances or age or strength or health as an excuse… shouldn’t we see those things as tremendous opportunities for God to show His strength in our weakness? And because of that, shouldn’t that give us tremendous determination? Determination for, “we ourselves together” to do the work that God calls us to? No matter how overwhelming it may seem? No matter how under-qualified we might feel? I hope that we are tremendously under-qualified to do the work that God calls us to do. That way He’ll get the glory when it’s accomplished and not us. The remnant responded to their opposition with determination. Will we respond the same way? They responded with discernment and determination. They also responded with direction. Look at the rest of verse 3:
EZRA 4:3c
We need to respond to our opposition with direction. Up until this point, the remnant was doing things right. They had learned from their history and they weren’t going to make the same mistakes. They weren’t going to succumb to using ungodly methods, no matter how practical they were. They weren’t going to fall for the lies of their opposition. They were going to trust God and press on. Even though things must have looked impossible. They were boldly standing up to their opposition. But then they messed up. God gave them discernment to see through the lies of the enemy. They determined to do the work themselves. But they did all that, under the wrong command. They did it all under the wrong authority. Remember that the remnant was responding to a group of godless people. What an opportunity they had to point them to the God of the Bible. “Why are you crazy Jewish people doing this? Why won’t you let us mix with you? Why are you so different?” I’m sure the opposition was asking the why questions. But the remnant gave them the wrong answer. They said, “Because King Cyrus told us to. We are under his authority. We are obeying his command.” Were they under the command of Cyrus? Yes—in a way. But was Cyrus the reason they were rebuilding the temple? No—they were determined to rebuild the temple against all odds because they were obeying God. They were God’s people. He was their sole authority. He was their sole power. He was their sole reason for existing. They were under His command. Not Cyrus. The remnant was so close to responding to opposition the right way. They only forgot the most important thing. They forgot who they were working for. They forgot that this whole thing was about bringing honor and glory to God. Not them. Not Cyrus. But God. What is our direction? Why do we do the things we do here at Brushfork? Do we do it for numbers? Do we do it for pride? Look at your own ministries. Why do you serve in the places you serve? Is it because you feel obligated? Is it because Cyrus asked you to? Or is it to glorify God?
As God continues to prepare us for the work He has planned for us, will we have discernment? Will we seek the Lord’s ways—even if they don’t always seem practical? By the same token, will we shun the world’s ways—even if they are incredibly practical? When God finally shows us the work He has for us, will we do it with determination? Or will we try to come up with every excuse in the book why we can’t do it? I trust that we will. But even if we do both of those perfectly, we can still fail. Later on, we’ll see how the remnant failed. Later on, they failed because their direction was wrong. They looked at their direction as coming from Cyrus and not from God. Will you covenant with me that we will always seek our direction from God? In order for God to get the glory in the work that He calls us to do as a church… He has to have your heart. Does He have your heart tonight? Or is your heart under the command of someone else? Of something else? For God to do what He wants to do through us as a church, He has to have command of you. If He doesn’t—give up your distrust tonight. Don’t fall for the deception anymore. Determine to come to Him. And He will be your direction. Turn away from the opposition and turn to Jesus tonight.
