Doing Gods Work in the Face of Opposition without being a Jerk

Ezra 5:1-17

We left off our exiles in a bit of a quandary. The prophet Daniel had read Jeremiah\'s prophecy that after 70 years the Jews could return from Babylon to Judah. Cyrus, the king of Persia, made a decree that allowed thousands to make the 1,000+ journey with money and the treasures Nebuchadnezzar had taken. The work began as the people came to Jerusalem \"as one man\" (Ezra 3:1).

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But what started so well looked like it would never really get off the ground. The Samaritans, a mixed race of people who had been moved in to the area of northern Israel, first offered to join the work. When that offer was rebuffed they discouraged the workers, then dug up all the bad stuff that had happened in Israel and used it to convince Darius, the king at the time, to stop the work.

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Whenever we embark on a work for God, be sure that the enemy will try to first to get us to join what we are doing to the world. Satan has four chief weapons in his arsenal: compromise, discouragement, accusation, and attack. Compromise is the first weapon he often uses-tempt us to do things that are outside the character of God. Discouragement comes next if compromise won\'t work. Satan tries to get us to think it is impossible to accomplish the task God has given us. If those things don\'t work he then turns to out and out accusation. Satan is known as the \"accuser of the brethren\" (Rev 12:10). As in most cases, Satan takes a grain of truth to create a harvest of lies.

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Here, the adversaries wrote an accusatory letter to Ahasuerus - and when that apparently fell on deaf ears (I think he was busy with another crisis - see Esther) they wrote another letter to Artaxerxes. That did it-and the history of rebellion in Israel came back to haunt them. The king ordered the work stopped and so it was.

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So now what? What happens when you run into opposition that seems to stop you in your tracks? As we\'ll see here, the people listened to God, obeyed His voice, but yet were contrite about the truths that had gotten themselves in this situation.

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1 - 2

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It was a real gutsy move to simply start up the project where they\'d left off. They risked a military response. But they had some things on their side that made all the difference, mainly the word of God telling them to move forward.

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What did Haggai and Zechariah say? (1)

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Read Haggai (2^nd year 6^th month of Darius) 1:1-15

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Hag 1:7-8 \"Thus says the Lord of hosts:? Consider your ways. 8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord.

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Read: Zech 1:1-17 to set the stage (2^nd year, 8^th month of Darius)

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Zech 1:16 Therefore, thus says the Lord, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy;? my house shall be built in it, declares the Lord of hosts,

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Zech 8:3 \"I have returned to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem will be called the faithful city.\"

Zech 10:6 \"I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph.\"

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1)????? They did the work \"in the name of God\" - for His glory

2)????? They did it under God\'s control (\"God of Israel who was over them\")

3)????? The leaders supported continuing the work

4)????? God was \"with\" them and \"supported\" them (through the prophets)

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We don\'t all benefit from prophets who tell us exactly what to do. But we do have God\'s Word that tells us to glorify God, be in subjection to Him, work with godly leaders, and do the work that will move the gospel forward-no matter what opposition comes your way.

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As we\'ll see, it doesn\'t mean ignoring completely the systems of government around you, but work them to the point that they do not hinder God\'s work through you.

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3 - 5

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Documents discovered actually confirm the identity of Tattenai. Shetharbozenai may have been like an investigator (it means \"inquisitor\"). It\'s interesting that he did not force them quit while the investigation continued. The building by this time was apparently in an advanced stage.

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Why was that? Because (5) when God\'s eye is on you, you will succeed, no matter what the enemy has planned.

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The officials wanted to know their authority and their identity. In Christ we have the identity of Jesus and the authority of God to represent Him as ambassadors. This doesn\'t mean we thumb our nose at civil authority. But it reminds me of when Peter faced the Sanhedrin in Acts. They told him to stop preaching in Jesus\' name. He said:

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Acts 5:29 We must obey God rather than men.

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6 - 10

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Why didn\'t the men stop the Jews? Perhaps they too were impressed with God. Notice verse 8 \"the house of the great God.\"

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11 - 17

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The Jews could have reacted by throwing up their hands saying \"Here we go again!\" and just quit. Or they could have become embittered against God - \"If God is in this, why are we having problems?\" Instead they engaged a legitimate authority in discussions while continuing their work.

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(11) They didn\'t give their names because they were simply \"servants of the God of heaven and earth.\"

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They are quick to announce their sin (12), discipline (12), and God\'s grace (13).

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Notice they answer the query, but don\'t stop the work. They rely on God but work within the existing system (sort of). It was God who prompted Cyrus to make the decree.

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Recently our brother Gideon faced a situation in Kenya where he was threatened with arrest for not following a new ordinance against having sound systems at crusades. They prayed and then worked with the officials to come up with a solution whereby they paid a fee for a permit. But they were willing to go to jail if need be.

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Conclusions

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As Christians we are called upon to respect and obey the civil authorities until their laws conflict directly with God\'s explicit instructions. Many people take this too far and confuse their own political, social, or even moral views with God\'s Word. They don\'t pay taxes, have driver\'s licenses, etc-all in the name of obeying God rather than men.

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In reality, it is only when a government forces you to commit sin or hinders you from preaching that disobedience is called for-even then, as we see here, it is civil disobedience.

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Titus 3:1-2

Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men. NIV

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They were engaged in a work for God, they were respectful of the civil authorities but identified themselves as God\'s servants first, and took the opportunity of a new leader to appeal to a decision by a former leader to resume their work with the blessing of the civil authorities.