Facing Opposition

Well, good morning, church.

Our text today is Ezra chapter 4.

Ezra 4 · chapter mention

That starts on page 363 of the Pew Bible, I believe.

Go ahead and turn there with me.

That's Ezra chapter 4.

Ezra 4 · chapter mention

As we come to God's word together, let me pray for us.

Our Father, as we have just sung, why should we gain from his reward?

Father, indeed, we cannot give an answer.

Lord, if it were simply our own works or our own merits that brought your favor and love upon us,

Lord, we would still be waiting.

But God, you loved us even when we were unlovely.

You cared for us and you set your mercy and your favor upon us even when we were far away.

And you came out into the far country to rescue us and redeem us and to bring us home.

And Father, you've given us your word.

The word of the prophets and the apostles preserved for us down through the ages through your spirit.

And you continue to speak to us and guide us and direct us because you're a good God and you're a loving father.

So as we come together before your word this morning, we ask God that you would speak and that we would listen.

That you would direct and we would follow.

That you would cast a vision before our eyes and our hearts would be set alive again by your glory and your fame.

We pray all this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Ezra chapter 4.

Ezra 4 · chapter mention

Let me read this for us.

Now, when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel,

they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the father's houses and said to them,

Let us build with you.

For we worship your God as you do.

And we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, who brought us here.

But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of the father's houses and Israel said to them,

You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God,

but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel,

as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.

Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build

and bribe counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus, king of Persia,

even until the reign of Darius, king of Persia.

And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign,

they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

In the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam and Mithradath and Tabiel and the rest of their associates wrote to Artaxerxes, king of Persia.

The letter was written in Aramaic and translated.

Rahim the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes, the king, as follows.

Rahim the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates,

the judges, the governors, the officials, the Persians, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa,

that is the Elamites, and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnapar deported and settled in the cities of Samaria

and in the rest of the province beyond the river.

This is a copy of the letter that they sent.

To Artaxerxes the king,

Your servants, the men of the province beyond the river, send greeting.

And now, be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you to us have gone to Jerusalem.

They are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city.

They are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations.

Now, be it known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished,

they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue will be impaired.

Now, because we eat the salt of the palace,

and it's not fitting for us to witness the king's dishonor,

therefore we send and inform the king,

in order that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers,

you will find in the book of the records and learn that this city is a rebellious city,

hurtful to kings and provinces,

and that sedition was stirred up in it from of old.

That was why this city was laid waste.

We make known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls finished,

you will then have no possession in the province beyond the river.

The king sent an answer to Raham the commander,

and Shimshai the scribe,

and the rest of their associates who live in Samaria,

and in the rest of the province beyond the river, greeting.

And now the letter that you sent to us has been plainly read before me,

and I made a decree, search has been made,

and it has been found that this city from of old has risen against kings,

and that rebellion and sedition have been made in it.

And mighty kings have been over Jerusalem,

who ruled over the whole province beyond the river,

to whom tribute, custom, and toll were paid.

Therefore make a decree that these men be made to cease,

and that this city be not rebuilt until a decree is made by me.

And take care not to be slack in this matter.

Why should damage grow to the hurt of the king?

Then when the copy of King Artaxerxes' letter was read before Raham and Shimshai the scribe

and their associates, they went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem,

and by force and power made them cease.

Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped,

and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia.

When the work of God's kingdom is on the move,

opposition will arise.

Sometimes it will be hard to spot at first, subtle, covert.

Other times it will be blatant and obvious.

But make no mistake, there will be opposition when the kingdom of God is advancing.

Think of an organ transplant.

When a new heart transplant is received,

doctors have to be constantly monitoring to see whether the body will do what?

Whether it will accept or reject the new organ.

It's deeply ironic, isn't it?

That a dying body will attack the new life being planted right into the middle of it.

And so doctors have to be vigilant to monitor and work against this opposition to the new organ.

The kingdom of God is like that.

When the word of God's grace gives rise to a whole new people in the midst of the old,

when there's a new creation that comes to birth in the midst of the old,

then all too often the old creation, the old system, the world,

can often war against the very thing that has arrived as a beacon of new life and hope.

That's what we actually see beginning here in Ezra chapter 4.

Ezra 4 · chapter mention

In fact, from this point forward, all the way to the end of Ezra and Nehemiah,

this book that we're studying this summer,

there's going to be ongoing conflict and opposition.

The first five verses here in chapter 4 tell us about the opposition that arose

for the first generation that returned from exile.

Remember, in Ezra chapter 1, the return to the land from exile is presented as a new exodus.

Ezra 1 · chapter mention

And then in Ezra chapter 2, the people are numbered for their march back to the land,

Ezra 2 · chapter mention

just like the book of Numbers in the Torah.

And in Ezra chapter 3, that we looked at last week,

Ezra 3 · chapter mention

they celebrate the festival of booze, worshiping God for his faithfulness.

But here, in Ezra chapter 4, opposition comes.

Ezra 4 · chapter mention

And it happens directly after the foundation of the temple is laid, around 537 BC.

And so the advance of God's kingdom, this new exodus, this new creation,

this renewed people is met almost right away with adversity, with opposition.

Then something really interesting happens in this chapter.

In verses 6 through 23, Ezra inserts into his narrative at this point,

two more examples of opposition that arose over the course of the next 80 to 90 years into the future.

You know, if you wanted to, you could jump directly from verse 5 all the way down to verse 24

and just kind of pick up the story from there.

But if we did that, we'd miss some of what Ezra wants us to see at this point.

He inserts this digression, as it were, to make a spiritual point.

So in verse 6, he takes us to the reign of Ahasuerus, also known in history as Xerxes I,

whose reign began in 486 BC, about 50 years after the events of verses 1 through 5.

Opposition arose then, he said.

And then in verse 7, we jump ahead another 40 years after that to the middle of the reign of Artaxerxes,

probably around 450 BC or so.

There, in that moment in time, the people had begun rebuilding, not the temple at that point,

but the city walls, and opposition has arisen against them.

And only then, after having drawn our attention to these further instances of opposition,

does the narrative then return in verse 24, back to the days of that first generation who returned from exile.

And there we're told that the work on the temple ceased until the second year of Darius, king of Persia,

which was about 520 BC.

In other words, for about 15 years, the work comes to a halt.

So Ezra 4 is like this panoramic view covering nearly 100 years of adversity that the people of God faced

as God advanced his kingdom through them.

So what are we meant to learn from Ezra 4 today?

First, the first thing we learned from Ezra 4 is that we have to remember to expect opposition as God's people in the world.

Many of us this weekend are completing a milestone in our education,

graduating and launching out to whatever is next.

For many of us, it's just another weekend.

That's it.

But for all of us, we have to remember that the Christian life isn't going to be a smooth road.

At the very beginning of his earthly ministry in the Sermon on the Mount that we read from earlier,

Jesus reminds his followers that there's going to be persecution ahead.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, Jesus said.

And then it's the only beatitude he sort of doubles down on and drills down on.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

And then at the end of Jesus' earthly ministry, not just the beginning,

but at the very end as Jesus is preparing his apostles for his departure,

he tells them in John chapter 15 in his farewell discourse,

John 15 · chapter mention

Jesus says,

And you know, these words of Jesus don't just apply to the first generation of apostles.

Because the apostles went on and taught the same thing to the churches.

In Acts 14, Paul tells the churches that he has just planted,

that it's through many tribulations that we must enter the kingdom of God.

And in Peter's first epistle, the apostle Peter writes in chapter 4,

Beloved, don't be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you

as though something strange were happening to you.

And the apostle James in the first chapter of his letter says,

Blessed is the one who remains steadfast under trial.

For when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life.

And the apostle John in the last book of the New Testament

writes a whole book about the church remaining steadfast under trial and opposition

while God brings his sovereign purposes to pass.

So every major voice in the New Testament,

Jesus above all tells us to expect opposition as God's kingdom goes forward.

Now, of course, that doesn't mean we go looking for opposition, right?

Think about Ezra chapter 4.

Ezra 4 · chapter mention

The people weren't trying to pick a fight with the surrounding people

when they showed up to rebuild the temple.

Just the opposite.

God had sent them there to be a blessing to the nations.

And it's the same with the church.

Jesus says that we're meant to be salt and light.

Facing opposition because of our own foolishness or our own sinfulness

isn't the same thing as facing opposition for the name of Christ.

Jesus said, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,

not blessed are those who are persecuted

because they post snarky, insensitive social commentary on their Twitter account.

Right?

So we aren't meant to go looking for opposition and stirring up trouble.

However, I think we have to admit

that our generation of Christianity,

especially us young American Christians,

we have to confess that we like being liked.

We often view our missional effectiveness

by how accepted we think we are by the culture.

And again, if we are living in line with the truth of the gospel,

there will be things that our cultural time and place

will respect or admire in us.

Our devotion to mercy and justice,

our compassion toward the weak and vulnerable,

our care for the stewardship of God's creation.

If we're living in line with the truth of the gospel,

there are going to be things that are admirable culturally,

but at the same time,

in any culture, in any time, in any place,

there are going to be things that deeply offend.

For example, our adherence to the utter uniqueness of Jesus in the gospel

and the necessity of faith in Jesus for eternal life,

the reality and eternality of God's judgment,

the authority of Scripture for all of life,

there are going to be things that go against the grain.

If we look at Ezra 4,

we actually see that there are at least two kinds of opposition that we can expect.

On the one hand, we can expect what we might call subtle opposition.

This is in verses 1 through 5, if you take a look back there.

The people of the surrounding districts come to this construction project

happening at the temple site,

and they say,

Hey, let us build with you.

We worship your God just like you do.

Now, some historical background here.

In the 7th century BC, about 100 years prior to these events,

the Assyrian Empire repopulated the conquered northern territories of Israel

with people from other parts of their empire.

It was basically a way of just subjecting a whole region.

Take one people, put them over here, put another people over there.

They're all mixed up and confused.

You can rule them very easily that way.

It was pretty pragmatic.

And we see in 2 Kings chapter 17

2 Kings 17 · chapter mention

that while some of the resettled people began worshiping Israel's God,

they also still went right on worshiping their other gods as well.

So the result wasn't really the worship of the Lord,

but a kind of syncretistic religion, a mix of this and that,

which at the end of the day was really an exchange of the true God for idols.

So when in Ezra chapter 4, the people of the land come and say,

Ezra 4 · chapter mention

Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do,

that's not actually true.

But you have to imagine how tempting it must have been

for those returned Jewish exiles to want to accept the offer.

Think about it.

These returned exiles were a small, beleaguered people.

They were politically and economically vulnerable.

They needed all the help they could get, right?

Why not join forces and we'll build the temple faster?

Done.

We can overlook some of those differences.

Not that big of a deal.

But that's not how they respond.

The returned exiles stand firm against this subtle opposition,

this temptation to compromise on the uniqueness of the Lord God.

But note how the returned exiles do respond.

They don't simply say,

You have nothing to do with us.

Full stop.

That wouldn't have been quite right had they just said that.

Because we are still called to love our neighbor, right?

To serve and minister to them.

There were lots of ways that the returned exiles had to work

and cooperate and negotiate with the people of the land,

politically, economically, socially.

This was the generation, after all,

that God himself had told, while they were still in exile,

to settle down and seek the good of the pagan city of Babylon,

the very one that had carried them off in the first place.

No.

What the returned exiles here in Ezra chapter 4

Ezra 4 · chapter mention

tell the people of the land is,

not just you have nothing to do with us,

but you have nothing to do with us

in building a house to our God.

When it comes to the spiritual work of worship,

to the work of ministry God had given them to do,

ultimately, when it came to proclaiming and upholding

and glorifying the uniqueness of the God of Israel,

that there's none like him,

none compare,

all other gods are simply false, empty idols compared to him.

When it came to that,

they could not budge.

I think we face the same sort of subtle opposition today.

It's easy to want to say that Christianity

is just one good option among many.

We're all seeking for truth, after all,

and your truth is your truth,

and mine is mine,

and aren't all the spiritual options

just as good as any other at the end of the day?

But friends, the good news about Jesus

is not actually just one more option among many.

The good news about Jesus

isn't just one more metal dish

above the steaming water of the buffet line

that you just sort of pull out and push in

like they do at Nika's every Sunday afternoon

when I get lunch there.

The gospel is something else altogether.

Every religion, every worldview,

every life philosophy

is going to give you a set of standards to meet

so that you can be blessed and accepted,

I guarantee you.

But only Christianity says

that God has stooped down,

took your place,

met the standards on your behalf,

bore the crushing weight of your failure

so you don't have to,

and now offers you that acceptance

and blessing wholly by grace as a gift.

And anyone can receive it

if we admit that on our own we're lost

and only in Christ we're found.

You know, the people of the land

in Ezra chapter 4,

Ezra 4 · chapter mention

they actually could have joined

the returned exiles

had they forsaken their gods

and truly accepted the Lord alone as God.

So we have to endure

through this subtle opposition,

not just for our own sake,

but for our neighbor's sake.

They have to see the uniqueness of Christ

so that they can experience

his unparalleled grace as well.

So Ezra 4 tells us to expect

some subtle opposition,

but it also tells us to expect

just outright blatant opposition.

We see this in the big sort of middle chunk

of this chapter.

In verses 7 through 16,

the letter that's written

against the returned exiles

in the days of Artaxerxes

is just full of outright slander

and accusation.

They are rebuilding

that rebellious and wicked city,

verse 12 says.

The gloves have sort of come off now.

It's no longer,

hey, let us build with you.

It's just like,

nope, they're bad.

Stop them.

In other words,

what they're saying is

these Jews have a history

of rebellion,

oh king,

and if you let them rebuild that city,

they're not just going to stop

paying their taxes

and dishonor you

as bad as that would be,

but they're going to take

all of the surrounding province

with them as well

and take the whole thing

into rebellion.

You're going to have

a situation on your hands.

You know,

this is often how

the church is opposed.

Christianity is presented

as just plain bad

for society,

as a social ill.

You see that throughout

the book of Acts.

Do you remember that moment

in the book of Acts

when the apostles arrive

in the city

and they say,

and you know,

they go to the sort of

authorities,

to the magistrates,

their opponents go to the magistrates

and say,

these are the people

who are everywhere

turning the world upside down.

And we often think of that

as sort of like a compliment.

Yeah,

we're turning the world upside down.

That's not how they meant it.

They meant that these people

are overturning the social order

and creating a lot of bad news.

This is really,

really bad.

All those people

who are turning the world

upside down,

they're here

and they're causing

the same trouble

and you've got to stop them.

And you know,

Luke writes the book of Acts

in part

to defend the church

against this kind of slander.

In the fifth century,

Augustine defended the church

in his day

against the same charge.

People in his day

were sort of asking,

why did Rome fall

to the barbarians?

And they looked around

and a lot of the cultural elites

said,

you know what,

I think it's the Christians' fault.

They've ruined our society.

They told us to stop

worshiping the old Roman gods,

so we stopped

worshiping the old Roman gods

and then we got defeated.

You do the math.

The Christians are the bad guys.

So Augustine,

as only Augustine could do,

writes a giant book

that takes him decades to finish

called The City of God

and in a masterful way

defends Christianity

against these charges.

And you know,

I think the same basic charge

is still being made today.

Christianity is portrayed

as just plain bad

for society.

We see that today

in a few ways, I think.

On the one hand,

Christianity is sometimes portrayed

as sort of anti-reason

or anti-science.

It's portrayed as a belief system

that just sticks its head

in the ground

when it comes to reason

and science and progress.

You know,

the funny thing is

is that

that couldn't be further

from the truth.

In fact,

one could argue

that it's the biblical worldview

better than any other

that undergirds

and actually makes sense

of modern science.

I mean,

think about it.

That the world

is a place of regularity

and order

and that we humans

have rational minds

that can perceive

and understand that order

and make sense of it.

all of that

makes a whole lot of sense

if there's a God

who created the world

and who created us

in his image.

It doesn't make as much sense

if the world

is just sort of a

random chaotic

accident of time

and chance

and energy

and luck.

So the claim

that Christianity

is anti-science

couldn't be farther

from the truth,

but you know,

maybe more prevalent today

is the idea

that Christianity

is anti-morality.

In other words,

Christians are portrayed

at times

as people

who hate those

who are different

or who disagree with them.

Christians are portrayed

as closed-minded,

even at times bigoted.

Now look,

I'm sure there are plenty

of rotten people

in the world

who profess

the name of Christ,

but genuine Christianity,

genuine faith

in the gospel

doesn't breed hatred

for those who are different.

Just the opposite.

You know,

it's the biblical gospel

after all

that gave us

the very idea

not merely of loving

our neighbor as ourself,

but even loving

our enemies.

In other words,

even if I deeply

disagree with you,

I'm commanded

to love you,

to treat you

with dignity

and respect

and kindness

because that's how

God treated me

when I was

his enemy.

That's what it means

to follow Jesus.

Not merely to approve

of everything

and everybody,

but to treat

even our enemies

with dignity

and respect.

God bless you

and let's see

the kingdom

advances in our midst,

brothers and sisters.

Do you realize

that there's going

to be spiritual opposition?

There's going to be

social and cultural opposition.

It's going to come.

So let's not be

caught off guard

as if something

strange is happening.

Some of it's

going to be subtle,

some of it's

going to be blatant,

but let's not get

angered or embittered.

This is what Jesus

himself said

would be the case.

It's expected.

But Ezra chapter 4

Ezra 4 · chapter mention

doesn't just teach us

to expect opposition.

The second thing

it teaches us

is that we have to

remember how the story ends.

As Ezra 4 sort of

stacks these stories

of opposition

one on top of the other,

it's a bit sort of

disorienting at first,

isn't it?

You sort of wonder

where is this story going?

But as he keeps

sort of telling story

after story

and example

after example,

he keeps pushing us

ahead, doesn't it?

It's sort of thrusting

us into the future,

forcing us to look

ahead and to realize

that, you know,

we're not alone

when we face opposition.

This isn't the first time

Ezra seems to be saying

that opposition has arisen

and it won't be

the last time.

The church has faced

it before

and will face it again

and each time

the church has endured

and will endure.

Do you remember

when Jesus said

the very gates of hell

in that arresting phrase?

The very gates of hell

won't prevail

against the church.

We have to look ahead

to how the story

is going to end.

So how does the story

of Ezra and Nehemiah end?

Well,

they finish the temple

and they finish the walls

and a lot of our sermons

in the coming weeks

are going to be looking

at how in the world

they do that

in the midst

of all this opposition.

But how will our story end?

And in order to see that

we have to look to Jesus.

In the face of Christ

we see how God's story

for us will be completed.

And ultimately

we look to a Savior

who faced opposition for us.

Jesus faced the ultimate opposition.

He was crucified,

died,

and was buried.

But three days later

He rose again,

ascended to the right hand

of the Father,

and will come again

in perfect justice

to judge the living

and the dead.

So what will keep us

from being discouraged

and afraid

and frustrated

when opposition comes?

It's this.

It's the certainty

that no matter

what the world

throws at us,

it can't ultimately

destroy us.

How do we know that?

Because friends,

the only opposition

that could really destroy us,

the only opposition

that could really undo us,

God's wrath

against our own sin,

that opposition

has been put to rest

at the cross.

And if that holy opposition

against our sin

has been put to rest,

what other opposition

could possibly,

truly harm us now?

Do you see how

the real sting

has been removed

from any worldly opposition

that we face?

No matter how dark

the clouds begin to roll,

we know

that whatever thunder

and whatever storm

they bring,

they're not going to undo us

because the righteous wrath

of God's been satisfied

and we're his children now,

fully accepted

in the beloved.

And any trial that comes

and any opposition

that comes

in fact

can only result

in our sanctification.

And God can only use it

for the advance

of his kingdom.

So brothers and sisters,

expect opposition, yes,

but remember

how the story ends

and remember

the confidence

that you have in Jesus,

that we have in Jesus,

as his church.

And may the Holy Spirit

empower us

to meet this opposition

with endurance

and wisdom

and with grace

and with peace.

Let's pray.

Father, you know the hearts

of everyone

who's gathered here.

God, you know the ways

in which

we are discouraged.

discouraged.

You know the ways

in which we are

afraid.

You know the ways

in which

our paths

seem frustrated.

Just like the people

who return from exile

and face opposition,

God, we too

get discouraged

and we get afraid

and we feel frustrated

at every turn.

But Father,

thank you for the confidence

that we have

that this story

we're a part of

is ultimately

in your hands

and that if Christ

is for us,

who can be against us?

Holy Spirit,

cause that truth

to come alive

in us.

Make it real

and make it burn

this week

with a fervency

and a fire

that allows us

to go out

into this world

that you have made

and that you love

and to be salt

and light

no matter what comes.

to respond

every

slander

with kindness,

to respond

to every untruth

with integrity,

God,

to respond

to every wrong

with forgiveness

and with boldness

and with courage.

And God,

would your kingdom

continue to advance

in our city

and in our day

so that people

could see how great

you are, God,

and how worthy

you are of our

whole lives

and our whole praise.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.