September 22
Nehemiah 12:27-13:6, 5:14-19, 13:7-31; Malachi 1:1-2:9
We have become so enamored with the world, that we often forget that in the process we are making a choice. Tolerance to the things of the world often comes along with intolerance to the commands of God. Someone gets hurt in this process, either God or the godless. When we tolerate what is godless, accept it as the norm, especially within the church we may be liked by society, but those sinners are being kept from entering into a true relationship with God by not seeing the need to repent of those things which God will not accept, and we are hurting God, since our relationship is a true one, and we are favoring our human relationships over Him. This is not new, as we read from Oswald Chambers (1874-1917), “Today the world has taken so many things out of the church, and the church has taken so many things out of the world, that it is difficult to know where you are.” Vance Havner (1901-1986) said, “Today the world has so infiltrated the church that we are more beset by traitors within than by foes without. Satan is not fighting churches - he is joining them”.
In Nehemiah 13:1-3, the book of Moses is being read to the people (Deuteronomy 23:3-4), which instructs them among other things to not allow Ammonites to enter the Assembly of God. This was written by God through Moses almost 900 years earlier. This might sound harsh, intolerant, non-inclusive to those so many years later. But God never changed His mind on these words. We see in the next verses, that Eliashib, the priest, cleans out a storage room used for the Temple, and the Levites, and allows Tobiah, the Ammonite, and proven enemy of Nehemiah and the Jewish people to use this room as he wished, instead. This is not showing tolerance, but intolerance to the direct commands of God. When Nehemiah returned and became aware of this, did he compromise? Did he try to appear open-minded? No, he tossed him out, as God’s word said he should. Nehemiah, unlike our current politicians, who attempt to “cross the aisle” to show their tolerance, would not do this when the only aisle that he cared about was being on the same side as God.
All too often we forget that we are called to be holy, or set apart. We also forget 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.” We are His holy priests, set apart unto Him. When we become tolerant to the world which stands in opposition to our God, we are being disobedient to Him. When we do so, we are making a choice to choose the wrong side. The things of God and the things of the world can not be joined as you can not mix light and dark, what is holy with that which is unholy. In Malachi 1:8, God rebukes the priests for offering to Him that which they would not even consider offering the governor. In 2:8, we see how they lost their way, “ But you priests have left God’s paths. Your instructions have caused many to stumble into sin. You have corrupted the covenant I made with the Levites,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”. As His current priests, we must stay fixed onto His word, and never forget this as we leisurely discuss a multitude of topics. In every conversation we must ask ourselves whether we are faithfully representing God or not!
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: