Last week, in The Nehemiah Solutions, Part 1, we saw that risk taking is not so risky when we’re taking risks for God Work! And so Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem, but what he found there was more than a ruined city without a protective wall. He found that the people, who had only just been allowed to return to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity, were not living the way they should. What will Nehemiah do, and how can his solution help us today?
Wait. This was approximately 500 years before Jesus’ death on the cross. Didn’t Jesus die for all of our sins? And once we’ve accepted His gift of grace, we no longer need to worry about purity in our lives, for we can simply confess it as a sin, and we know Jesus will forgive us. Right? Surely Nehemiah’s solution doesn’t apply to those under the New Covenant…
I invite each of you to see how Nehemiah responds to this problem with purity, and then you can judge for yourselves if it still warrants our attention under the new covenant!
Nehemiah’s trip to Jerusalem came about after the temple was rebuilt and the refugees had already settled in the land. But despite the fact that they were now growing crops and returning to their former lives, there was trouble: “And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren.” (Neh 5:1 NKJV)
As you read through the next four verses, you begin to understand the reason for this outcry:
“We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain, that we may eat and live. We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine. We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our lands and vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and indeed we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards.” (Neh 5:2-5, NKJV)
Caught up in the hardship of famine, the common people were forced to mortgage their lands. When this didn’t give them enough money, they sold their children into slavery. But then they didn’t have the means to redeem their children because their land, their livelihood, lay in the hands of others!
Nehemiah’s solution?
Outrage!
“And I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. Each of you is exacting usury from his brother!” (Neh 5:6-7, NKJV) Or as it is stated in The Message: “Each one of you is gouging his brother!”
Now “gouging” one’s neighbor or brother is not exactly the essence of the law, under either the old covenant or under the new! Taking advantage of those around us is just plain wrong, and Nehemiah’s words confirm this: “What you are doing is not good!” (Neh 5:9)
Let’s remember that the entire Babylonian captivity, the one the people were just being released from, was a result of wrong-doing in the land, a result of disobedience to God: “And the LORD God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy.” (2Chr 36:15-16, NKJV)
Thus we might surmise that Nehemiah’s outrage was fueled by his desire to not repeat the sins of their fathers. To stay pure before God, and thus, prevent another exile. And this was likely an important part of his reasoning. But the reasons Nehemiah records for his outrage had nothing to do with preventing another exile! “Is there no fear of God left in you? Don’t you care what the nations around here, our enemies, think of you?” (Neh 5:9, MSG)
Friends, Nehemiah was outraged because he was worried what others would think of Israel!
And therein lies a powerful reason that we, who live under the New Covenant, should be concerned about purity: We should be concerned about what others around us think! If our lives are no different than theirs, wherein lies the motivation to know Christ? When we fail to demonstrate God’s purity in our lives, we can stand in the way of those who might otherwise desire to know Him! We hinder ourselves from fulfilling the Great Commission!
Is it for naught that Jesus taught: “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matt 18:6, NKJV)?
Yes, friends, we are covered by the blood of Jesus. Yes, this means that when we’ve accepted Jesus’ forgiveness, every sin we ever committed or ever will commit is forgiven. But it does not give us license to live as we wish. Purity is still our goal. Not because we won’t get to Heaven without it, but because without it, we may cause others to not make it there!
This idea is definitely seconded by Paul: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;” (Phil 2:2 NKJV); and also by Jesus’ brother, Jude: “And on some have compassion, making a distinction;
but others save with fear, pulling [them] out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.” (Jude 1:22, 23 NKJV)
Thank you, Nehemiah, for reminding us that the problem of impurity must not be overlooked. Thank you for teaching us that we must become just as outraged by impurity as he did!
But wait. It’s pretty easy to condemn others of wrong doing, but do we put our money where our mouths are? Nehemiah did. Join us next Saturday for The Nehemiah Solutions, Part 3: Leadership by Example.
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two teens, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, with Answers2Prayer Ministries.
(To access the rest of this mini-series, please click here.)