Rock Steady

Matt 7:24 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."

1 Cor 10:12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

Neh 5:8 And I said to them, "According to our ability we have redeemed our Jewish brethren who were sold to the nations. Now indeed, will you even sell your brethren? Or should they be sold to us?" Then they were silenced and found nothing to say. 9 Then I said, "What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies?

Hypocrisy is the great terror to the Christian. Or should be.

Lest we forget the fear of the Lord, we are more than likely to place our feet on shifting sand. That’s just how we are because of the lure of the world and the weakness of our flesh. In this we place ourselves in grave danger – but even worse, as Nehemiah reminds us, we poorly represent the Lord to a world that desperately needs Him.

If we call our self a Christian, and use our position as a Christian for our own personal interest – are we not disavowing all Christianity stands for? Are we then no different than the world? Have we not been changed by our love for the Lord?

This is exactly what Nehemiah faces as he deals with those wealthy brethren of his at Jerusalem who are using the poor condition of the people for gain. We recognize this behavior as ‘gouging,’ and we are familiar with it taking place in the times just before and immediately following hurricanes. People who ‘have’ use the opportunity to gain even more from those who ‘have not,’ (in our case gasoline, or maybe motel rooms.) In the case of the Jerusalem, the situation was much more dire than maintaining a condition of relative comfort or convenience – it was life and death. It was charging usury (interest) to those who were starving, in direct contradiction to God’s Word, causing their own brethren to sell their sons and daughters into slavery to pay the interest. Nehemiah says, “Stop!” (as if God’s Word had not been enough – because clearly it had not been!) What we must always remember is the fear of the Lord. Hypocrisy, (self-interest,) is always a life and death issue, because it holds the potential to turn people against God.

- Pastor Bill