A new beginning - building (continued)

We're continuing this week in the third chapter of Ezra; we are focused on the building of God's house. In our New Testament relationship with Christ, this house is in the body or group of believers that we call the church. For Ezra and the Jews who returned to the devastated city by approval of Cyrus, it was a physical building.

Led by Ezra and Zerubbabel, these people had just returned to the land, which meant giving up their homes and their source of income in Babylon. We've noted before that they traveled for months and when they arrived at their destination, there were no crops waiting to be harvested. In fact, there were no fields under cultivation. No farms to go and apply for work. No jobs. No economy.
I have to think that few of them were wealthy after their families had endured fifty or so years in captivity. But when they saw that the house of God was a pile of rubble, they began to give of what they had.....

Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and gave food and drink and olive oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, so that they would bring cedar logs by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, as authorized by Cyrus king of Persia. (Ezra 3:7)

Did you notice? They gave money, food, drink, and oil for the labor and the materials needed to build the house of God.
It's unfortunate, but many people's perception of churches is that they always have their hand out for money. It's true, though, that building and maintaining a church takes money. And a pastor-shepherd needs money to live on while he ministers to the believers. I guess that the cheerfulness of our giving may be one of the best indicators that Jesus is Lord in our hearts and lives. Not so much the amount given, because some of us don't have much to give. But even the servant who had "little" in Luke 16 had the opportunity to do more with the money than he did.

“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Luke 16:10-13)

I believe if we were to summarize that passage we could say that Jesus told us to be faithful with money, and God will entrust true riches to us.

Building the house of God, both in Ezra and in our world today, requires unity, too. Look at these two verses:

When the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. (Ezra 3:1, NIV)

Then Jeshua with his sons and brothers stood united with Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah and the sons of Henadad with their sons and brothers the Levites, to oversee the workmen in the temple of God. (Ezra 3:9, NASB)

"Gathered as one."
"Stood united."
Unity was essential in rebuilding the Temple because of the enemies surrounding them. From what we read here, it looks like the leaders delegated the work so that it didn't fall on just a few.  They knew that any significant work for God would be the work of many members working together in harmony.

When the devil wants to stop Christian work in its tracks, he often disrupts the unity of the people performing the work. When that happens, several dangers pop up. First, the leaders of the effort can be tempted to compromise for the sake of preserving unity....this can lead to disaster in the long run because it undermines the Word of God. Leaders can also react in a fleshly way, instead of a spiritual way, by lashing out in anger....this can lead to a poor witness and tarnished spiritual leaders.

The "rank and file" or the followers can vent their frustrations about the leaders. They may feel important (or personal) issues have not been addressed. They can form factions and divisions based on friendships or emotional issues....this leads to gossip, false rumors, and people who do not submit to the godly leadership the leaders are trying to provide.

At the end of the day, Satan is having a happy dance party because of the disunity and the people who are being wounded and led offtrack. We must be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit. We are working, after all, toward spiritual maturity, and that is tied in very closely with unity and with faith, according to Paul's letter to the Ephesians:

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves,and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Ephesians 4:3-6, 14-16)

It's a daily effort to subjugate self and work for the whole.
An effort that requires prayer and determination, along with the guidance of the Spirit.
But building the house of God is worth the effort.