God's Labourers

"Those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon."

Nehemiah 4:17

The workers who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem were armed and prepared to fend off the attacks of their enemies.  It is from this passage C.H. Spurgeon titled his magazine, "The Sword and the Trowel."  He used this verse as an allegorical picture of the role of a Christian in the first issue:  "We would ply the Trowel with untiring hand for the building up of Jerusalem's dilapidated walls, and wield the Sword with vigour and valour against the enemies of the truth." (Spurgeon, C. H. The Sword and the Trowel. Vol. 1. Pasadena, TX: Pilgrim Publications, 1975. Print. pg. 2)  The Bible is called the "Sword of the Spirit," and we ought to always have it at hand in our labours and during conflicts.

The clear priorities of the workmen in this passage are useful for us to consider.  These were primarily builders who were prepared and willing to fight if required - not fighters who were willing to build.  The aim of the enemies of Israel was to cause work on the wall to cease, and if fighting became their primary aim their threats would have been effective.  The workers on the walls of Jerusalem had it right.  They were not looking for a fight, but were firm in their resolve to do God's work even if enemies surrounded or assaulted them.  It is true we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, rulers of wickedness in heavenly places.  Yet if we do not faithfully labour for the LORD in obedience, practically encouraging and exhorting our brethren as we lead by example, what have we accomplished?

Jesus said a wise man who hears His words and does them will be likened to a man who built his house upon a rock, and this house was capable of standing firm in the fiercest storm.  If we are doing the LORD's work, it will endure and profit many.  Those who expend their effort fighting their own battles will not realise the peace and security God grants those who trust Him.  Let us fight the LORD's battles, and in the meantime be about our Father's business as was our Saviour.  He is a Refuge and Shield for all who abide in Him.

What Follows Life and Death

I'm always interested in ways to share the truth of God and the scripture in new ways.  It is one thing to discuss doctrine with believers, but another thing to engage unbelieving minds and encourage people to logically consider facts which supports faith in God.  In his book Tortured for Christ, Richard Wurmbrand shared an interesting perspective from a Christian who reasoned with an atheist to consider the reality of life after death:

"Suppose that we could speak with an embryo in his mother's womb and that you would tell him that the embryonic life is only a short one after which follows a real, long life.  What would the embryo answer?  He would say just what you atheists answer to us, when we speak to you about paradise and hell.  He would say that the life in the mother's womb is the only one and that everything else is religious foolishness.  But if the embryo could think, he would say to himself, 'Here arms grow on me.  I do not need them.  I cannot even stretch them.  Why do they grow?  Perhaps they grow for a future stage of my existence, in which I will have to work with them.  Legs grow, but I have to keep them bent toward my chest.  Why do they grow?  Probably life in a large world follows, where I will have to walk.  Eyes grow, although I am surrounded by perfect darkness and don't need them.  Why do I have eyes?  probably a world with light and colours will follow.'

So if the embryo would reflect on his own development, he would know about a life outside of his mother's womb, without having seen it.  It is the same with us.  As long as we are young, we have vigour, but no mind to use it properly.  When, with the years, we have grown in knowledge and wisdom, the hearse waits to take us to the grave.  Why was it necessary to grow in a knowledge and wisdom that we can use no more?  Why do arms, legs, and eyes grow on an embryo?  It is for what follows.  So it is with us here.  We grow here in experience, knowledge, and wisdom for what follows.  We are prepared to serve on a higher level that follows death." (Wurmbrand, Richard. Tortured for Christ. Oklahoma: Living Sacrifice Book, 1998. 96. Print.)

It is God and faith in Him which provides meaning and purpose to life which transcends time served on earth.  There is something in men which rejects the idea that life is without lasting significance.  Why else would people try to prolong their lives on earth, to labour for cures for diseases, and to hope of a brighter future?  What is the point of procreation, of spending thousands for artificial insemination, or cryogenically freezing your own body if life doesn't count for something?  Even people who despair of life on earth do not hate life itself, but want a life more agreeable for themselves.  If we could obtain life on our terms, I don't know a sane person who would refuse it.

Jesus came to earth to die so we might have eternal life through Him.  Life on earth is hard on everyone, and even more so for those who choose to deny themselves to follow Jesus.  There is more to life than these bodies we live in, for God breathed into every man a living soul, an eternal consciousness.  Matthew 16:24-26 reads, "Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. ²⁵ For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. ²⁶ For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"  Even as Christ was raised from the dead in a new body, so all who follow Jesus will never experience the bitter defeat of death.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  It is folly to claim this life is all there is based upon the evidence.  Consider the cross, the resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus Christ.  In denying Christ man denies life and misses the profound satisfaction which comes from knowing God today and spending eternity with the One who created, loves, and knows our names.

Broken People Made Whole

A few times lately I have heard a term among Christians which seems to be in vogue.  Years ago "relevance" was a big point of emphasis, and the buzzword these days is being a "broken person."  I heard a person stress the importance of broken people ministering to broken people.  Then a few days later I read on a church website, "We are a church full of imperfect, broken people and we are saving a seat for you."  The impression provided by this sentence is that those who attend will not be judged for their faults.  Whilst it is true the church is filled with "broken" people, I want to gather with people Christ has made whole.  No person or gathering of believers can claim perfection, but we can offer wholeness from Christ for all who are broken because we have experienced this firsthand.

It is good to create an environment where all people are accepted and valued regardless of their faults.  It used to be a thing to be "broken" for your sin, a soul crushed and mortified for sin expressed in humble repentance.  I don't know that this is the brokenness being suggested by the sources I have heard of late.  Claiming to be a "broken person" seems to be the opposite - either shrugging my shoulders at my own sin or pride bubbling to the surface.  The way I have heard this term expressed lately implies we need not hold to a firm enforcement of biblical standards concerning volunteers for ministry, since after all we are imperfect ourselves.  If this is what it is meant by broken people ministering to broken people, this concerns me deeply.  Serving tables might be done by any able-bodied employee, but those who did so in the church were required to have a good reputation, and to be filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom (Acts 6:3).

I believe we serve a God who heals broken people and makes them whole.  This is not a claim to sinless perfection or a right to be judgemental, but it is acknowledging the reality of personal, spiritual transformation by the grace of God.  When we are born again through repentance and faith in Jesus, we are made new and complete in Him.  We should be filled with awe and humility - to be broken in one sense recognising our unworthiness - but to also be joined with Christ and others in godly fellowship as one.  No longer are we cut off like a broken branch from the vine, but have been connected to Jesus as a hand to the Body of Christ.  Here is my thinking:  being imperfect and broken is not what draws other people to a church or offers hope, but what must be conveyed is the assurance of love, new life, wholeness, and salvation for all sinners.  It is being broken which alerts us to our need of salvation, as it is written in Psalm 34:18, "The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit."  The bones God has broken can rejoice, for He is able to restore us by His grace.

Instead of focusing on my imperfections and that I am a "broken person," it is good for me to fix my eyes upon Jesus who remains without a single sin, the One whose body was broken on the cross so I could be made whole.  We have good news, brothers and sisters.  It's true we are not perfect, but this should never be an excuse for us not to confront sin in our own lives or in others we love with compassion and grace.  These earthen vessels are not made out of gold or silver, but having been born again we have been miraculously made whole.  We are filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit and thus made able ministers of the Gospel as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:5-7:  "For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. ⁶ For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ⁷ But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us."  We are imperfect but whole; we are broken yet redeemed and restored.  Isn't that wonderful?

Redemptive Suffering

Discouragement and disappointments have often been experienced by God's faithful people.  In the depths of suffering many wondered why they had ever been born!  Consider this lament of the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 20:14-18:  "Cursed be the day in which I was born! Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me! ¹⁵ Let the man be cursed who brought news to my father, saying, "A male child has been born to you!" making him very glad. ¹⁶ And let that man be like the cities which the LORD overthrew, and did not relent; let him hear the cry in the morning and the shouting at noon, ¹⁷ because he did not kill me from the womb, that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb always enlarged with me. ¹⁸ Why did I come forth from the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?"

When we are faced with sorrow and grief, these words might be our own as we cry out to a God we know exists and loves us.  Christians discover that at our lowest points knowledge alone is not a magic charm which ends our suffering.  If the scripture finished on this note we might wrongly assume there is not a reasonable answer to the question:  what is the point of my life anyway?  Why was a born if I would have to contend with such pain?  Thankfully, there is a real answer to this question.  God had a purpose for Jeremiah to endure sorrow, even as His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  He was despised and rejected, called "a Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief." (Isaiah 53:3)  He had been sent to earth for the purpose of seeking and saving sinners through His death on the cross.  He was not disillusioned because the joy of the LORD was His strength.  He looked through the cross and knew what glorious salvation He would accomplish.

Why do we become disillusioned?  Generally this occurs when our plans and expectations are not lining up with our current reality.  We expected more and received less.  We have suffered long enough, right?  What could this painful experience be accomplishing?  Listen my friends:  more than you could possible quantify or appreciate.  I can say this based upon the authority of God's Word and the example of Jesus Christ.  Jesus suffered, did He not?  Was His suffering without meaning or purpose?  Not one stripe or piercing was without significance.  As we abide in Him all God allows us to suffer will accomplish the good purposes of God who has made us benefactors of Christ's death and resurrected life.  When we consider all Christ endured for the joy which was before Him, through the Holy Spirit we are strengthened to endure.  We may not feel like enduring - we actually may feel like quitting - but we will be given in that moment all the strength we need.

Consider the words of Paul who suffered great things for Christ's sake in 2 Corinthians 1:3-6:  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵ For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. ⁶ Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation."  Does this sound like the words of a bitter, disillusioned disciple?  Hear the words of praise of God, our LORD who is the "Father of mercies and God of all comfort."  In ALL our tribulation God is able to comfort us to the end we too can comfort others.  See how God redeems all tribulation!

There can be times where our pain is so great we do not care to be a comfort to others; we honestly cannot care about anyone's salvation but our own.  God is gracious to us even when we feel this way, embittered by our own struggles.  But know there is no darkness which can overcome the Light of the World Jesus Christ, the One who promised to send us the Comforter, the Holy Spirit.  No one can comfort as profoundly and completely as He can when we trust Him.  The resurrected body of Jesus Christ is proof He overcame the power of darkness, sorrow, grief, sin, and death.  We must choose to look to Him, entrusting ourselves body and soul to His care.  In our flesh there dwells no good thing, but God is only good.  Won't you trust Him in spite of your pains?  Praise Him even now for the painful thing He is allowing in your life, for He is a Saviour and Redeemer.  David said in Psalm 42:5, "Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance."