Sermon Notes - Drawing the Line
Brian Carroll
Work in Progress / Ezra 4
In Ezra 4, Israel was offered help in rebuilding the temple—but they knew that partnership meant compromise. They drew the line, choosing purity over convenience. Today, we face the same pressure to blur the boundaries of truth. This message reminds us that God’s work must be done God’s way, and faithfulness means knowing where to draw the line.
Introduction
• Piotr Młodożeniec (PEA-ah-tr Mlo-DOE-zhye-nyts) was a Polish graphic designer that you’ve probably never heard of.
• However, I can just about guarantee that you’ve seen his work.
• In 2000, he entered an international art competition with a design that was supposed to represent tolerance between religions and ideologies.
• It incorporated the Islamic Crescent, the Star of David, and the Latin cross to create a stylized version of the word COEXIST.
• This is a picture of his original design.
• It began to appear on American bumper stickers in the early 2000s, however, Mr. Młodożeniec’ original design had been changed.
• Instead of including what is known as the three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), the new sticker changed.
• Here’s the “Americanized” version
• The “Americanized” version of the bumper sticker replaced the O with a peace symbol,
• The e now includes gender markers and, ironically it is stylized as a lower-case “e” as in Einstein’s formula for relativity - e=mc2, indicating the place science plays in the conversations.
• The I is dotted by a pentacle, which is a symbol in pagan and occult groups.
• The S is the Chinese yen yang
• And the T is still the latin cross.
• It really kind of sums up the religious opinions of our day.
• Listen to everything I’m about to say before you get mad at me…
• I don’t hate the idea of coexisting (That doesn’t mean I’m putting the bumper sticker on my car)
• In other words, I’m not threatened by it.
• When I see those bumper stickers on peoples’ cars, I’m not offended - I’m certainly burdened - but I’m not offended.
• In the case of the worldviews represented by that logo, I know that the biblical worldview stands up 100 out of 100 times.
• I don’t believe in silencing ideas because I believe the truth of the Gospel does exactly what Paul said it would do in 2 Cor. 10:3-5
2 Corinthians 10:3–5 ESV
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
• What I do disagree with is the idea that all of these viewpoints are equally valid because they are not.
• They are not on equal footing.
• They do not all end in the same outcomes.
• All worldviews are not valid.
• And any view of the world that doesn’t take you through the cross of Jesus Christ is terminally flawed.
• Part of our Gospel witness to this world is helping people see why their viewpoints are bankrupt and help them see the hope that is only found in the Gospel.
• Hope isn’t found in Mohammed.
• Hope isn’t found in Buddha.
• Hope isn’t found in Science.
• Hope isn’t found in the synagogue.
• Hope isn’t found in witchcraft or the occult.
• Hope isn’t found in any kind of Qi or life energy.
• Hope is found in Christ and in Christ alone.
• Let that truth root itself in your heart today as we continue our study through the book of Ezra.
• Last week, our returned exiles reached a significant construction milestone - they got the foundation of the temple built.
• So it’s kind of a big deal.
• They have a worship service - a time of dedication for the work that has taken place.
• One might assume that this milestone would be a jumping-off point for the next phase.
• The next step of construction is to go vertical.
• They’ve got the resources…they’ve got the blessing of the king.
• Permits are in place…momentum is on their side.
• As you know, however, one of the quickest momentum killers is criticism.
• And chapter four sets the stage for what is one of the central themes to the Ezra-Nehemiah narrative.
• It doesn’t take long for the critics to arrive.
• So let’s jump into our text for this morning…
• I’ll be covering all of chapter 4 this morning, but I’ll only read the first 6 verses.
Scripture Reading
Ezra 4:1–6 ESV
1 Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel,
2 they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.”
3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”
4 Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build
5 and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.
6 And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
• Just a couple of things to point out about chapter 4.
• First - if you’re a chronological reader, you need to pause that for these next couple of chapters.
• Ezra is writing these words but he’s doing so looking back.
• He’s not involved in the story yet - in fact, we don’t even meet him until chaper 7.
• He’s recording what he’s been told.
• And as a result, the timeline seems weIrd.
• Cyrus is the king who started this process, but then in v. 6, we learn about another king - Ahasuerus.
• Jumping down to v. 7 and you’ve got Artaxerxes.
• The point here is not that Ezra can’t keep track of the calendar.
• He’s making the point that this project has had opposition from the start.
• Secondly - a lot of what makes up the next couple of chapters is correspondence between the factions in Israel and the Persian rulers.
• We get the full text of these letters - which may seem a little boring to some, but it really is interesting to see how these different groups play politics.
• It is one of the few places in the scriptures where we see this kind of political back-and-forth.
Chapter 4 helps set the stage for the origins of the conflict that will characterize Ezra & Nehemiah.
• Ezra doesn’t leave much to the imagination for us.
• He tells us right in v. 1 that these are adversaries that are trying to help - so it shouldn’t surprise us that their offer of assistance is rejected.
• But let’s try to understand who these people are.
• They do give us a bit of an introduction.
• These people were brought to Israel by the king of Assyria generations earlier.
• We’re told in 2 Kings 17 that the Assyrian king brought people from all kinds of different nations and had them settle in Samaria.
• He sent a Jewish priest to teach those people how they should live.
• However, those people just added the LORD to their own collection of idols.
• 2 Kings 17:33 sums these people up thusly...
2 Kings 17:33 ESV
So they feared the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.
• In other words, they didn’t really fear the LORD because doing so would have meant they worshiped the LORD exclusively.
• So we have these religious mutts who are wanting to help build the temple.
• The leaders consider the request, but they don’t take very long to come to the wise conclusion...
• That’s hard pass.
• They understood that this kind of compromise would have been a really bad idea.
• So what happens, these opponents get political.
• They start a fake-news campaign - They spread false stories about what the Israelites are doing.
• They bribe people to make up untrue stories.
• They try to take advantage of changes in the palace.
• It would seem that Persian kings functioned off executive orders.
• If you don’t like the orders of one king, just wait until the next one and he might rule in a way that you prefer.
• This passage makes a couple of really relevant points for us today.
We have to make sure that we understand the identity of our adversaries (vv. 1-2)
• Zerubbabel and company are definitely correct in avoiding a partnership with these adversaries in ch. 4.
• They’re polite, and there’s no denying that having extra hands would be really helpful.
• But they’re idolaters...and they’re good with it.
• They claim to worship the God of Israel, but that’s not true.
• You can’t worship God and idols.
• His glory will not be shared with lesser things.
• Israel’s history has proven that this kind of partnership is incredibly unwise.
• It always has disastrous consequences.
• It doesn’t matter how polite they are, they’ve got no business putting their hands to work in this holy business in partnership with the people of God.
• How does this translate to us?
• I’m sure you’ve heard the joke about the different denominations in heaven.
• One of the apostles (It’s always Peter) is giving tour to a new resident and they’re walking past the various rooms.
• Each room is made up of a different denomination so the room has the various stereotypical characteristics of each denomination.
• When they reach the last room, Peter tells his guest to be quiet because the people in that room think they’re the only ones there.
• While that is only a joke, there is a lot of truth therein.
• We spend a lot of time making adversaries out of the people who really aren’t adversaries.
• They may think differently about some doctrines and their church may look or sound different.
• I hate to break it to you, but there will be people in heaven who don’t go to Southern Baptist Churches.
• At the same time, there will be a lot of people who go to Southern Baptist Churches that we won’t see in heaven.
• One of my favorite professors in seminary taught Christian ethics - and he was an Episcopalian priest.
• If you know anything about Episcopalians today, I’ll just say that their denomination is one of the more unhinged.
• They’ve fully embraced the cultural agenda of our current age and many have legitimately abandoned the truth of the Gospel.
• My professor, however, loved the Lord, believed in the inerrancy and inspiration of the Scripture, was fully committed the Gospel, and rejected all of the nonsense that his denomination has embraced.
• He passed away in 2021 and I have zero doubt about his eternal destination.
• He and I disagreed a lot about “how” to do church…he fully embraced the model of the Episcopalian/Anglican Communion.
• But we agreed on the essentials
• But what about those with whom we disagree on the essentials? Does that make them our adversaries?
We need to understand how to handle our adversaries. (v. 3)
• For Zerubbabel and Jeshua, there was really only one option.
• When it comes to this particular work, this is for us, not for you.
• They didn’t throw these people out of the land.
• They didn’t start a military campaign or engage in genocide.
• They simply said, “thanks, but no thanks.”
• This is a different season than back in the earlier Joshua’s day when he was commanded to purge the promised land of the Canaanites.
• Zerubbabel and Jeshua have their instructions - build the temple.
• They’re not to go picking fights with their neighbors - there might be a time for that, but this isn’t it.
• I think Christians today need to be closely attuned to the Spirit to know how to handle adversaries today, primarily because they come in so many different attitudes and worldviews today. What works for one might not work for all.
• But all of our responses must come from the same biblical posture.
• First - how we treat our adversaries:
Luke 6:27–29 ESV
27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
29 To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.
Romans 12:14 ESV
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
• And then how we conduct our own lives:
1 Peter 2:12 ESV
12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
• How that works itself out in real life may look very different based on the context.
• One of the reasons that Charlie Kirk was so polarizing was his method of open debate.
• There were many in Christian circles who weren’t sure that this was the best way to love those poor confused souls who came to the microphone.
• For some, watching those people get “owned” by his debate skills became a kind of Christian voyeurism.
• Instead of being burdened for the poor soul who chose to speak, many found themselves cheering that they lost the argument.
• I actually appreciated the approach that Charlie took, but I’m not sure the response of the crowds reflected the mind of Christ.
• You never saw Jesus taking a victory lap when he schooled the Pharisees.
• For Christians who find themselves living in places where their faith is criminal, or the missionaries who go there to serve, they must be incredibly mindful of how they handle their adversaries.
• Those people who are adversaries are EXACTLY the people they are called to reach.
• They’re constantly having to live on a razor’s edge.
• How do you share the gospel with someone who could either come to faith in Christ or report you to the authorities?
• I’ll never forget the Iranian refugees we met at the border this summer…
• They chose to flee their home because the alternative was simple: go to prison and potentially never get out.
• Obviously, they can’t set a booth on the sidewalk outside the mosque and engage in open debate with people who worship there.
• So for them, they believed that fleeing was the best response.
• And that’s not necessarily a bad response.
• Do you remember what Joseph and Mary did shortly after Jesus birth?
• They fled to Egypt…though they didn’t have a formal declaration of “asylum seekers” they certainly sought asylum until God told them it was safe to return.
• That doesn’t apply to most of us however.
• The adversaries MOST of us encounter are much more local, much more personal.
• And there’s no blanket way to handle the belligerent coworker or the hostile HR Department.
• For some, avoiding that coworker is the valid response because their heart is so hard and all they want to do is argue.
• The best you can do is pray for that person…and that’s not an invalid response.
• In some situations, complying with a company policy that you don’t like is the best response.
• In other situations, pushing back against the policy is the best response.
• Our default posture has to be one of loving enemies and blessing those who curse us, and living honorable lives among those who do not share our convictions.
• If we start there, with that as our grounding principle, then we end up with better outcomes.
• There is one other kind of adversary that we encounter today.
• These aren’t people who I would call God-haters.
• These aren’t people who are asking you to compromise with biblical truth.
• I first encountered this kind of adversary with a coworker many year ago at the Boys & Girls Club in Birmingham.
• He found out that I was in seminary and he told me that he was a Christian.
• But it turns out that he attended the “Church of Jesus Christ of Argumentative Saints.”
• He came from a certain tribe of pentecostals called “Oneness Pentecostalism” and their big thing is a militant rejection of the doctrine of the Trinity.
• Apparently, that also means they will argue with a stop sign.
• We actually had one thing in common - he believed I was going to hell, and the more he spoke, the more I believed he was probably going to get there before me.
• OP is based off a heresy (denial of the Trinity), but I can assure you that you don’t have to turn over many rocks in our community to find someone who thinks you might be going to hell because:
• You read something other than the KJV bible.
• You have a different perspective on the end of time.
• You don’t believe that baptism is necessary for salvation.
• Or because you go to a church that has musical instruments.
• Thankfully, the Bible also gives us counsel in how to respond to these adversaries too.
2 Timothy 2:23–26 ESV
23 Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.
24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil,
25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,
26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
Titus 3:9–11 ESV
9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.
10 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him,
11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.
• Tell them that you’re not engaging in the argument.
• Offer them the truth and then do the most liberating thing you can imagine - walk away.
• That’s a beautiful principle in this life.
• Correct gently with the truth and walk away.
• And it doesn’t matter if it’s in real life or on social media.
• Correct gently, walk away.
• And at some point, you might have to stay away.
• But keep in mind this one last thing as you consider your adversaries today:
You can’t expect the Godless to behave in a way that honors the LORD. (vv. 5-6)
• This is where things get for Israel.political…
• These people Zerubbabel rejected got on C-SPAN and started saying half-truths about the leadership of Israel.
• The king says, “If you don’t do what I say, then I’m going to challenge you in the primary.”
• Not really - but you get the point.
• Your HR Department, your hostile coworker, your argumentative classmate, your passive-aggressive family member.
• If you expect them to act like Christians or do Christian things, then your expectations are far too high.
• If they’re pagans, then your best bet is to assume that they’re going to act like pagans.
• So don’t be surprised.
• At the same time, their non-Christian response doesn’t give you permission to respond in kind.
• We are governed by the same principles regardless of how others want to treat us.
• And this is where Israel failed in this.
• They let their opponents get the best of them and distract them from the work that they were called to do.
• The temple is going to be delayed considerably because of this opposition.
• We cannot allow opposition to the Gospel message allow us to be distracted from our call to share the Gospel message.
• How we go about doing that may vary based on circumstances and seasons.
• Again, this calls for discernment.
• Most of us in the room have seen some really good examples in our lifetime of how this looks - particularly during the COVID shutdown.
• I’m thankful we live in a state and community where we weren’t restricted by force of law.
• I remember sitting in on a zoom call with the Governor and he looked at the 100 or so pastors on that call and said, “I need your help.”
• But that wasn’t the case for all churches in all states.
• Some churches had to go to court to sue the government to gain permission to meet in-person - that was a valid response to that overreach.
• Some churches chose to violate bans and were subsequently punished for doing so - also a valid response.
• However, it wasn’t hard to see that this was targeted because the same government that blocked churches allowed things like casinos to open.
• But again, that shouldn’t surprise us in the least - as a matter of fact, we should just expect such actions.
Invitation
• We live in a world where we are going to have to deal with adversaries.
• It’s to be expected…Jesus warned his disciples, and by extension, he also warns us.
• As Jesus’ followers, we have to always remember that we have a responsibility to show the love of Christ, even to those who oppose us.
• Sometimes, showing them the love of Christ means refusing to engage in arguments.
• Sometimes, it means repeatedly sharing with them the truth of the Gospel.
• And then for some, there are times when it means simply walking away.
• We must pray for the spirit of discernment to know which way is the best way.
• So that when it comes time to draw the line like Zerubabbel and Jeshua, we know exactly what that line is.
