The Need For A Biblical Worldview
Notes
Transcript
Review
Review
Turn to Nehemiah 13
Nehemiah discerned that the Jews had stopped giving tithes and offerings to support the Levites and singers in their temple ministry. As a result, the worship of God at the Temple was being forsaken. The only reason why Nehemiah discerned the problem was because Nehemiah knew the Scriptures. That’s how we have discernment today.
This lead to a confrontation with the rulers because they were the ones who failed to enforce God’s law. Their failure of leadership affected many people, but when it was corrected, it had a positive influence on all the Jews.
Nehemiah then implemented a plan to ensure that the people would give their tithes and offerings long after he was gone.
Introduction
Introduction
You know how families sometimes have those tiny problems that somehow spiral completely out of control?
Yeah. For one particular family it began as just a little thing…
One morning, Dad went for his cereal, but there were no spoons in sight. None.
He called out, “Honey! Where are the spoons?”
Mom, half-asleep, said, “Check the dishwasher.”
So he did, but it was empty. Not one spoon. Only judgment from the clean forks.
So he ate his cereal with a fork, like a man who had surrendered to the chaos.
By Wednesday, their thirty-piece silverware set has been reduced to: three forks, two knives, and one lonely teaspoon—the kind of teaspoon that’s lived a long life and seen many meals.
Mom started investigating and questioning every member of the family. “Emma,” she says, “are you taking spoons to your room again?”
“Sam, what school projects have you been working on lately?”
Meanwhile, the toddler, Max, sat in his high chair, and proudly shouted, “POON!”
Everyone became suspicious, but no leads developed.
Weeks went by. They learned to stir coffee with butter knives. They ate soup with ladles.
Grandma came for dinner and had to eat dessert with a tablespoon measure. Grandma was not amused.
Finally, one fateful Saturday, Mom cleaned out Max’s sand box—and found every single missing spoon!
All of them—buried in a wet, grimy mix of sand and dirt.
Apparently, Max had been using them as “construction shovels”
Dad stared at the pile of silverware like he had discovered ancient ruins.
“So… our son’s been running an excavation site with our cutlery?”
Mom sighed. “Well. At least it wasn’t the good china.”
From that day on, everything got labeled:
‘Kitchen Spoons — Not for Dirt.’
‘Dad’s Tools — Not for Play-Doh.’
Because in family life, its often the little things that cause the greatest inconvenience.
Likewise, in your spiritual life, it’s often the seemingly small errors that lead to the greatest downfalls.
Next slide here:
A subtle error - Nehemiah 13:15-16
Read Nehemiah 13:15-16
What Nehemiah describes in our text hardly rings alarm bells for us because he describes people going about their daily routines and work. Let’s be honest, he doesn’t describe Sodom and Gomorrah. He doesn’t describe the wickedness of ancient Nineveh or the paganism of Corinth.
He saw some people crushing grapes in the wine press
He saw others bringing in sheaves of grain and loading their produce on donkeys for transportation
He saw merchants from Tyre selling fish and other products.
We read Nehemiah’s description and it sounds like folks are working! They are providing for their families! They are being productive members of society! In fact, we may struggle to find any fault at all with what Nehemiah described which is why it was a subtle error.
The error is indicated by three phrases that we find in verses 15 and 16.
Verse 15:
“In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath…
…and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day:
Verse 16:
There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem.”
That was the problem. They were doing all of these good things, but they were doing it on the forbidden day of the week. They were doing it on the Sabbath Day, which God instituted as a day of rest for the Jewish people.
The Sabbath is mentioned for the first time in Exodus chapter 16, but it is explained more clearly in Exodus chapter 20 in the ten commandments. Let’s turn there and see what it says to get some context on what is taking place in Nehemiah 13.
Turn to and read Exodus 20:8-11
Do you see the error now? Some people were working, living productive lives, doing good things, but they were doing it on the Sabbath day, the day that God commanded the Jewish people to rest.
You know what those people were saying The same things we say today to justify our own thinking and behavior.
“It’s not a big deal!”
“Just live, and let live.”
In many ways, that second cliche is typical of American thinking.
You know, “live, and let live” is pretty innocent when dealing with preferences like flavors of ice cream. I like Moose Tracks. You may like Neapolitan. I don’t see how you could ever like Neapolitan more than Moose Tracks, but, okay, “live, and let live.”
It’s fine to apply that cliche to something that is preferential, but the problem is when we say “live, and let live” where God says “live, and do as I say!”
Again, that cliche may be innocent when dealing with personal preferences, but it’s dangerous when dealing with God’s commands.
I fear that we Americans are applying that mantra to just about every area of life now. It dominates our psyche and even Christians are susceptible to thinking this way!
Application:
We don’t have the option to “live, and let live” when it comes to salvation. There is one way to receive the gift of eternal life and that is only possible through shed blood of Jesus Christ.
We don’t have the option to “live and let live” when it comes to following our Lord in holiness.
Abstain from all appearance of evil.
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
We don’t have the option to “live, and let live” when it comes to God’s design of male and female.
We don’t have the option to “live, and let live” when it comes to marriage and the roles of husband and wife. God has already spoken on that subject and He gets to make the rules because He created that relationship in the first place. It isn’t “live, and let live.” It’s one natural-born man with one natural-born woman till death do us part. That’s God’s design!
And to my fellow believers in Christ, let me say this: if for some reason you haven’t followed God’s precise design in marriage, it doesn’t make you a second class citizen in God’s kingdom, just don’t try to whitewash God’s rules either! Let God be God! Honor His design and don’t minimize it or ignore it because of your past! Be humble enough to admit your mistakes, learn from them, and teach the next generation to avoid them!
We don’t have the option to “live, and let live” when it comes to human life. Every human life is valuable, whether young or old, born or unborn, autistic, or not autistic, down syndrome, or not, and no matter the ethnicity or skin color. We must oppose anyone and anything that advocates for recklessly and wantonly taking human life. Sometimes human life must be taken, but only under the greatest duress or deliberation.
We don’t have the option to “live, and let live” when it comes to doctrine. You see, not all religions worship the same God. Not all religions teach the same principles. Not all churches preach the same Gospel. Doctrine matters. We cannot just “live, and let live.”
We must stand for truth!
“Pastor Tim, That’s so intolerant!”
No, what’s intolerant is when a man speaks God’s truth and gets shot and killed for it because his opponents don’t like what he says.
That’s intolerance.
“Live, and let live.” It’s so subtle. It sounds so unassuming. But it is such a great error.
In Nehemiah’s day, some of these Jews had convinced themselves to “live, and let live” when it came to the sabbath day commandment.
“If you want to work on the Sabbath Day, go ahead! If you don’t want to, you can do that too!”
The problem was that in their day, God had clearly spoken to that issue and it wasn’t up for debate. They were under the law; they were to honor the Sabbath day and to keep it holy, keep it set apart, because God said so.
Today, we are not bound to the law anymore.
Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
We are not required to honor the Sabbath anymore, but we are required to honor what God honors.
Application: Christian, I implore you this day: reject our culture’s philosophy of “live, and let live.”
It’s a subtle error, but it’s full of poison. It’s a philosophy that goes in direct opposition to God. It truly is a sham. It forms a part of our culture’s often twisted idea of morality, which calls good “evil” and evil it calls “good.”
Like our Savior said, Christian, be wise as serpents, harmless as doves.
That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
Since we are to reject “live, and let live”, and since that mantra is in direct opposition to our Savior and to His teaching, then what should we adhere to? What should we follow?
Turn to and read Romans 12:9-10
Dissimulation: Unfeigned, undisguised. Love that is not hypocritical or fake, but genuine and real towards all people.
Abhor: to have a horror of (that which is evil)
Cleave: To be glued or fastened together - the same root word was used by Jesus in Matthew 19:5 to describe the husband/wife relationship.
Jesus modeled this when He walked this earth.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
He graciously spoke truth to those who had rejected God’s righteousness and replaced it with their own twisted sense of morality.
Many people have done that very thing in our day and you know what is sometimes spoken as a proverb among them? “Live, and let live.”
“You do as you want to do and I’ll do as I want to do.”
No, today I invite you to bow before the God of Heaven and do as He bids you to do.
Stop trying to “live, and let live” when it comes to salvation. Unsaved friend, you can’t afford it! Repent of your sin and trust Christ alone for salvation! Reject everything and everyone else!
Christian, your neighbors and family can’t afford it either. Don’t be content to let them just “live, and let live.” Lovingly, graciously, and patiently invite them to put their faith in Christ.
Christian, stop believing the lie of “live, and let live” when it comes to following our Lord in holiness. Holiness matters to God far more than it does to us. It’s time we take it seriously and devote ourselves to it as God commands us to.
Invitation
Invitation
