January 11, 2015
Scripture:
Scripture:
Hymn 338 - I Love my saviour, my precious saviour
Prayer
Nehemiah 5: 1-7, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18, & 19
Nehemiah was building the wall of Jerusalem. The children of Israel had been taken captive to Babylon, but now they had returned to Jerusalem. While they had been building the wall, others were teasing them about how weak the wall was.
But they had another problem. This time it was among the people. The people of Israel had to buy their food because of famine. To pay for their food, they had to borrow money from their wealthy neighbours. Then, they also had to pay tribute. They couldn’t pay, so they gave up their vineyards and other land. They even sold their children as slaves to get what they needed.
Nehemiah was angry. They had left Babylon to get out of bondage, but the wealthy Jews were taking their corn and land from them and putting them back into bondage. If it was this way among Christians, we wouldn’t be a very good testimony to those around us.
Nehemiah called the assembly together: all the noble men and rulers. These man had been charging the poor interest on their loans. God had told them not to do this: they were sinning. They were greedy: taking more than what’s right. It’s not right to look at what others have and desire it for ourselves.
I heard a story about a man who found a nest of fire ants in his backyard. He put poison around the nest, and the fire ants began to take it. Soon, he saw other ants coming to get some: even though it wasn’t intended for them, they wanted it. In our story, even though it was wrong, the wealthy were taking from the poor. So when Nehemiah had them assembled them, he told them to give back everything they had taken.
Zacchaeus, the tax collector, collected more than what he was should. When Jesus found Zacchaeus, he became a disciple and gave back all the money he had taken unfairly. And just like Zacchaeus, Nehemiah told the people to give back what they had taken. The people agreed.
The Bible tells us to “be ye kind one to another.” God wants us to love each other because “by this shall all men know that ye are my disciple if ye have love one for another”.
Nehemiah, himself, was an example to the people. Nehemiah was the governor of the land. The governor of the land was entitled to a certain amount of food, wine and money. But Nehemiah didn’t take any more than was necessary.
Nehemiah asked God to think on him for good because of all he had done for the people of Israel. This shows how Nehemiah always walked before the Lord. May we do likewise.
Acts 22
Paul’s conversion is recorded three times in Scripture. Here we get the Jewish version. We also get Cornelius’ conversion mentioned three times: the historical account, Peter’s retelling, and the mention in Acts 15.
Paul received permission from the chief captain to speak to the people. He wanted to give them his defence; not for taking the vow, but for moving from the Jewish faith to the Christian faith.
We don’t get a lot of doctrine in Acts; rather, we get the establishment of the Christian testimony. The apostles would go somewhere, preach the gospel, set up a Christian testimony, and move on to the next place. Peter was the apostle to the Jews, and yet he brought Cornelius into the kingdom. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles—and not one of the 12— yet at the start he was more zealous for Judaism than any of the other apostles.
Paul clarified for the people that he was a Jew, and told them that he had been raised in Jerusalem by Gamaliel. Gamaliel wasn’t an extreme Pharisee. Instead, we see him calming the others with reasonable arguments, “If this movement is not of God, it will come to naught.” Paul, on the other hand, wasn’t one who preached Judaism, but one who would have walked around with a sign that said, “Stamp out Christianity!” Brother Norman’s Uncle Herbert Soal once said, “It’s better to establish truth than to oppose evil.” It’s better to be for the right than against the wrong.
Paul persecuted Christians in that time, and they’re still being persecuted today. Islam extremists aim to wipe out all those who are opposed to them. Christian, on the other hand, will seek to crucify the fleshly desires within themselves.
Who could keep the law perfectly? It was a list of over 300 do’s and don’ts. The crowd was zealous of the law, but none of them were as zealous as Paul had been. Saul of Tarsus was not only an extremist for the law, but he also had the cooperation of the High Priests and elders. In a way, he was their hitman. They gave him permission to go to Damascus to persecute the Christians.
As Paul went to Damascus, a light brighter than the noon-day sun suddenly shone around him. There was no natural explanation for this light, or for what he heard. What he heard was a personally-addressed question, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He was arrested as the purpose of his mission. “Why are you doing what you are doing?”
Saul found out that he was not only persecuting Christians, but that he was persecuting the Person of the Light. He returned with another question, “Who are you Lord?” In this account, Paul says that the Lord answered, “I am Jesus of Nazareth.” Luke didn’t mention Nazareth in the historical account. Nazareth was a despised place, but Paul didn’t leave it out. The Jews liked to use this title to put the Lord down, but it’s really part of His glory and wonder. Our Lord was born as a human, raised in Nazareth, and eventually died on the cross. The low parts of His life are important!
Hymn 231 – Jesus, that Name is love
Prayer