Change Takes Separation

Ezra 10:9-12 Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month. And all the people sat in the open square before the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the heavy rain. ¹⁰ And Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have broken faith and married foreign women, and so increased the guilt of Israel.¹¹ Now then make confession to the Lord, the God of your fathers and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.” ¹² Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, “It is so; we must do as you have said.

In the first two installments of this series we looked at change depends on our brokenness and the commitment necessary to bring it about. Today we are going to look at what needs to be removed from our lives for lasting change to have a firm hold

The main problem with the Israelites was that they were becoming faithless. This was happening through the marrying of foreign wives who were enticing them to worship their gods. The Jews had been warned way back in Deuteronomy that marrying people outside of the twelve tribes would lead to this. Now that they had made a covenant with God to put away this sin it was time to separate themselves from it.

When we are caught up in a sin it is important to takes measures to remove it from our lives. This is easier said than done. To remove sin often necessitates us changing major parts of our lives, whether it be the people we hang out with, the routines that are so ingrained, or attachments that we aren’t ready to give up (i.e. computer, iPhone, etc…). If we are going to see lasting change then we need to do two things:

1. Regain a Healthy Fear: Change often doesn’t happen because there is no fear of repercussions. We just aren’t afraid of getting caught or we have gone to great lengths to cover our tracks. As long as we think no one is seeing us then we have a false sense of security. The problem though is that God sees us and it is a mistake to assume that in His patience we are getting away with it. We need to regain a healthy sense of the Fear of the Lord. When we sin it breaks God’s heart and cheapens the cross. When we sin there needs to be the conviction of the Holy Spirit to repent and at the same time a grief that we are separated from God. The Fear of the Lord needs to be instilled in us so that before we sin we turn away from it. This Fear comes through prayer and repentance. If you aren’t feeling a tinge of guilt when you indulge in a sin then you need to ask God to put it there.
2. Distance Yourself: The next step in bringing change is to remove all the temptations. We need to distance ourselves from whatever it is that causes us to stumble. If we are susceptible to gluttony then we need to remove all the junk food from our house. Nothing produces a cold turkey feeling more than just seeing healthy food in the fridge. Whatever your vice is it is time to take steps and remove it. Use a support system. You might even need an intervention. Do whatever is necessary to remove it and then ride out the loss, you will get through it.

The Jews separated from their foreign wives. It was difficult because the marriage bond is so strong but the issue here is what are we worshipping? God is not satisfied with dual worship. We need to put away our other gods (sins, addictions, vices….) and return to Him. In the process He will create in us a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit. (Psalm 51)

Change Takes More than Commitment

Ezra 10:3-8 Therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the Law. ⁴ Arise, for it is your task, and we are with you; be strong and do it.”⁵ Then Ezra arose and made the leading priests and Levites and all Israel take an oath that they would do as had been said. So they took the oath. ⁶ Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and went to the chamber of Jehohanan the son ofEliashib, where he spent the night, neither eating bread nor drinking water, for he was mourning over the faithlessness of the exiles. ⁷ And a proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the returned exiles that they should assemble at Jerusalem, ⁸ and that if anyone did not come within three days, by order of the officials and the elders all his property should be forfeited, and he himself banned from the congregation of the exiles.

Ezra didn’t stop at the weeping and praying, he took it further to fasting before the Lord. This was a sign to the Israel people that his actions during the day weren’t just an act but a true desire of our heart. True change is evidenced in our actions not our words.

Once we realize that the situation is broke and we are incapable of fixing it we now need to address the issue. How are we going to bring true lasting change to our situation? If you were to read the popular material out there you would sit down and make a plan, set some goals, and then commit to accomplishing them. While this works for a few people there always seems to be something missing for the rest of us. That missing part is what the Old Testament calls a covenant. A covenant is more than just a commitment, it is a life-binding oath that comes with consequences.

We need to dedicate our entire life to making change a reality in our lives. While we may think this takes laser like focus actually it takes three things:

1. More than a Promise: If we are going to see change in our lives then we need to understand that it is more than a promise. Promises are broken all the time and have come to mean very little to people. The people made a covenant with God saying that they would put away their foreign wives and return to worshipping the lord. This was more than a commitment or promise, this was a life altering decision. It was a drastic situation that required drastic measures and this can’t be done with a pithy promise, it takes complete devotion. If there is something we need to remove from our lives we need to take action and get rid of it and we need to swear to God that it will be done.
2. Fasting for Faith: The next step in bringing change is to seal with by fasting. Fasting is a biblical discipline that separates us from the things of this world and draws us closer to God. Fasting seals a decision by eliminating all distractions. When I talk about fasting I am talking about refraining from food for an extended period of time. After sitting all day weeping and praying (and not eating) Ezra retired to the house of one of the priests and continued to fast and pray all night. He denied himself food and thus showed to God his seriousness in the issue. When we fast we also break the chains of sin in our lives (Is 58:6-9). Fasting frees us from the heavy weight of sin. It also helps us to break through the darkness to a new dawn with Jesus Christ.
3. Establish Consequences: The final step in making a covenant is to establish consequences. Shecaniah told the people that if they didn’t gather at the temple in three days all of their property would be seized and they would be kicked out. If we are lacking motivation then we need to set up some consequences to light the fire underneath us. Sometimes that is inherent. We are told either kick the addiction or get out. Consequences are necessary to motivate us to action. Many times we won’t do it without fear of losing something. Find someone to hold you accountable on your actions and then give them the power to invoke the consequences.

True life change takes radical actions. If you are struggling with an issue in your life then I implore you to take the action necessary to get the ball rolling. If you need to get into rehab then do it. If you are addicted to something then remove it and all people that cause it.

Change Starts With Brokenness

Ezra 10:1-2 While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly. ² And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, addressed Ezra: “We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.

In the short time that Ezra was in Jerusalem he brought about real change to the community. Before he arrived there was little if any teaching of the Scripture. There was also very little leadership as evidenced by the leaders being most guilty of the sin (Ezra 9:2). So after four months there was a major shift in the feeling amongst the people.

So when Ezra is confronted with his first major crisis he not only shows us how to respond but also how to bring change to the people. His approach is counter intuitive but effective. It isn’t a quick fix but instead a long term solution. If we follow his lead in this we too can bring lasting change to our lives.

First we must understand that there is hope. There is no situation that Jesus can’t resurrect. The question we need to ask ourselves is are we ready to admit the situation is broke and admit our part in making it that way? Ezra shows us two steps to establish hope again.

1. It’s Born Out of Brokenness: Ezra spent the whole day at the temple confessing, weeping, and casting himself before the Lord. This shows a real brokenness in his spirit. He was grieved over the sins of the people and he was laying before the Lord realizing that this situation in Israel was broke and he was incapable of fixing that.If we want to bring true change to our lives we must start with a broken spirit. This is a spirit that is devoid of pride, excuses, or blame. It is realizing that we are in over our heads and we need some help. As soon as the people saw Ezra they were cut to their hearts and gathered around weeping. They became a broken people by seeing Ezra’s reaction to their sin. Many times we become broken when we realize that our actions have hurt those closest to us.
2. Accomplished thru Admitting Guilt: Then Shecaniah stood up and admitted the guilt of the people. “We have broken faith.” (Ezra 10:2) Once we realize our brokenness then we need to take the next step and admit our guilt. True change does not take place unless we admit what is wrong in the first place. No more excuses. No more pointing a finger in blame. We need to confess our sin so that we move on. Resisting this step and trying to change often proves fruitless.

When we admit our responsibility in what is broken something happens inside of us. Almost like something is lifted off of us or we are released from something that guilt that we have been feeling is lifted. Born out of that is a renewed hope that God is working in our lives. That hope in turn produces joy and peace. If you are contemplating changing an area of your life that has been hindering your spiritual growth start with admitting what’s broke and admitting your part in breaking it. Once you do you will be freed up to move on to making real change.

Recovering from Sin

Ezra 9:6 “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.”

Many people want to go straight to recovery when they are confronted with their sin. Notice that is not how Ezra goes about it. The reason he doesn’t is because he wants the recovery to be permanent. If we rush to recovery and don’t go through the humbling process it almost always produces a relapse. Ezra is showing us that we need to get our hearts right before God before we can start to work on recovering from that sin. He shows us three ways to work through our recovery:

1. Confess Your Sin: (vs. 6)First we must confess our sin. Ezra literally confesses that the Israelites were in over their heads. That is what true confession is. It is admitting to God that we are not capable of fixing the mess we got ourselves into. In reality we only really confess when it gets so bad that there is nothing else to do. As we confess our sins to Christ it needs to be with the attitude that only He can cure our dilemma.
2. Recognize Your Disobedience: (vs.10) Next we need to profess before Jesus that what we did was wrong. This is different than confessing because it gets into the actual act and us professing with our mouths that what we did was wrong and that it was against God’s commandments. It is easy to get caught up in feeling sorry that we got caught yet not admit what we did was wrong. We need to tell God that we disobeyed Him and ask for His forgiveness.
3. Plead for Mercy: (vs. 15) Finally we need to plead for His mercy. Even though mercy is guaranteed after the cross we still need to ask for it. We need to make sure that we don’t take advantage of His grace. Plead for His mercy and He will flood us with it.

 

Responding to Sin

Ezra 9:3-5 As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. ⁴ Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. ⁵ And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God,

When we are confronted with sin how do we react? Are we defensive, do we  deny it, or do we admit it? Human nature leans towards covering over our sins and giving the appearance that everything is okay. The real question is what is the Godly response? Ezra shows us how we are to respond to sin when we are confronted with it.

1. Express Grief: As soon as Ezra heard about the people’s sin he tore his garments and rip the hair out of his head and beard. Some would think that this is an overly dramatic act but we must remember that Ezra was a man guided by scripture and he knew the acts the Jews were doing were detestable to God. What he shows us is that when we respond to sin there needs to be a deep remorse on our part. Unfortunately most of us only feel guilty because we got caught. There needs to be a reaction from us that shows a deep grieving over our sin. Ezra ripping his clothes was a sign that he was deeply grieved.
2. Gather Godly People to Pray: After that Ezra sat appalled or in disbelief. Soon others started to gather around him. The Bible describes them as those who trembled at the word of God. This means that they were convicted by scripture. They began to mourn and pray with Ezra. When we confront our sin we need to gather Godly people around us to pray for us. James 5:16 says to “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” When we confess our sin and have Godly people pray for us it is effective in our lives
3. Humble Yourself: Ezra dropped to his knees and stretched out his arms and prayed. When we fall to our knees it is a sign that we are submitting to someone. Ezra was humbling himself before God and positioning himself to seek Him. When we express grief and confess our sins to others it takes us through a humbling process. This is necessary for us to move from responding to recovering from our sin. Part of our posture in responding to sin is that we should humble ourselves before the Lord. Realize in our mind that we have blown it big time and that we need Jesus to make it right.

As we are confronted with the in our life we need to learn how to respond to it, recover from it, and remove it from our lives. If you want to listen to the podcast of the message click here

Confronting Sin in Our Lives

Ezra 9:1-2 After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations…For they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost.”

What do you do when you find yourself caught in sin? When I am talking about sin I am referring to sin that adversely affects your life or those around you. These are usually addictions, lifestyles, or habits that we have been battling for a long time. We have a desire to overcome them but the grip they have on our life always draws us back in.

Ezra gives us a great example of how we should confront the sin in our lives. The people of Israel were committing the same sin that led them into captivity in the first place. They were marrying people from other nations and then following after their gods. That may seem like a personal choice and they should be left to make it themselves but it goes deeper than that. First the way that these people worshipped their gods was an abomination. They practiced temple prostitution and child sacrifice.

This was brought to the attention of Ezra and he shows us the Godly way to deal with sin in our life:

1. Bring the sin to light: In order for us to deal with sin in our lives we got to take it out of the dark places of our life and expose it for what it is. That means we have to admit what it is, a sin and therefore a problem. Unfortunately most of us have to be caught in the sin for it to come to light. That was the case with the Israelites. The officials had to report it to Ezra. It is much better when we come out and admit it. Doesn’t mean the pain is going to be easier but if we only do it when we get caught then we battle doing it to appease other people. Confront your sin head on and deal with it.
2. Mixing with Wrong Crowd: Often the reason we are caught up in sin is because we are running with the wrong people. This may be a lifelong friend or even a family member. We need to separate from them and walk away. There may be a lot of grief and misunderstanding but my guess is that many other people in your life will support you because they have already seen it. The Israelites were mixing with the Canaanites and other nations and it was drawing them away from worshipping God. If we are going to confront the sin we need to remove those influences that drag us back into our old lifestyle. Remember as Christians we are new creations, putting off the old life. (2 Cor 5:8)
3. Married to Faithlessness: One of the main culprits of this problem was that the Israelites were giving their sons and daughters in marriage to these people. Marriage is symbolic of the union to these foreign gods. To marry into that represented a turning away from God and joining to these detestable religions. Even today marriage can be a tool that takes us away from God. 2 Cor 6:14 says for us not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. This means that Christians are not to marry non-Christians because it is possible that we will walk away from Jesus. The key word here is faithlessness. Anything that takes us away from worshipping God needs to be removed from our lives.

Tomorrow we will look at how we respond to this sin in our lives followed by how we recover and then remove it from our lives. If you would like to listen to the full message click here.

Rebuilding a Ruined Life

Ezra 5:1-2 Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. 2 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel andJeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.

Israel made a real mess of a good thing. Living in the promised land they turned their backs on God, chase after their own desires, ignored repeated warnings and ended up in captivity to the Babylonians. Fast forward fifty years and they are on their way back to the promised land to rebuild the temple but like most people they got off to a great start but quickly faded. Seventeen years later they are still living in the ruble.

Our lives can run a similar path but how do we rebuild after everything has been ruined. Ezra chapter five and six gives us some three steps and a surprising result.

1. Listen to God Speak: God had to send the prophet Haggai to the Israelites to give them a wake up call.He had to remind them what they were there for. Has God been telling you for awhile it is time to get up from your mess and get going? Is that voice inside of you been bugging you to make a change? Have you been hearing from others that you are not on the right path? If so it may be time to listen to what God is trying to tell you. Many people don’t rebuild a ruined life because they never get up and start building. They keep hearing that they should but for whatever reason they sit in their squalor and feel sorry for themselves. God never intended for us to live that way. Instead He wants to rebuild a much better life for us. Listen to the voice and get up and start to rebuild your life.
2. Be Diligent: Rome wasn’t created in a day. I know that is a tired maxim but there is truth in it. If we want to rebuild our ruined life then we need to be diligent about it. Diligent means to be faithful and committed to something on a day by day basis. Once the Jews got to work on the temple they were diligent and didn’t get distracted. Rebuilding takes diligence. That doesn’t mean steps in leaps and bounds but instead small incremental steps. The Jews started the temple in the first year of King Dairus’ reign. They finished it in the six year of his reign. Six years of diligence produced a rebuilt temple. We need to take a long term perspective when it comes to rebuilding. There is no quick fix but instead day in day out diligence.
3. Whatever is Needed: Here is the cool part! If we are listening to God and be diligent in His plan to rebuild our lives He will give us whatever is needed. The governor is region opposed the Jews rebuilding the temple but when he made a plea to Darius he was told to let them rebuild and moreover give them whatever is needed (Ezra 6:1-9). When we commit to God’s plan for our lives and stick to it He provides whatever is needed. The funny thing is that he will often produce it in the most interesting places. Darius made the governor who opposed to Jews pay for the costs of the construction. Never doubt how and who God will work though. Trust him through it all and watch what He brings about.
4. Discover Joy: There is a byproduct of all this. When we respond to God speaking to us, remain faithful through it, watch Him provide for it, it produces Joy in our lives. After the Jews completed the rebuilding of the temple they celebrated and were full of Joy. We must remember that Joy is the fruit of God working out our faith. If we give up we miss out on what most of us are craving…Joy.

Saturday Dreaming: Happy Trails in 2012

This is a really cool video that makes you want to get out on the trails! Happy New Year and Happy Trails!

Saturday Dreaming: All I Want for Christmas

Oh wait! I already got it. This is my bike which is a combo Birthday/Christmas present. Thanks Jen. I LOVE it!!!

5 Reasons I Like the Kindle Fire

When Amazon announced they were coming out with a tablet I must admit I was very intrigued. I told myself and others that I was going to hold out on getting one because the first version of any tech gadget is always lacking. So I held out for over a month but then I started to read some reviews of people I respected and who work in the same field I do and my mind started to change. You see about three months ago I purchased an Ipad and honestly I didn’t like it. It was too big and bulky to hold and really couldn’t justify the expense of having it so I gave it to our worship leader as his staff computer. I don’t think he has stopped giggling yet.

Below are five reasons why I like the Kindle

1.   I have a lot invested in my study software and was always frustrated that I had to read it on my computer. The iphone app was adequate but not very good for reading theological books. The Ipad was great for this but too big. The kindle is the size of a typical book but much smaller than most reference books which makes this a win win.
2.   I do most of my note taking, blog writing, and web capture in Evernote. The android app is great for the Kindle and offers more than the iphone app which I was using before. The size of the kindle makes it nice for both reading and note taking. Now I have cross reference for all my notes everywhere and the syncing makes it seemless. Best of all its free.
3.   I am a huge Amazon fan and Prime member. All of my books are through Amazon and now my music and picture are stored in its cloud technology. Since I was using a kindle before for my reading this was a huge boost in my content. Now I can watch TV shows, listen music, read a book through my membership.
4. The Kindle Size: My biggest knock on the Ipad was that I couldn’t type with both hands while holding it and I have big hands. It made working on it frustrating. The kindle is the size of a regular book. It fits perfectly between my hands and lets me type with both thumbs. While the Kindle is pretty heavy it still works great. Once I hook up my email to it and Twitter comes out with a decent Android app I will be set.
5. The Kindle Price: For $199 you can justify saving over $500 on the iPad. This more than makes up for the deficiencies that the Kindle has. I love that about this device and if you include the above reasons it easily becomes clear why I finally gave in a bought this. My iPhone usage has dropped dramatically since I bought this and once the software upgrade comes and more apps appear it will clearly be the Ipad killer that everyone thought it would.

I am a huge Apple fan. I have a Macbook pro, and iPhone 4, and our office is all Mac except for the bookkeeper. I am not going to abandon Apple over this but until Apple produces the rumored iPad-mini for the same price it is not a contest.