Relationship Overcomes Fear/Temptation: Neh. 6: 1-16; Matt. 13:31-32
This last Sunday of October is typically considered to be Reformation Sunday. Now, what is that? That is the day when Martin Luther formally posted his complaints against the Catholic Church in 1517 in Wittenberg, Germany. He basically started what we know as the Protestant side of our faith, or basically a large portion of the non-Catholic churches. He did this because the church, at that time, needed a change. Though today we talk about grace and faith, the church of the early 1500s had none of that. If you wanted forgiveness, you either knew someone in power who thought you were good enough, or you bought your forgiveness in a document called an indulgence.
Luther wrestled with this and pointedly disagreed. Finally one day in 1517 he walked up to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany, and nailed on it his 95 Theses (or complaints) against the church, first and foremost being salvation that is purchased or earned. He believed salvation is not bought or earned with money and good deeds but is a free gift of God’s grace through belief in Jesus. That’s what the Bible says, after all. For this belief, he was condemned and thrown out of his relationship with the church. But his beliefs went on, and the church found itself understanding a relationship with Jesus rather than being about profit or power.
Both Luther and Nehemiah teach us important lessons about living in relationship and faith. First among those is do not run around with dangerous and toxic people. The same troublemakers we read about before in Nehemiah are now trying to lure him out to his danger and likely death. Four times they try to get Nehemiah to meet him despite him saying no very firmly. But they are evil and toxic, so they won’t listen to God’s or Nehemiah’s wishes. On the 5th time, they try to bully and extort Nehemiah, saying that they will tell the king that Nehemiah plans to rebel with the Jewish people.
Toxic people are everywhere in our world. They will use you and abuse you only to make themselves feel better, and sometimes wrap it up in some false idea of faith. Sanballat, Tobiah, and the others were mean, bullies, and toxic to the core. They were uncompromising and dealt in fear, intimidation, and wicked power. We see such people in our lives, our jobs, and even our churches. It’s always their way—no one else can have an opinion, and everyone tiptoes around this toxic person. The more you say no, the louder and more outlandishly hostile they get. Sanballat and Tobiah began with teasing, then threats, then hostilities, and now a plot to kill Nehemiah. He saw their evil for what it was and did not engage.
Sometimes, though, such evil and toxicity causes us to have to be very careful whose advice we listen to as well. Nehemiah sought help and advice from Shemaiah, likely some kind of priest or prophet given his access to the temple. He suggests that Nehemiah seek shelter inside the Temple with locked doors. This posed two problems. The temple actually had an asylum altar in the courtyard where Nehemiah would go for safety, entering for this purpose was considered sinful. Further, it would tarnish Nehemiah’s image and credibility with the people, who would quit and leave. The advice was wholly designed to destroy Nehemiah and his work.
The moral of the story is that we must not follow bad advice from people who do not listen to God and to God’s wisdom. Luther, the reformer, was advised and ordered to drop his struggles and concerns, sent to a monastery to think it over, and ultimately banned from the church. But he listened to God and shut out the advice of the wicked. Having a relationship with God means we listen to God’s word and to Godly advisors in our lives while shutting out the unkind, unwise, and evil voices around us.
Our relationships are not intended to be based on fear and temptation. Sanballat and Tobiah came at Nehemiah with fear and threats, scheming to destroy his life and God’s work through him, but God gave him wisdom to avoid their trap. Likewise, the wicked powers in control of the church in 1517 tried to destroy Luther for proclaiming a relationship with God built on grace and belief in Jesus. But Luther persisted and taught what a right relationship with God should look like.
So, then, we must be prepared that a right relationship will start off small but grow into a powerful thing. We are told in the gospel that the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, a very, very tiny seed. Now we must remember that the Kingdom of God is based on the call to love God and love our neighbor—a relationship with our Savior and with those around us. We are told it’s a very small seed planted in hearts and minds, but it grows into one of the mightiest plants in the garden. For Luther, one document on a church door grew into an entire movement to reform the church both in founding a Protestant church and in eventually reforming the Catholic church as well.
Our relationships are much the same. They start off small then grow into something powerful and beautiful. Think of your faith in God. It started off with that one small seed of belief in the power of Christ to give you grace and forgiveness when you needed it. Over the years this small seed of belief has grown to influence your whole life: your wisdom, your circle of friends, how you speak, how you act, and how you live this faith in the world around you.
Good relationships are beyond important to our faith. In order to grow we must have a strong relationship to God through Christ. In order to share the good news, we must live in good relationships with one another and the world around us. That doesn’t mean fixing and controlling the world around us, though. Instead we must share the love of Christ with everyone, keep working to build and grow in God, and let the power of Christ’s love change the world around us and draw all people unto God who can heal, save, and renew.
So be strong in your relationships to withstand the forces against you. Sanballat and Tobiah came at Nehemiah with hatred, temptation, anger, and peddling in fear. But Nehemiah relied on his close relationship to God and summoned up the courage God gave him, refusing to play silly mind games with his enemies. Nehemiah followed what God said, what God’s people needed, and proved that he loved God and loved God’s people.
Ultimately, we are led by God’s love, but we must be prepared to stand for God’s truth in love just as Nehemiah did, just as Martin Luther did, and offer grace to a hurting world. For it is only in God’s grace that we can help the world around us, to change hearts and minds away from what is wrong and towards light of faith and the way of Christ.
Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/399555424388149