Everyone faces problems from time to time. Churches also face problems. For example, a church might unexpectedly lose its pastor and some other key members of its leadership at around the same time.
If that happened, how would you view it? Perhaps some of you would say that it’s a CHALLENGE, or a PROBLEM, or a DIFFICULTY. Perhaps some of you would say that it’s an OPPORTUNITY.
And if you were facing a problem like that, where your church loses two or more key leaders at the same time, what SIZE of a challenge or problem or difficulty would you consider it? I suppose you wouldn’t see it as a massive problem, but you would think it’s at least substantial.
Suppose that we, individually or as a church, feel that we’re facing a substantial challenge, how should we respond? Certainly, each situation is unique. But scripture gives us pointers that are applicable in any situation.
I’m going to go back about 2,500 years in time, to one of the greatest challenges in Jewish history, and see what we can learn from that.
If you go to Wikipedia, it tells you that, ‘During its long history, Jerusalem has been DESTROYED TWICE, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.’
Do you know when Jerusalem was destroyed, and by whom? The first time was in 587/586 BC, when it was destroyed by the Babylonians. The second time it was destroyed was in AD 70, when it was destroyed by the Romans.
We’re going to take the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians as our example. What happened?
There were two Babylonian Empires. The Old Babylonian Empire started about 2000 BC but came to an end in around 1600 BC. Almost 1000 years went by and then a New or ‘Neo’ Babylonian Empire emerged. This New Babylonian Empire revolted against the authority of the Assyrian Empire. Within a period of less than 20 years, it overthrew Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, and then defeated Egypt, Assyria’s ally. The Babylonian Empire then inherited one of the most powerful empires in the world. Under Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian Empire captured and destroyed Jerusalem. Afterwards, the Babylonians took many Jews into exile to Babylonia, leaving just a small number of Jews in Judea. Then, less than 100 years after the Babylonian Empire was re-established, the Persian king Cyrus the Great invaded Babylon and took the city without a fight.
The situation for the Jews was that Jerusalem had been destroyed and a majority of their population was in exile, 900 miles away. What do you think of the problem the Jewish people were facing? Was it a big one? I’d say it was MASSIVE!
There are LOTS of lessons we can learn from this event in history and it would be quite impossible to mention them all. So I thought I’d pick on just three.
The first lesson is, we must go to God.
The second is, we might need to say sorry. I emphasise ‘might.’
The third is, we need to play our part.
Lesson one is, WE MUST GO TO GOD FIRST
Before the Babylonian Empire attacked and destroyed Jerusalem, God sent prophets to tell the people what was going to happen. For example, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Habakkuk told the Jews that GOD would bring disaster on them for having rebelled against him, for having forsaken him, for not obeying him.
But perhaps 100 years before that, before the Neo Babylonian Empire had even been re-established, the prophet Isaiah foresaw the attack on Jerusalem. We can read what he foresaw in Isaiah 22. He weeps as he imagines it. Let’s pick up the story from verse 5.
5 For the Lord God of hosts has a day
of tumult and trampling and confusion
in the valley of vision,
a battering down of walls
and a shouting to the mountains.
6 And Elam bore the quiver
with chariots and horsemen,
and Kir uncovered the shield.
7 Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.
8 He has taken away the covering of Judah.
In verse 6 Isaiah foresees that the attack would be at the hands of Kir and Elam. When Isaiah wrote his prophecy, the Neo-Babylonian Empire hadn’t yet come into existence. But Elam was in the same area as the future Babylonian Empire. Bible scholars aren’t quite sure where Kir was, but they think it was in the same general area too. Let’s continue…
In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest, 9 and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. You collected the waters of the lower pool, 10 and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. 11 You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.
These are the verses I wanted us to think about. Isaiah, looking into the future, sees the people of Jerusalem making preparations. They got their weapons ready. They fortified the wall. They sorted out their water supply. All good things to do. But now look at verse 11. ‘BUT’ – Isaiah writes, ‘YOU DID NOT LOOK TO HIM WHO DID IT, OR SEE HIM WHO PLANNED IT LONG AGO.’
This is what Isaiah foresaw. The people of Jerusalem made preparation. BUT THEY DIDN’T LOOK TO GOD. THEY DIDN’T ‘SEE’ GOD. They acted as though God didn’t exist. It was deeply offensive to God.
What’s the lesson for us?
At an individual level, if we have a problem, we might think, ‘Help! I need to check my bank balance.’ Or, ‘Help, I need a doctor.’ Or ‘Help, I need to talk to the minister.’ But those are NOT the first things we should be doing. When we’re faced with a problem the first, the most important thing we need to do is to go to God. That means, we pray.
If we’re facing a problem then OUR FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS is to go to God in prayer, both individually and collectively. It’s basic, but I need to say it. The first lesson is, WE MUST GO TO GOD FIRST.
The second lesson is, WE MIGHT NEED TO SAY SORRY. I want to emphasise ‘might.’ Remember, these are general principles. We might need to say sorry and we might not.
I’m now going to say something a bit complicated.
We might have a problem because problems ARE PART OF LIFE.
We might have a problem because we’re doing THE RIGHT THING.
We might have a problem because we’re doing THE WRONG THING.
Let me unpack this.
First, PROBLEMS ARE A PART OF LIFE. We live in a fallen world. If you run a small business – a shop for example – you will have problems. You’ll sometimes have difficult customers. Customers or staff might steal from you. It’s the same if you’re a teacher or a dad or really whatever you do. Jesus said, ‘In this world you will have trouble’ [John16:33, NIV]. Problems are part of life.
Second, we might experience problems because WE’RE DOING THE RIGHT THING. The apostle Paul wrote that he was lashed, he was beaten, he was stoned and he was shipwrecked [2 Corinthians 11:24-25]. Those things happened BECAUSE he was diligently following God.
And third, we might experience problems because WE’RE DOING THE WRONG THING. God gives us instructions because they are wise and good. For example, God commands, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ If we disregard his command then it’s a fair bet that we’ll have problems.
But as well as problems that are a natural consequence of what we’ve done, God sometimes DELIBERATELY BRINGS PROBLEMS OUR WAY. He does it to wake us up. There’s a classic instance of this in the book of Amos. God, through Amos, tells the people:
“I also withheld the rain from you
when there were yet three months to the harvest;
I would send rain on one city,
and send no rain on another city;
one field would have rain,
and the field on which it did not rain would wither; so two or three cities would wander to another city to drink water, and would not be satisfied;
yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord” [Amos 4:7-8].
Amos continues in the same vein for a couple more verses. It’s important to notice that there’s no obvious connection between the Israelites disobeying God and not getting rain. There are LOTS of similar instances in the Bible.
So, we might have a problem because problems are simply part of life.
We might have a problem because we’re doing the right thing.
We might have a problem because we’re doing the wrong thing.
If we’re going to resolve our problem, we need to know what kind of problem it is. If the problem is because we’re doing the wrong thing then we have to say sorry to God and stop doing whatever it was that was wrong.
Let’s go back to the story of the destruction of Jerusalem. After the destruction of Jerusalem, Jewish leaders were very sure that the problems were because they, as a people, HAD done the wrong thing. Leaders such as Daniel, Nehemiah and Ezra looked back at what had happened through their people’s history – and said sorry to God.
Daniel prayed and said:
‘…we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules’ [Daniel 9:5].
Nehemiah prayed and said:
‘We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses’ [Nehemiah 1:7].
Ezra prayed and said:
‘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’ [Ezra 9:6].
How do we apply this to ourselves? When problems come it does not mean that we HAVE strayed from god. On the contrary, problems might mean that we’re right in the centre of God’s will! But problems CAN come because we’ve strayed from God.
If we’re facing problems, it’s appropriate that we ask the question, ‘WHY are we experiencing these problems? Have we messed up in some way?’
Suppose you’re in that situation. How could you ask the question? Perhaps you could give yourselves two weeks to pray individually about it. Then you could come together and meet in small groups of three or four. Discuss what you think God is saying to you. Then invite those groups of three or four to share what they feel God is saying. It will be interesting to see if there is some consistency in what the groups are sensing. Perhaps you will collectively sense that the problem you’re facing is just ‘one of those things.’ Perhaps you will sense that it’s a spiritual attack. But perhaps you will sense that as a church you’ve drifted outside God’s will in some way. If that’s the view you come to then you’ll need to say sorry to God and do something about it.
My point is, you should ask the question.
The first lesson was, we must go to God first.
The second lesson was, we might need to say sorry. I emphasise ‘might’!
The third lesson is, WE NEED TO PLAY OUR PART. And I’d like to add to that, it’s worth it.
The books of Ezra and Nehemiah each contain about three chapters that are jam-packed with names. Let me give you a sense of it. Here’s Nehemiah 3:
‘Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the Sheep Gate ... next to him the men of Jericho built. And next to them Zaccur the son of Imri built … The sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate ... next to them Meremoth … repaired. And next to them Meshullam repaired.’
These long lists of names remind us that real people rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem. The wall of Jerusalem was rebuilt as a result of a big team effort in which lots of people played their part. They no doubt got bruises and scratches. They got tired. But they got the wall rebuilt.
For a church to function well, everyone should be putting effort into it. That is especially the case when you’re losing some key people resources.
I think of the Bible as God’s book to us. He inspired Nehemiah to record people’s names as a way of saying, ‘Eliashib, Zaccur, Meremoth, Meshullam, I know what you did.’ God sees what we do, and he rewards it. Jesus says this absolutely clearly in the parable of the talents. In the Bible a talent was a sum of money – a lot of money! I expect you know the parable. The master entrusted his servants with some money. Then he went away. When he came back, he asked his servants what they’d done with those resources. Two of his servants had done very well. The master told each of them, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’ And those servants got rewards!
How do we apply this to ourselves? We need to ask ourselves, When I eventually stand before Jesus, do I want to hear him say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’? Do I want a reward? If the answer is yes, then let’s do what the people of Nehemiah’s day did. Let’s play our part.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus. Thank you for the things we’ve seen and thought about as we’ve reflected on the story of the destruction of Jerusalem. We thank you that you’re a mighty and loving God who brought his people back from exile, who enabled them to keep going. We pray for any today who are facing problems, that you will help them to go to you first and to say sorry if that is needed. We pray that we as a church will function as a body, with each member playing its part, working together as we seek, with your help, to overcome our problems.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Talk given at Iford Baptist Church, Bournemouth, UK, 30th April 2023
