Shame On Us.

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. From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today. – Ezra 9:6-7 ESV Ezra 9:6-15

In 537 B.C., 50,000 Jews were allowed to return to the land of Judah from after 70 years of captivity in Babylon. It was all made possible by a decree from Cyrus, the Persian king. They were led by Zerubbabel and their task was to rebuild the temple of God. In 487 B.C., at the decree of the Persian king, Artaxerxes, Ezra and some 2,000 other refugees returned to the land with the responsibility to restore proper worship in the temple and to reestablish and enforce God's laws. Ezra was a scribe, an expert in the law. When they arrived in Jerusalem, they did not find things as they had expected. Ezra received a report informing him of some rather disconcerting news. “Many of the people of Israel, and even some of the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the other peoples living in the land. They have taken up the detestable practices of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites. For the men of Israel have married women from these people and have taken them as wives for their sons. So the holy race has become polluted by these mixed marriages. Worse yet, the leaders and officials have led the way in this outrage” (Ezra 9:1-2 NLT).

When Ezra heard this news, he was appalled. The Hebrew word Ezra used to describe his state is shamem. It means “to be stunned, horrified, appalled, and stupified” (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance). He couldn't believe what he was hearing. The exiled who had returned to the land thanks to a miracle of God and allowed to rebuild the once destroyed temple, had been breaking one of God's cardinal laws: intermarriage. Not only that, they had been taking up “the detestable practices” of the pagan people who had occupied the land in their absence. Rather than live set apart and holy lives, dedicated to God, they had compromised their convictions and powerfully diluted their influence as the people of God. And their leaders had set the tone for this shocking display. Ezra went into mourning. Then he took the issue before the Lord. Standing before the people, he raised his hands and prayed. “O my God, I am utterly ashamed; I blush to lift up my face to you” (NLT). He came before God in a state of utter dismay and embarrassment on behalf of the people of Judah. While he had not participated in their sin, he felt a responsibility for it. He knew that, as a people, they represented God's children. Their sin was corporate in nature. Rather than living as the chosen, set apart people of God, they had decided to become like the world around them, taking on their sinful practices and bringing shame to the very name of God.

How serious was all of this? Ezra put it in very stark terms, saying, “our sins are piled higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached to the heavens.” This was serious business. He knew that God was fully aware of their sin and was not pleased. In fact, this latest transgression against God was a reminder of all the sins the people of Israel had committed over the centuries and that had led to their many defeats and their ultimate fall to the Babylonians. But here they were, even after 70 years of captivity, doing it all again. Ezra couldn't believe his eyes. He couldn't gloss over what he had seen and heard. He couldn't act as if it hadn't happened or it didn't matter. Years earlier, when God had prepared to send the people into the land of Canaan for the very first time, He had told commanded them regarding the people living in the land, “You must not intermarry with them. Do not let your daughters and sons marry their sons and daughters, for they will lead your children away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and he will quickly destroy you” (Deuteronomy 7:3-4 NLT). God had known that the outcome of these marriages would be devastating to the spiritual well being of the Israelites. But they had failed to obey God then, and they were repeating the same mistake again. And the saddest part was that they were unashamed of their actions. It reminds me of a statement made by God before the fall of Jerusalem. Speaking of the religious leaders of Israel, God said, “Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush” (Jeremiah 8:12 ESV). But Ezra was ashamed. He was mortified by the actions of his fellow Jews and he brought his shame before God. 

There comes a time when we must accept the reality of our corporate sin as the people of God. While we may be free from personal guilt, we still bear a responsibility to accept and acknowledge the guilt we share as part of God's family. We cannot afford to overlook the transgressions committed by fellow believers and believe it has no impact on ourselves. Ezra knew that God's blessings on the people of Israel would be directly influenced by their behavior. Their sin would bring His displeasure. Ezra knew that and so he too personal responsibility to confess their sins before God. Rather than simply claim his own innocence, Ezra confessed their corporate culpability before God. What good was a rebuilt temple and a restored people if they refused to live their lives set apart to God? Perhaps it's time that we began to see our corporate sin as the people of God with greater clarity and take personal responsibility before God. Or do we feel no shame? Have we forgotten how to blush at our sin?

Bright Lights In the Darkness.

Ephesians 5:1-14

For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. – Ephesians 5:8-9 NLT

The believers in Ephesus were surrounded by darkness. These people had come to faith in Christ and been placed into the family of God, but still found themselves living in a pagan culture where all kinds of ungodly activity and influences surrounded them. While they were now part of the body of Christ, that did not mean that they were free from external pressures or the temptations to go back to their old ways of life. Paul had helped found this church and had spent over three years with the believers there, so he knew their situation well and had a deep concern for their ongoing spiritual well-being. He had seen first-hand the transformation that had taken place in their lives. Once they had been "full of darkness." They had lived like the other Gentiles around them, whose "minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him" (Ephesians 4:16 NLT). Those among whom the Ephesian believers lived, "have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity" (Ephesians 4:19 NLT).

So Paul reminds the members of the church in Ephesus that they have a responsibility to live differently and influentially in the midst of the culture in which they find themselves. They are to live as people of light. Paul loved the imagery of light. So did Jesus. He described Himself by saying, "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life" (John 8:12 NLT). Paul had written to the believers in Corinth, "For God, who said, 'Let there be light in the darkness,' has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves" (2 Corinthians 4:6-7 NLT). Paul was reminding his readers that they had been radically transformed and enlightened by the very presence of God in the form of the Holy Spirit. And that light within them was to shine from them, impacting and influencing everything and everyone around them. Light shines in the darkness. Light and dark cannot coexist. Darkness is simply the absence of light. So the more brightly the light within them shone out of them, the less darkness would be present in their midst. That's why Paul wrote, "Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God's people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and course jokes – these are not for you" (Ephesians 5:3-4 NLT).

Light dispels darkness. It doesn't attempt to cozy up to it and tolerate it. As soon as a light is turned on, the darkness goes away. The same should be true in the life of the believer. The brighter the light of Christ shines in our lives, the more the darkness will recede. The more the light of Christ shines out of our lives, the less influence the darkness around us will have on us. The believers in Ephesus were just as prone as we are to tolerate sin, to excuse it and justify it. There will always be those who try to excuse sin and find a way to make it acceptable. But Paul warns, "Don't be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him" (Ephesians 5:6 NLT). Tolerance and compromise have no place in the life of the believer. We are not to take part in the things that are done in darkness. "For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!" (Ephesians 5:8 NLT). Light refuses to tolerate darkness. Instead, it exposes and expels it. Paul starts out this chapter by saying, "Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children" (Ephesians 5:1 NLT). That's quite a challenge. But it is simply a reminder that we are no longer of this world. We have a new family and a new Father. We have been adopted and placed into a new home with a new set of standards. We should live in such a way that our actions please our heavenly Father. Rather than take part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness, we should expose them. We shouldn't even talk about them. Paul writes, "It is shameful to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible" (Ephesians 5:12-13 NLT). That light resides in believers, so our very presence in the world should expose the darkness around us. Our existence on this planet should make everything visible, providing a stark contrast between what is pleasing to God and what is acceptable in this world. We are lights, but we need to shine. "No one lights a lamp and then hides it or puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where its light can be seen by all who enter the house" (Luke 11:33 NLT).

Father, may the light of Christ shine out of us, not just inside us. May we learn to live as lights in the darkness, exposing sin and expressing the love of Christ for those whose lives have been dominated by darkness for far too long. Our lives are to be different and distinct. We have the Light of the world inside us, now help us to let it shine through us. Amen.