Issue 475
Have you noticed that you get angry about things that are important to you? If it didn’t matter to you or you were indifferent, you would simply get on with your work and life and ignore it. You may also have noticed that, although it matters to you, the issue may itself not be so important. Much anger management is about responding proportionately to issues that you face and assessing their relative importance. Most of you have seen an argument over a parking space or a coffee mug where the issue itself is trivial (even though there may be deeper matters being expressed). So how do you assess whether it is important? Perhaps ask “Is this important to God?” This is not as simple as it sounds since we have a habit of thinking we know God’s priorities when in fact we are just expressing our own. Jesus of Nazareth, in a rare display of anger, threw money changers out of the Templecourts. Was He angry about money? Was He angry about people doing business? Was He angry about people making a profit? Nehemiah, on his return to Jerusalem found a large room, which was supposed to house grain offerings, incense, temple artefacts, tithes, new wine and olive oil – supplies for temple usage and support of temple staff, being used by Tobiah – an old enemy. Nehemiah describes himself as greatly displeased. This is almost Britishunderstatement because he went on to throw Tobiah and his things out of the room. Nehemiah’s mind reflected the mind of Jesus. Their anger was directed the same way. Houses of offering and prayer had been turned into dens of thieves. Neither Nehemiah nor Jesus was anti trade or business. But if trade or business got in the way of relating to God they both got angry. Before you think you’ve got it, you might like to see to who the anger was addressed. In Jesus’ case it was Caiaphas and Annas . For Nehemiah it was Eliashib. It was the priests in charge. Stand back and have a look. Those who were supposed to supervise facilitating others relating to God, had compromised themselves financially with two results. The temple services were not functioning properly and the temple staff were not supported sufficiently. Nehemiah was mad at that. In these scenarios an old enemy creeps in and pollutes the life of the people. We are entering into the realm of the mind here. Please don’t leave the story outside of yourself. Since the arrival of the Nazarene in Nehemiah’s city we who believe are all priests in charge. (See Worktalk Weekly number 285). Go into your mind and look around. Have you done business in such a way that your relationship with God is paralysed and your fellow priests are under resourced? What that means for you will vary according to your work but it will apply whatever your work. Nehemiah was determined to do business in such a way that there was a full resource of sacrifice and offering in his heart. He wanted to make sure that others were also resourced to work the same way. If you turn your business into a den of thieves, your mind will be polluted, your fellow Christians will be under resourced and you will have let an old enemy in. Maybe this does not matter to you. It should. It mattered to Nehemiah and, more importantly, it mattered to Jesus. In case it’s not clear we are all priests now including the professional priests. So, to be positive, let’s be about our Father’s business so that we can all find ways to worship. Nehemiah fixed the problems with re-organisation. It would not last because they could not carry it off. Jesus fixed it with a cross because you can carry it daily.
BIBLE SECTION
Nehemiah 13:4-14
Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah, 5 and he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes of grain, new wine and olive oil prescribed for the Levites, musicians and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests. 6 But while all this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Some time later I asked his permission 7 and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib had done in providing Tobiah a room in the courts of the house of God. 8 I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room. 9 I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense. 10 I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them, and that all the Levites and musicians responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields. 11 So I rebuked the officials and asked them, “Why is the house of God neglected?”Then I called them together and stationed them at their posts. 12 All Judah brought the tithes of grain, new wine and olive oil into the storerooms. 13 I put Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a Levite namedPedaiah in charge of the storerooms and made Hanan son of Zakkur, the son ofMattaniah, their assistant, because they were considered trustworthy. They were made responsible for distributing the supplies to their fellow Levites. 14 Remember me for this, my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services.
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Geoff Shattock
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