Ransackers of the Redeemed

 

Finishing up  the Book of Nehemiah today and in the last chapter, Nehemiah brings up three areas of concern. Three areas in which the returning Jews had backslidden. We would do well to explore them because they have a tendency to slip back into acceptance among the churched. Let’s look at the first one today.

 

The first is the sin of Tobiah. Most people have never heard this name before, but he was the man in charge after Nehemiah had returned to his job of cupbearer for King Darius.

 

During his absence, Tobiah had done a little remodeling job in the temple. He flipped the storerooms that had been used to hold the tithes of the people into his own personal self-storage units. He was using the temple for his own personal gain.

 

Ne 13:4 Now before this, Eliashib the priest, having authority over the storerooms of the house of our God, was allied with Tobiah.  5 And he had prepared for him a large room, where previously they had stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the articles, the tithes of grain, the new wine and oil, which were commanded to be given to the Levites and singers and gatekeepers, and the offerings for the priests.

 

Money and goods that should have been going to the workers in the church was being siphoned off by Eliashab and Tobiah!

 

The Holy Spirit speaking through the Apostle Paul in his letter to Timothy warned of such abuses popping up in the church from men of corrupt minds: 1Ti 6:5, “men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.”

 

And in Php 3:18,19, “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame--who set their mind on earthly things.

 The gospel is not to be peddled. If it’s sold, it’s no longer the gospel. It is not to be used for personal gain. This portion of Nehemiah is a condemnation of the prosperity gospel. This false “ear-tickling” gospel has been around for a long time in the church and sadly many are taken in by it!

 

Look what happens in this account, when we see Nehemiah as a type of Christ. Nehemiah had left for a time and when he returned, he found Tobiah using the church as a means of personal gain.

 

Jesus has “left for a time” too, He ascended into heaven, but one day He will return with the Day of Reckoning, and when He returns what will He find in His church?  Will He find faith? Will He find faithful stewards? Or will the spirit of tight fisted materialism be the rule?

 

Note how Nehemiah handled the situation! He had his own little version of storage wars, tossing Tobiah and all his goods out of the church! Ne 13:7 and I came to Jerusalem and discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God.  8 And it grieved me bitterly; therefore I threw all the household goods of Tobiah out of the room.

 

This then, is the end of those who would peddle the gospel for their own personal gain. Verily, verily I say to the ransackers of the redeemed, “You have your reward.”