Read Nehemiah 4
Questions:
What issues and points first stand out?
Opposition began soon after the rebuilding began, how do we respond to opposition?
Do we expect opposition? What opposition have you experienced or seen to the church or Christians in general?
Jesus told us that opposition would come, what preparations do you think we need to make or issues we need to be aware of presently?
When we listen and read the media etc we can often feel like the church is viewed very badly in our society and is accused of all types of evil. Is this a true picture of what the wider community thinks about the church? My experience (Grant) when we were at Jesmond , the general people we ran into and spent time with and talked to did not reflect the view we so often see in the media etc, they were mostly at worse ambivalent. What has been your experience with non Christians?
Read Nehemiah 6
We tend to focus on the enemy without, those that oppose us from outside the church. At the end of Ch 6 we have those within the community who are aligned with opposition forces.
Question:
As a church community how real do we see and understand the enemy within?
Read 1 Corinthians 5
Read Colossians 4:5-6
Question: How does Paul call us to treat those within and outside the church community?
Paul calls us to watch a trap we can all to often fall into, that of judging and condemning those not part of the Kingdom for not living up to Kingdom standards, and then not holding each other to those same standards. Below are some quotes, read them and discuss how relevant they are to how we deal with opposition:
Beware of no man more than of yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us.
Charles Spurgeon
A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within.
Marcus Tullius Cicero
When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.
Winston Churchill