Hindering or Carrying Out God's Work

As believers we would never want to be guilty of hindering the work of the Lord. However, is it possible for me to be hindering the Lord's work? In Nehemiah 5:1-13 the poor people of Jerusalem were being oppressed by the rich Jews. In verses 14-19 Nehemiah addresses the problem by pointing out the sin and then helping to solve the problem. Dr. F. Charles Fensham states in his commentary on Nehemiah that "To promote their(the Jews) welfare was to promote the cause of God. Nothing must be done to thwart the plan of God for His people. Nehemiah's action was thus motivated religiously and was not done for purely humanitarian reasons." Let us examine four passages of Scripture to help us to see if we are hindering or carrying out the work of the Lord.

In Matthew 5:19 Jesus those who "relax" the commandments will be least in the Kingdom of heaven. Relax means to free someone of their obligation. Could it be that I am guilty of freeing someone from being obedient to the Lord's Word? When someone has had their feelings hurt and says, "I will never forgive them" and we respond, "I do not blame you; I would not forgive them either." Another example would be, "God will understand if I do not worship today." We respond, "Yes, He will understand." We have just granted our permission for the individual to disobey the Word of God! We need to be careful not "to relax" God's commandments!

Paul states in 1 Thessalonians 2:8, "we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves..." The phrase "to share" means to give of myself. We do not mind to give of our resources but what about of ourselves. The Lord is in the process of maturing us spiritually and He gives us opportunity to be used to disciple others if we will just take the time to do so.

In Galatians 6:1 we are instructed "to restore" one who is overtaken in a sin. Restore means to restore to a former condition. We are too quick to condemn those who are struggling spiritually. Instead of condemning we are to become involved in the person's life to see what is going on and to be used of God to restore them to fellowship to the Lord and the body of Christ.

We all have been hurt or hurting. In 2 Corinthians we read we are to comfort each other with the comfort the Lord has given to us in our affliction. Comfort means "to encourage" and the affliction mentioned in this passage means "trouble or stress."
Everything the Lord brings into our lives is for our spiritual edification and to prepare to encourage others. Over 20 years ago I crashed and burned and the Lord put me back together by using believers to encourage me. Then the Lord sent me to Russia to encourage a brother pastor who was in the same situation I had just come through. We never know how or where the Lord will use us in serving Him.

To be disobedient in anyone of these passages would be to hinder the work of the Lord in the life of the individual. May it never be said of any believer that we hindered the Lord's work in the life of someone.