Let Us Worship Only Jesus and Serve Jesus Alone

At the end of the kingdom of Judah, because the people of Judah continued to refuse to hear the Word of God, they were eventually carried away captive to Babylon. Jerusalem was destroyed, and all the vessels of the house of God, both great and small, were also taken away to Babylon. However, as God had previously spoken through Jeremiah, He stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia and caused the temple in Jerusalem to be rebuilt (2 Chronicles 36:22-23, Ezra 1:1-4). Therefore, in the first return, Zerubbabel, a descendant of David and an ancestor of Jesus (Matthew 1:12), became governor of Judah and led the captives back to Jerusalem. After that, the second return took place through Ezra the priest and scribe, and finally, through Nehemiah, the people of Judah were able to return to Jerusalem a third time “to rebuild the temple of God.”

At that time, Ezra and Nehemiah understood that the reason the temple of God had been destroyed and the people of Judah had perished was that they had not listened to the Word of God (Nehemiah 9:34-36). Therefore, they read the Word of God aloud to all the people and made them thoroughly keep the Word of God.

Nehemiah 8:2-3 “2And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. 3And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.”

Nehemiah 13:1-3 “1On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever; 2Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, that he should curse them: howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.”

In this way, Ezra and Nehemiah read the Word of God to the people and caused them to keep His Word thoroughly. A representative example of this was that they forbade the people of Judah from being mingled together with the foreign peoples around them. In fact, the law of God forbade the Israelites from mingling with other nations as follows:

Exodus 34:14-16 “14For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: 15Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; 16And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.”

And long before the law was given to Moses, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair and took wives of all whom they chose, and afterward the world was destroyed by the great flood (Genesis 6:1-7)... Through the law of God above, we can understand why God’s chosen people were not to mingle with foreign people. It was because God wanted His people to “serve only God.” For God alone is the true God, and all other gods are false (Psalm 115:4-13). However, later the Jews misunderstood this will of God and fell into the error of simply refusing to associate at all with Gentiles such as the Samaritans.

John 4:7-9 “7There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 8For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat. 9Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.”

Acts 10:28-29, 34-35 “28And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. 29Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for: I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me. 34Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: 35But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.”

As these passages show, the former ordinance had to be “reformed” through the gospel (Hebrews 9:9-10). For example, after the gospel came, we can see that the former law, under which only the sons of Levi could become priests, was newly reformed when Jesus, who was of the tribe of Judah, became the eternal High Priest (Hebrews 7:14, Hebrews 7:18-21). In the same way, we can see that Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman, a Gentile woman, and His teaching to a certain lawyer that the Samaritan who helped the man who had fallen among thieves was his neighbor (Luke 10:29-37), were also examples of the law being reformed through the gospel. We can also understand in the same context that God later sent Peter to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile, and not only that, but chose Paul as the apostle to the Gentiles, causing him to preach the gospel to them (Acts 9:15, Acts 13:46). This is because, as Peter said, “God is no respecter of persons,” but in every nation, whoever fears God and works righteousness is accepted by Him. Ultimately, these words teach us today that we must not judge people by race, lineage, or outward appearance, but must know that whoever fears and serves Jesus is, together with us, a people of God.

Returning again to the law of the Old Testament, under the law God made the people of Israel not mingle with the Gentiles. But the reason was not because they had “a different race, a different lineage, or a different appearance,” but because they did not serve God and instead served other idols. Because Ezra the priest and Nehemiah were concerned about this very point, they told the people to keep the Word of God and never be unequally joined together with the Gentiles. Therefore, we must not, like the Jews of later generations, judge people by race, lineage, or outward appearance through a wrong understanding (James 2:1-4). Rather, we must discern the perfect will of God (Romans 12:2) and know and believe that God accepts all who fear and serve Him in every nation.

Then who is God? He is Jesus. Through the gospel, it has been testified that Jesus is God (John 1:1-3, 18), and Jesus also said that the Scriptures are the book that testifies of Him (John 5:39). Therefore, from the time Jesus came to this earth and personally testified that He is God (John 10:30), we all must, according to this reformation, fear and serve Jesus alone. Just as Ezra and Nehemiah separated all the foreigners in order to keep the Word of God, we must now not separate people, but rather must not compromise with any other doctrine that departs from this truth. For this, we must stay away from “leaven” and eat only “the sincere and true Word of Jesus.”

1 Corinthians 5:6-8 “6...Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

Matthew 16:11-12 “11How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? 12Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.”

Therefore, what we must not mingle with now is not Gentile people as in the time of the Old Testament law, but other doctrines that become mingled with the words of Jesus (Mark 4:24). As the passage above says, if we allow even a little leaven, that little leaven will soon leaven the whole lump. In other words, the words of Jesus and the rudiments of the world or the commandments and doctrines of men can never go together, no matter how beneficial they may appear (Colossians 2:20-23). Therefore, we must worship only Jesus and serve Jesus alone, and we must never receive other doctrines.

Galatians 1:6-8, 10 “6I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 10For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”

1 John 4:5-6 “5They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 6We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.”

Truly, those who belong to Jesus know His voice and hear only the words of Jesus (John 8:47).

John 10:2-6 “2But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. 4And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 5And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.”

Amen.