Deal With It!

^"So the exiles did as was proposed. Ezra, the priest, selected men who were family heads, one from each family division, and all of them designated by name. On the first day of the tenth month they sat down to investigate the cases, and by the first day of the first month they finished dealing with all the men who had married foreign women."   (Ezra 10: 16-17, NIV)

The role of a pastor is not just to stand in the pulpit and bring forth a great message, but to shepherd his flock as well.  As a priest and leader, Ezra was responsible for taking care of the exiles now that they were back in Jerusalem.  One of the problems they had was intermarriage.  There were those, including the leaders and officials, who were marrying neighboring pagan peoples who were committing detestable practices.  As a result, Ezra began to weep and pray, crying out to God on their behalf.  He then called forth the assembly on how to deal with this matter.  Ezra instructed them to confess to the Lord and separate themselves from the foreign peoples and divorce their wives. 

But, not only did they have to confess, the accused had to sit down with Ezra and the family leader and each individual case was discussed.  They had to deal with the problem, and this process took a few months to complete. Even though there may not have been an overwhelming number of happenings compared to the population,  it was important enough that Ezra knew that the Israelite assembly had to be cleansed in order to stop God's anger and wrath. 

If you have unconfessed sin in your life, and you find yourself being called into the pastor's office, know that he's not only doing it for your good, but for the church body as a whole, especially if you are in any type of leadership position.  Sin in the camp can spread, and others besides yourself may become affected or "infected".  The pastor loves you---God loves you!  Discipline for a season may be hurtful, but know that the end result can be a much closer walk with the Lord because the sin was dealt with instead of ignored.