Have you ever heard someone describe another person as a “practicing Catholic”? By this is meant that said person is living out the practical application or following the religious rituals of the religion to which he belongs. We don’t often hear someone called a “practicing Christian.” Perhaps this is because Christianity is not a religion in the same sense that Catholicism is a religion. One does not have to follow certain religious rituals in order to “be a Christian.” However, someone can be a Christian that is not a “practicing Christian” in the sense that he is not living out the practical application of his faith. The way we usually say it is, “Are you acting like a Christian?” The question is, “Are you acting like what you are?”
Well, in Nehemiah 5, God’s people were not acting like what they were. They were not “practicing Hebrews,” meaning they were not living out the practical application of their faith in Jehovah. Just after an intense battle with outside opposition had temporarily subsided, the wall builders now faced internal opposition to the work. Nehemiah 5 begins, “And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews.” This time the problem was not coming from outside enemies and foreigners, like the Horonite Sanballat and the Ammonite Tobiah. It was coming from brethren, fellow believers and fellow countrymen! The problem was that, at this time, money, food, and resources were becoming scarce. Some of the Jews leveraged this situation to their advantage, lending money to their neighbors at high interest rates. As a result, some of the Jews were so indebted to other Jews that they had mortgaged off their lands and houses in order to buy food. Some had even allowed their children to go into slavery in order to pay off their debts! When Nehemiah discovered what had been happening, his righteous anger was kindled. “And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them. And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? Or shall they be sold unto us?” (Nehemiah 5:6-8)
Nehemiah calls what the Jews were doing to their disadvantaged brethren “usury.” Usury, in this context, means high interest rates, but it also means what it sounds like. They were using their brethren, taking advantage of them in order to help themselves. Much like Jesus when He confronted the money changers in the temple, Nehemiah did not pull any punches when confronting the Jews about their treatment of each other. Then Nehemiah went on to explain the root of the problem. “Also I said, It is not good that ye do: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies?” (Nehemiah 5:9) The reason that the Jews were treating each other wrongly is that they were not walking in the fear of the Lord. They were not “practicing Christians,” we might say. Rather, they were treating each other the way that their foreign enslavers had. In so doing, they were not only hurting themselves, but they were also hurting the work of God.
The same kind of problem can creep into the Church today. We can hurt each other and the work of Christ when we fail to be “practicing Christians.” While we may be Christian (born-again believers) and identify as Christian (go to church), we may be simultaneously acting as if we are not Christian. James 1:26-27 puts it this way, “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” Pure religion—the practice of our faith—is caring for and giving to each other. It is keeping ourselves separate from the world. We are not living separate from the world when we treat each other the same way that unbelievers would treat each other! The Bible says that when we act like unbelievers, our “religion is vain,” meaning that it is empty. James 2 continues this theme, saying, “My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?” God warns us not to have “the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ” (or be/identify as Christian) while also having respect to persons (or treating others unjustly). James 2:8-9 says, “If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well: but if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.” What James 1 calls “pure religion” could be summed up in what James 2 calls the “royal law.” When we live according to the royal law (love your neighbor as yourself), then we are practicing pure religion; we are practicing Christians. James 2:14-17 continues, “What doth is profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” James is not saying that if we don’t act like Christians, we won’t be saved from hell! No, he is saying that if we don’t act like what we are, we can’t expect God’s mercy and blessing in our lives. He is not saying that if our faith is not demonstrated through works, we do not really have faith! No, he is saying that if our faith is not demonstrated through works, it does no good to the people around us.
The Church has endured and prevailed through numerous persecutions from the enemy. And yet the greatest threat to the effectiveness of the Church may indeed be those within the Church! In the context of James, the problem in the Church was partiality and neglecting each other’s needs. In the context of Nehemiah, the problem among God’s people was taking advantage of each other during a time of great need! The problem was taking rather than giving; using rather than sharing. Galatians 5:13-16 says, “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This is say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Sometimes, we need to ask God to protect us from ourselves, from internal strife that will threaten the work of Christ. However, if we will “walk in the fear of our God” (Nehemiah 5:9) or “walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16), then we will be effective in the work of Christ. As in Nehemiah and James, we see in Galatians the parallel between pure religion and loving our neighbor. A practicing Christian is characterized by love for his neighbor. The effectiveness of our churches depends largely on the “practicing Christians” within them.
In Nehemiah 5, the work of God was threatened once again. This time, it was internal strife that nearly halted the progress on the wall building project. If we will be wise, we can learn from Nehemiah’s response to the Jews who had taken advantage of their fellow Jews. “Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them. Then said they, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest. . . . And the people did according to this promise.” (Nehemiah 5:11-12, 13) Sin had threatened the work, but rather than giving up in defeat, Nehemiah and the people addressed the sin. They restored what had been taken. This is the same procedure we must follow when we find that our churches are being harmed by sin. We can and should treat each other with love, mercy, and forgiveness because we all share the same Creator, the same Savior, and the same cause of Christ! So, how are we treating each other? Are we treating each other like people in the world might treat each other? Are we giving God’s enemies reason to reproach us? Or are we practicing true religion? We might ask, “Are you just a Christian, or are you a practicing Christian?”