A Handout or a Hand Up?

So I was reading in Ezra this morning (my morning devotions are completely ADD - big surprise, eh?). Anyway, I was reading in Ezra this morning about the rebuilding of the temple after the Babylonian exile.

At the beginning of chapter 4 is this:

When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the LORD, the God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, "Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here."

It struck me as I was reading that if the narrator hadn't started this with "the enemies of Judah" I would have thought something like, "Wow, that's really cool. The people of Israel are doing this mighty thing for God and they're inspiring the "ungodly" people to join in." Or something.

But it's really clear in Ezra that these neighbors of theirs aren't interested in honoring God - they actually have just the opposite agenda (you can read Ezra chapter 4 here).

The leadership of the returning exiles has enough discernment to say "no" to this offer for help.

I wonder if we would.

I wonder if I would.

How tempting would it be when your people are struggling and sacrificing to make the vision that God has laid out before you all a reality to have someone come in and say, "Here's resources - people, money, ideas - let us partner with you." Too many Christian leaders might just jump at the offer - without thinking through the remifications.

So - who do we let in on these "great works for the Kingdom of God"?