Peace in Ezra
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good Morning — My name is Brandon Morrow and I serve as one of the Pastors here at Good News, and will continue to serve in that role until December 18 — a quick note there,
Thank you for letting me serve you in that way. It’s been a great joy for me to serve at Good News. I’m really grateful for all of you.
We have to get to the scriptures this morning. This morning we’re in the Second Week of Advent, where we’re centering ourselves on the coming of Jesus in His arrival and Birth. The coming of Jesus, in all of its familiarity helps prepare our hearts in the same anticipation for His Second Coming. You can sum up the whole Christian movement in about 4 statements:
Christ is here.
Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ is coming again.
And so on this week we talk about how the coming of Jesus brings us great comfort and peace, and we’re going to do that this morning by opening up our Bibles to Ezra 8. As you know we’ve been in a series through the Book of Ezra and are now mining the Book of Ezra for little pieces of hope and peace for how the story of the Bible will be fulfilled in the person of Jesus.
It would be a joy this morning to open up the Word of God together. Open up your Bibles to Ezra 8, and we will be reading verses 21-36.
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
Ezra 8:21–36 (ESV)
21 Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. 22 For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.” 23 So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty. Priests to Guard Offerings 24 Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests: Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen with them. 25 And I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God that the king and his counselors and his lords and all Israel there present had offered. 26 I weighed out into their hand 650 talents of silver, and silver vessels worth 200 talents, and 100 talents of gold, 27 20 bowls of gold worth 1,000 darics, and two vessels of fine bright bronze as precious as gold. 28 And I said to them, “You are holy to the Lord, and the vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers. 29 Guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel at Jerusalem, within the chambers of the house of the Lord.” 30 So the priests and the Levites took over the weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God. 31 Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way. 32 We came to Jerusalem, and there we remained three days. 33 On the fourth day, within the house of our God, the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed into the hands of Meremoth the priest, son of Uriah, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas, and with them were the Levites, Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui. 34 The whole was counted and weighed, and the weight of everything was recorded. 35 At that time those who had come from captivity, the returned exiles, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and as a sin offering twelve male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord. 36 They also delivered the king’s commissions to the king’s satraps and to the governors of the province Beyond the River, and they aided the people and the house of God.
Body of Sermon
Body of Sermon
Just a chapter ago in Chapter 7, we finally see the namesake of the Book of Ezra, Ezra, show up. He comes with a confidence that only comes from someone who is deeply committed to the Word of God, and as you can remember, Ezra’s role is one of TEACHER, so Ezra’s confidence and praise ultimately comes from the Lord. There is a sense of peace that comes over the people of God when we experience the character of God from the Word of God.
He finished Chapter 7 by reminding us that God is in the business of supplying what Ezra called “good favor.” And in the Advent season, the idea of “good favor” seems appealing… as the Christmas song, “We Wish you a Merry Christmas” goes: “Good tidings we bring to you and your kin” we see that Good Favor is the Spirit of the Advent season, we’re longing for the Coming of the King, and it’s refreshing when someone isn’t in a state of Chaos about the state of the world, or their current circumstances… but Ezra knows, His confidence is in the Lord, that every Good Favor comes from God. What a freeing sense of peace offered here by Ezra… God Himself is the source of every abundance.
The first 20 verses of Chapter 8 deal primarily with geneaology, who shows up with Ezra, and Ezra describes some of their journey in coming to Jerusalem.
Before we get to verse 21, I want to be clear, you can have the kind of peace that Ezra has, there is a kind of life, that if we’re willing to live it, that lends itself to growing in peace, which is growing in confidence that every good favor comes from God.
Let’s look at verse 21
Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods.
Peace is, in many ways, an outcome of what we know to be true about God.
Ezra recognizes some things here about the Lord that we need to look into.
In verse 21, Ezra knows that he needs to fast, that there is a way to humble yourself, to be in a state of want or desire, that the Lord desires of His people.
I think there’s a lot of unfortunate indicators out there in the world that make God out to be some cosmic vending machine in the sky. That maybe we’ve exploited this idea of Jesus as our friend, that anyone can come to Jesus, — I don’t mean this all subjectively, I think we have to hold all of these things in tension. But God doesn’t standby waiting for us to bark out our orders. There is something in at least acknowledging that I am not God. He is God. I am not.
This is why Ezra knows he has to humble himself. He wants to place his heart in a state of hunger. Essential preparing himself to pray a prayer like, “God, I need you.”
Before ever approaching God for His great needs, Ezra begins to wage a battle on the inside, for the things that are vying for first place in his heart and the hearts of his band of travelers.
Spurgeon famously said,
If you are to have peace with God there must be war with Satan.
Charles Spurgeon
The kind of Battle that Ezra is engaging in, deeply spiritual, is one of great need. He is appealing to the Lord for safety… And this type of desire, this spiritual thirst and hunger, isn’t just for Ezra and his friends, but for their children, and their belongings.
If you want peace… you’ll need to wage war, first.
Look with me at verse 22 — it almost appears to us as if Ezra’s prayer for God’s protection, isn’t something that he believes God will provide.
He says in Ezra 8:22
For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.”
He says, “I was ashamed to ask the king...”
It would be easy for us to think, “oh, look… Ezra talkin’ out the side of his mouth.” Says one thing, but does another. To some, this seems purely contradictory: why would you pray to God and then ask the King for help on the side?
Here’s how I would explain verse 22...
I think this is a logical conclusion:
Ezra asked King Artexerxes for help when he was leaving Babylon.
Artexerxes goes, “Oh, you’re fine.”
And Ezra goes, “Fine? But the children… our future is in your hands.”
So Ezra does the only thing that spiritual people know to do. He asks the Lord.
In the unreliability of the world, we can always count on the Lord. Ezra is demonstrating a greater degree of trust in what the Lord can do, than what any earthly power is able to provide.
You can’t help but wonder, but what confidence did Ezra have that the Lord was going to listen? What confidence did he have that he could lay everything he had in front of the Lord, and that he’d be okay?
I’m guessing he had heard God’s promise through the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 52:12 reminds us of God’s own pledge of affection to His people
For you shall not go out in haste,
and you shall not go in flight,
for the Lord will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
Of course He would ask the Lord. The Lord goes ahead of His people, and He’s also watching your back. Peace comes from the fact that you don’t have to keep looking over your shoulder.
You know what Ezra is ashamed about? Asking the wrong person in the first place. Artexerxes is protecting his own self interests, but God’s interest is in protecting His people.
So yes… as verse 22 says, “God’s hand is on you for GOOD, for all who seek Him.”
The life of peace we desperately want is rooted in placing your desires into the hands of the One who can hold them.
Verse 23 says that Ezra knew this.
So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.
Not only does Ezra seek God, but God listens.
Augustine said,
[Peace is] the tranquillity of order.
Augustine of Hippo
Peace comes as a result of not only waging war, knowing who to ask, but in knowing that He has listened to every cry of our hearts —
Peace reigns where our Lord reigns.
Julian of Norwich
and there is nothing outside of Ezra’s life, or my life, or your life that the Lord is not reigning over.
If you’re looking to the Artexerxes of our day, if we’re hoping in technological advancements, or if we think we’ve got it covered, we won’t have peace — Jesus says this in John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
He doesn’t give peace as the world gives.
Our hearts are not troubled.
We are not meant to be afraid.
We have been given peace.
That isn’t to say that we don’t have pain, that there won’t be difficulty. I’ve got a favorite quote about this one:
I have pain (there is no arguing against sense); but I have peace, I have peace.
Richard Baxter
We have peace.
Peace in what Jesus has provided.
Peace in the battle that Christ has already waged against the devil — and won.
Peace in knowing that Jesus has your back so we can stop looking over our schoulder.
Peace in knowing that God gives good things to His children, and the greatest gift will be the coming of the Prince of Peace Himself.
Peace in knowing that He hears our every need, and has meet our every need in Jesus.
Benediction
Benediction
Go now and walk in the light of the Lord.
Stay alert for the Lord is near.
Put on the armour of light
and live openly and honourably.
Pray for peace for all God’s people.
And may God clothe you in the light of Christ;
May Christ Jesus teach you his ways;
And may the Holy Spirit keep you alert and prepared
for the coming day of the Lord.
We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
In the name of Christ. Amen. (Nathan Nettleton)