Dedication with Joy

Nehemiah 12:27-47

Introduction:

Next week will be the final sermon in this series of messages through the book of Nehemiah. Next I’ll be diving into:

Pattern of rebuild the walls then rebuild the people…

Today we come to the elaborate and joyful celebration as the Jews dedicate the rebuilt wall of Jerusalem.

I want to focus in on the joy the people had in dedicating these walls and what it implies about how we should live as the church and as individual Christ followers as well.

Let’s read together from Nehemiah chapter 12.

Nehemiah 12:27–47 ESV

27 And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres. 28 And the sons of the singers gathered together from the district surrounding Jerusalem and from the villages of the Netophathites; 29 also from Beth-gilgal and from the region of Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built for themselves villages around Jerusalem. 30 And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people and the gates and the wall. 31 Then I brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks. One went to the south on the wall to the Dung Gate. 32 And after them went Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah, 33 and Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, 34 Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah, 35 and certain of the priests’ sons with trumpets: Zechariah the son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph; 36 and his relatives, Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God. And Ezra the scribe went before them. 37 At the Fountain Gate they went up straight before them by the stairs of the city of David, at the ascent of the wall, above the house of David, to the Water Gate on the east. 38 The other choir of those who gave thanks went to the north, and I followed them with half of the people, on the wall, above the Tower of the Ovens, to the Broad Wall, 39 and above the Gate of Ephraim, and by the Gate of Yeshanah, and by the Fish Gate and the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, to the Sheep Gate; and they came to a halt at the Gate of the Guard. 40 So both choirs of those who gave thanks stood in the house of God, and I and half of the officials with me; 41 and the priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets; 42 and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang with Jezrahiah as their leader. 43 And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away. 44 On that day men were appointed over the storerooms, the contributions, the firstfruits, and the tithes, to gather into them the portions required by the Law for the priests and for the Levites according to the fields of the towns, for Judah rejoiced over the priests and the Levites who ministered. 45 And they performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did the singers and the gatekeepers, according to the command of David and his son Solomon. 46 For long ago in the days of David and Asaph there were directors of the singers, and there were songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. 47 And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah gave the daily portions for the singers and the gatekeepers; and they set apart that which was for the Levites; and the Levites set apart that which was for the sons of Aaron.

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This is the Word of the Lord. Let’s pray and ask God to help us understand and apply it.

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Today I want to share with you four aspects to the Jews’ dedication of the city walls and how they apply to us today. To begin with we see the dedication of the wall done with joy to the glory of God. They praise with joy.

I. Praise and thanksgiving with joy.

Right away we see that they send for the Levites. This is informed by what goes on back in I Chronicles 24. David organized the priests into 24 divisions, which divided into two for each month of the year. Each priest would be “on duty” for two weeks of the year. The other days of the year, they would be tending to their everyday lives. It could be farming or raising animals. So for two weeks they served God in the temple. But for the other weeks out of the year, the majority of the year, they served God in the world, out in creation. Their whole life was to be about knowing God. This is true of us. Our lives with God are not limited to these four walls. If you’re only a Christian for an hour on Sunday, you might not really be a Christian at all.

So they send out for the Levites, who were out where they lived, scattered in their own village. They bring them back for this elaborate and loud time of worship.

- the glory of God in His city

God gets the glory for what He has done. This is a result of the people following God. He gets more glory. Our whole purpose as people is to bring God glory.

What is the chief end of man?

To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

What does that look like?

The choirs encircled the city and met up at the temple.

Let me show you something else that is glorifying to God. The wall is big enough for people to go up and stand on it.

Nehemiah 12:31 ESV

Then I brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks. One went to the south on the wall to the Dung Gate.

Do you remember what Tobiah, their enemy had said back in chapter four as he taunted them as they worked on the wall.

Nehemiah 4:3 ESV

Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!”

He taunted by suggesting that this would be rickety and not hold up. Even the weight of a fleet footed fox would be enough to cause it to fall. But here there are two full choirs on God’s wall with Nehemiah. How amazing in response to the taunts of the world. God will be proven true, always. God’s Word and His Will will always be accomplished. It’s not always how we picture it but He’s always working and it’s always good.

II. Purify with joy.

They people joyfully purified the gates and wall but also themselves. They set themselves apart as pure and given to the worship of God. Don’t miss this. They were symbolizing and going through actual actions saying that they were set apart. They were dedicated to the worship of God and not to anything else other than what God had commanded for His people.

They were in essence agreeing to God’s way over their way as far as their worship was concerned.

As Christians we are called to die to ourselves and live for Christ.

I want to call attention to verses 42-43 which sound similar to what we see in Ezra 3 after the altar had been rebuilt. This was quite an elaborate and truly great celebration. Now, I’m sure that Nehemiah had seen bigger parties and parades back in Persia as cupbearer to the king. This was what God was doing here in the world but to anyone on the outside or who had been elsewhere, it might have seemed unimpressive. But God was working.

Sometimes we are tempted to look at a small church or our lives as unimpressive. How many people have you ever seen who have impressive lives on the outside but are empty on the inside? Which would you rather live? Would you rather have a life or in this case a church that is normal and unimpressive looking on the outside but is full of life inside because God is worshipped or something impressive looking but empty of heart? I want my life, as unimpressive as it may look to be deep in the work of God. Our church and our lives are not impressive because we look a certain way to the world. The thing that makes it worth it is that God is here. He is at work in His church.

They purified the walls and themselves but they eventually fell back into sin. There needed to be a sacrifice that could cover their sin once and for all and a way for them to be set apart for God and made holy for eternity.

This points to a need for purification. It points to the people of God being set apart for His service. When Jesus died on the cross in our place, for our sins, He set apart a people for God. It’s not a nation or ethnicity but a church. It’s a blood bought people who He sets apart and makes holy for God’s service.

The Holy Spirit indwells the believer making us more and more like Jesus and enables us to worship with joy. He is our better purification. The question is, for those of us who claim the name of Christ, how will we respond daily to his setting us apart?

III. Provide for the temple ministry with joy.

The things listed here for the temple are called for in the Torah, the law. What we need to glean from this is that the people saw what God required and they committed or dedicated themselves to making sure that what God required was provided.

In providing for the ministry of the temple they were making sure that they could maintain the obedience to the Law of God to which they were committing.

Sometimes we have to do something to put ourselves in a place to continue to remain obedient to what God has called us to do. What might that look like?

- changing your hours at work so you can be more involved in the ministry of your church

- turn down Sunday morning invites so you can worship God with the church

- move closer to your church

- change your spending habits so you can live generously

- study apologetics or other theological pursuits so you will be ready to share about Jesus in your daily life (costs you time)

- these things cost time, money, and rearranging of your priorities

How about comfort level? Might we have to give up our comfort level in some area to obey what God has called us to?

It wasn’t like this time in Jerusalem was crazy posperous. They were in crisis and yet they gave sacrificial to support the worship of God. We see a similar attitude in the New Testament as the churches support each other sacrificially.

This brings me to the last point this morning and that is to practice these things with joy.

IV. Practice with joy.

Right belief leads to right practice.

- belief leads to behavior

- Not the other way around..

How far away is our joy heard???

Conclusion:

How the gospel connects with this...

The heart must be right for the life and practice to be right.

Our heart needs brought to life by the gospel.

We are dead in our sins and we need Jesus to save us and give us a new heart.

Out of that new heart, our lives can reflect that grace fueled obedience to the commands of God.

Out of that heart comes gladness, thanksgiving, and joyful celebration of God and what He is doing in our lives and the life of the church.

Do you remember the nobles back in 3:5???

Nehemiah 3:5 ESV

And next to them the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord.

“May I encourage you to reject the thought that any act of service for Christ and His kingdom is beneath you? There will be a day when what this dedication of the wall points to will be fulfilled. The people of God will be brought up onto the wall, so to speak, and they will see a new Jerusalem radiant with the glory of what has been accomplished by faith, by the power of the Spirit. We will worship God on that day.” - James Hamilton