Worship Restored
Rubble to Restoration: A Study in Ezra and Nehemiah • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction:
Introduction:
It really is a no brainer, that if we really want to thrive spiritually, to prosper, and to endure the hardships of this life we are going to need to need a solid foundation. If we are to accomplish what God wants to do in and through our lives we are going to need that foundation. and we will need it If we are to complete the mission of our church to know, grow, and go.
the exiles returning to Judah had a passion and zeal to lay a firm foundation for their lives and for their society.
This is everything that needed to be rebuilt: the homes, businesses, economy, military, and the temple. To rebuild their nation and temple was a huge task. After-all it was thoroughly destroyed by the Assyrians and Babylonians. However, it was for this purpose that they had returned.
This incredible work that laid before them is the subject of our passage this morning. And we are going to be looking at three different tasks:
Task 1: to get settled, laboring diligently to take care of one’s family.
Task 2: to establish regular worship.
Task 3: to begin building God’s house of worship, laying a solid foundation.
Family, as I mentioned last week it is important to note that we too are in this process of rebuilding our church. Even though our church was and is far from perfect, God has given us an opportunity to rebuild and to establish ourselves with a proper foundation.
v.1) Task 1: Let’s get settled in
v.1) Task 1: Let’s get settled in
[1] The first task of the exiles was to get settled, laboring diligently to take care of their family.
Apparently, the journey to Judah took about four months, for the distance from Babylon to Judah is about 900 miles. This is the time it took the second group of returnees who came with Ezra. There is nothing explicitly shared with us about the difficulties suffered by the travelers during the long their journey. They pressed on through every hardship and overcame every danger. Mile by mile they stayed on the roadway until they reached their destination.
After arriving in the land they dispersed, each going to their family home and property. Their task, again, was to secure the basic necessities of life: housing, food, and water. Imagine what this first group found. Remember that the cities and Jerusalem had been totally destroyed, including Jerusalem’s stone walls.
What greets them is complete devastation . In Jerusalem—there was not a single home left standing. Heaps of debris, and on the outskirts of the former city, there may have been a few homes left. Rebuilding the city and temple would involve cleaning up the debris before construction could being.
And before the rebuilding could start they need to dig wells or locate springs of water to cultivate crops and food. Temporary shelters need to be established too.
Providing for and caring for our families should be one of the first task for every family head. Our families are to be continually nurtured and strengthened, for God has appointed the family to be the primary structure of society. Every member of the family has a responsibility also, to strengthen the other members of the family and the family unit as a whole.
If we are going to effective in ministry and obedient to the call of God on our lives our priority needs to be the worship God Almighty. Then second is our families. And a distant third is our local church.
Application 1:
Application 1:
(1) Husband and wives: God has very clearly laid before us how husband and wives are to operate.
21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
(2) Parents: Your children do not belong to you. You are an ambassador, if saved, for God to your children. If unsaved, an ambassador for Satan.
14 Now for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be burdensome to you; for I do not seek yours, but you. For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.
4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
6 Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.
(3) Children: Yes, God has a defined role for you kids too.
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: 3 “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”
12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
(4) The Bible warns us about what we are going to be held accountable how we take care of our families:
8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
(5) God’s Word is disobedient children is severe:
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
Application 2:
Application 2:
There is another way that we can look at this too. And that is as the family of God we are to be active in the local church, caring for our brothers and sisters in Christ. This can only be rightly accomplished if we are loving our families well.
Pay close attention to the words: Let us...
22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
Let us draw near: Near to who? Christ! For the true and genuine believer, we are able to draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. That God has us… That He is never going to leave us or forsake us. We have been sealed with the Holy Spirit.
13 Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 14 That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
Let us hold fast: to the confession of our hope without wavering…That hope is the Gospel message that Jesus paid the price for our sin once and for all, on the cross. And the greatest news is that He didn’t stay dead. And that all who believe in Him will be SAVED!!!
Let us consider: Each one of these “Let us” statements are now the believers responsibility to do them. And we are to consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. How do we do this?
13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
Family, if you are a member of our church you need to be here… not forsaking the assembling of ourselves. We all know those Christians who claim to do it on their own. But they are not thriving and that is because we need each other. We need the accountability, we need the support of our family, we need the exhortation of our ohana.
I believe that if you are a member of our church, God is going to use you here in some way shape or form. So don’t turn your back on your immediate family or your spiritual family.
vv. 1-6) Task 2: Let’s start worshiping
vv. 1-6) Task 2: Let’s start worshiping
The seventh moth: This was an important month on the spiritual calendar of Israel. During this month they would celebrate the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Trumpets, and the Feast of Tabernacles.
It was an encouraging sign of obedience among the returnees. In a time of small resources and great work to be done, they took the time and money to observe the command to gather in Jerusalem for the major feasts.
Their second task was to establish regular and frequent worship.
As one man: this expression indicates a strong sense of unity existed between the who returned together. After-all they were in this together. They were bound together by the Spirit of God for three great purposes: to restore the worship of the Lord, rebuild His temple and their nation.
Also they are being obedient to the Word of God:
Numbers 29 and Leviticus 23 give the command to the Jews to celebrate these feasts and the Day of Atonement. Scripture gives a detailed description about how they reestablished worship at the site of the temple.
Men/husband it is your duty as the head of your family to establish regular and frequent worship. You are needed to step up and lead your family towards the only thing that is truly matters. Jesus Christ.
[Example] Demonstrate to your children that the worship of God is important.
[2] The first step taken in reestablishing worship was the rebuilding of the Lord’s altar. The people longed to approach the Lord through the substitute sacrifice; therefore, an altar was the first requirement. It was actually the religious and civil leaders, led by the High Priest Jeshua and the governor Zerubbabel, who built the altar.
Jeshua was the grandson of Seraiah the high priest, who was put to death by Nebuchadnezzar:
18 And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers.
21 Then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive from its own land.
Pay attention to these facts:
In anticipation of the worship assembly, the leadership evidently built the altar before the people arrived and constructed it exactly as God’s Word dictated. Because the altar was large, it would have no doubt taken days to construct.
Great care was taken to rebuild the altar on the very site where the former altar had sat. Scripture actually says that the very same foundation was used.
The people worshipped despite the fact that they feared the local residents and other people who lived in the surrounding villages. These people were unbelievers who were hostile towards the Jews. They were foreigners who had been deported to Palestine by the Assyrians. Through the years the local residents and foreign deportees had intermarried and become known as the Samaritans. They were worshippers of false gods who resented the Jewish exiles and were antagonistic toward them. Despite the animosity of their neighbors, the Jews overcame their fear and faithfully worshipped the Lord.
When it comes to fearing the local residents, I believe they were not only fearful of being physically attacked, but they were also afraid of the potential spiritual threat from the people of those countries.
“The ruined Jerusalem was better guarded by the altar than if its fallen walls had been rebuilt”—Maclaren
The altar was the first thing to be built because it was an act of obedience. The importance here is that they needed to resume the burnt offerings for the atonement of sin, and the morning and evening burnt offerings because all this was written in the Law.
There cannot be a temple without an altar, but there may be an altar without a temple. God meets men at the place of sacrifice, even though there be no house for His name.
For us family we meet with God at the foot of the cross where the greatest sacrifice laid down their life for any who will believe.
The second step in reestablishing worship was celebrating the Festival of Tabernacles. During this particular festival, the people lived for seven days in tents or easily assembled booths.
This feast celebrated God’s care and protection over the Exodus journey through the wilderness to the promised land of God.
No doubt that God loves and cares for His people. Protecting them during times of hardship. This first of many celebrations concerning this feast was probably very meaningful… Just like their forefathers they had just been freed from captivity and returned to their homeland.
Through the following months, these returnees reinstituted the New Moon or monthly sacrifices, all the appointed feasts, and the freewill offerings.
The first day of the seventh month was a monumental moment in Jewish history, for it was the day the returned Jews reestablished worship at the temple site and being to offer sacrifices to the Lord. They worshiped the Lord even without a temple.
Application:
A person who truly believes in the Lord is given a permanent relationship with Him. God’s Spirit is placed within the heart of the believer, giving assurance of God’s presence, love, care, guidance, protection, and provision.
To keep this relationship alive and close, the believer worships the Lord, praising Him and seeking His strength to conquer all the trials, temptations, and other schemes of the devil.
The true disciple of Christ develops their relationship with the Lord through both personal and public worship.
Listen to what God’s Word says about personal worship, that is, prayer and personal Bible study:
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
11 Seek the Lord and His strength;
Seek His face evermore!
16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
29 Give to the Lord the glory due His name;
Bring an offering, and come before Him.
Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!
Listen to what God’s Word says about public worship:
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.
8 Lord, I have loved the habitation of Your house,
And the place where Your glory dwells.
4 One thing I have desired of the Lord,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.
9 Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!
Tremble before Him, all the earth.
1 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.”
“Let us” worship God properly both in private and in public.
vv. 7-13) Task 3: Let’s begin to build
vv. 7-13) Task 3: Let’s begin to build
The third task of the returned exiles was to build the temple, God’s house of worship. There was no argument about the need to build the temple. It was one of major purpose for which these men and women had returned. For years their hearts had longed to return to their homeland so they could rebuild. A dream that was passed from a generation to generation. The dream of rebuilding their homes, nation, and temple.
[7] Before the people left Babylon they made the decision to being preparations for the temple to be rebuilt. An offering was given for the reconstruction, and the people gave sacrificially.
Throughout scripture there are three types of giving: tithes, offerings, and sacrificial giving.
Tithes is typically one-tenth of a person’s income taken from the top. It was given to God as a reminder of who provided it, and to demonstrate that God always comes first. [Malachi 3:10; Deuteronomy 26:2,10]
Justas God’s people brought a tithe to support God’s mission in the OT, you should have a set amount of your choosing to give regularly. The tithe supports operating expenses, our staff, and the general ministry expenses. [1 Corinthians 9:14; 1 Timothy 5:17-18]
Offerings are voluntary offerings and are given by God’s people to fund special needs as they arose within the congregation. [Exodus 25:1-2]
Just as God’s people brought offerings to support special needs, you should be read to give as needs arise within our local church. These gifts help support the needs of the members within the church who are unable to take care of themselves, and other special projects as determined by the leaders of our church. [Acts 11:27-30; 1 Timothy 5:3,9-10, 16]
Sacrificial giving (like we have here) came at the giver’s expense. It was a sacrifice that someone was willing to make as an investment in God’s mission. [2 Samuel 24:21-25]
We should be ready to give to the support of the missionaries that our church supports or sends out. These gifts support missionaries to go to places that we are unable to go. [Philippians 4:15-19]
[8] Preparations took a full seven months before construction could actually being. The date was the second month of the second year after the returned exiles arrived in Jerusalem. Interestingly, this is also the same month Solomon had begun the construction of the first temple.
The management of the project was both Zerubbabel and the High Priest Jeshua. Also included were the family heads of three clans and a number of Levites were appointed as foremen.
Once the construction finally began, the foundation was quickly laid. This was a significant even that the people assembled together to celebrate with a dedication service. Dressing in their priestly robes, the priest secured their trumpets and took their place for the worship service.
The Levites also secured their instruments and took their places. Together they gave thanks and praised the Lord, singing a song that stressed the goodness and mercy of God:
“For He is good, For His mercy endures forever toward Israel.”
34 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
In response, the people shouted out a great praise to the Lord.
Note the deep but different emotions of the people. The older folks, who remembered how magnificent Solomon’s Temple had been, were flooded with a deep longing for the what was.
Yet the younger crowd were as excited as they could be, for the temple of the Lord was at last under construction. Joy flooded their hearts.
Because of the loud weeping and contrasting shouts of joy, a great commotion could be heard afar off.
Application:
Family as there was rejoicing over the foundation that had been laid for the temple. We too should have a supreme joy and rejoice over the foundations that God has given us in Christ.
He is after-all the basis of our peace, security, provision, fulfillment, assurance, and hope of being accepted by God and given eternal life and eternal security.
4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,
“Behold, I lay in Zion
A chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”
7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient,
“The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone,”
8 and
“A stone of stumbling
And a rock of offense.”
They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.
24 “The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.” ’