Wage the Warfare: Ezra 3-6

Introduction

We had Awakened to the Purpose of God

From the years 2008-2011, God had stirred, or as we discussed last week, awakened Annie and I to his purposes in foreign missions.

We were learning about the Unreached, or the reality that there were still 3.4 billion people across our globe that didn’t have access to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

As Christians, Annie and I felt like this was an evil injustice, and we had to do something about it!

We thought everybody should be more upset, or as upset about this as we were, but instead in our perspective it just seemed like people were apathetic.

What we know now that we didn’t know then, that it was God’s stirring of us… not others, but us!

We all see the world through the lens of our own stirrings.

So in 2011-2012 we took every radical step of obedience necessary to be faithful to the purposes of God that he was stirring in the people of God.

I took a job to pay the bills, and avoided any temptation to a career that would hinder us from going.

We took the leap of faith to raise our financial support which had its ups and downs.

We began selling all our possessions, and living more simply in preparation.

And in 2013 we crossed the pond, and landed in North Africa.

But then all hell broke loose.

I’ll spare you the details but due to various circumstances we endured the hardest 18 months of our lives, resulting in about a 9 month bout of depression for me personally.

And in the midst of all this difficulty, I was wrestling with deep confusion and frustration with God.

I mean, all I had ever done is said YES to Him. I was obedient. I stepped out in faith. I was on the proverbial front lines. Why then is it so hard? Why is there so much opposition?

It was a dark season, but at the end of it I had learned a myriad of valuable lessons, but none more apparent than,

Obedience always attracts Opposition

ALWAYS. Obedience attracts Opposition.

Now as we saw last week, the people of Israel had been awakened to the purposes of God.

And they obeyed.

42000 made the return trip back to Jerusalem. But what awaits them is opposition.

WHY!? Because Obedience always attracts opposition.

You want to start being more consistent and diligent in your devotional life, you can expect opposition.

You want to start being more intentional in the discipleship of your kids, you can expect opposition.

You want to start serving the poor, downtrodden, orphans, widows, for the glory of God, you can expect opposition.

You want to start fasting to awaken a hunger for God that is greater than a hunger for food, you can expect opposition.

You sense God stirring and awakening a call into vocational ministry, you can expect opposition.

You want to start living more generously to advance the Kingdom of God… guess what, you can expect opposition.

But there’s raelly good news this morning!

You’re not a sitting duck. You actually get to fight back, you get to Wage the good Warfare, as Paul says.

But we have to know from the onset that the weapons of our warfare are not of this world. They aren’t natural, but supernatural. Spiritual, and if we want to resist the inevitable opposition we must learn to Wage the good Warfare.

But let’s begin in Ezra 3:1-6

Ezra 3:1–6 (ESV)

When the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. Then arose Jeshua the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. They set the altar in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening. And they kept the Feast of Booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the rule, as each day required, and after that the regular burnt offerings, the offerings at the new moon and at all the appointed feasts of the Lord, and the offerings of everyone who made a freewill offering to the Lord. From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord.

Point #1: We Wage Warfare with Worship

Wage War with Worship

6 months after the exiles return they gathered together to rebuild the alter which was led by

Zerubbabel— the prince or governor

Jeshua— the priest.

This project was going to require a lot from Jeshua and his fellow priests because they were the ones most familiar with the proper way to construct the alter and burn its offerings “as it is written in the Law of Moses.”

But noticed vs 3, “they set the alter in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands...”

As soon as they return to Jerusalem they are immediately aware that they are living in a hostile environment. That they are surrounded by enemies.

They were afraid… so

they gathered as One Man to build the alter.

What a beautiful picture of unity found when a common people has a common purpose in the face of a common enemy.

So they acted to build the Alter

The Alter

And the alter was so important! It was central to their worship.

In the OT, alters were built for the purpose of worship through sacrifice.

A place where animals were slaughtered as a sacrifice for the sins of the people, and once their sins were ATONED for their connection and communion with God was restored.

Because that’s what sin does right? It hinders are connection and communion with God who is Holy.

To restore connection and communion with God.

Church, this is the essence of worship. Worship is connection and communion with God, but here at the alter we find a few insights about worship.

First, at its core… worship is sacrifice.

Worship as Sacrifice

Now as believers in Christ, under the New Covenant of Grace, we know longer offer sacrifices of bulls or goats, for is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins (Hebrews 10:8),

But by grace, in our place, Christ came into the world to sacrifice himself so that we might experience connection and communion with God, by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Hebrews 10:9).

So we see the sacrifice of Jesus, and in response we worship by offering a sacrifice of our own! And Paul makes it very clear

Romans 12:1 “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

As believers under the new covenant, your spiritual worship is the offering all of who you are as a living sacrifice to Jesus.

We are to offer ourselves to God, to live for His honor, and glory, and purposes.

Now, here at the onset of their reutrn, we find the people rededicated their lives to God by building an alter of Worship.

Church, this must occur if you want to be a person rebuilt for the glory of God.

You must offer your lives to God. To live for Him and not this world.

Church, we worship with Sacrifice. Meaning… worship should cost you, but by it we Wage Warfare in the drawing close forconnection and communion with God.

Have you? Have you offered your life as a living sacrifice? Have you laid your lives on the alter??

So the people are aware they’re in a hostile environment and begin to worship with Sacrifice…

but as verse 6 indicates, “The foundations of the Temple had yet to be laid…” it was just the Alter, so after they consecrate themselves they begin to order all the material required to build the Temple in verse 7, so let’s pick back up in verse 10

Ezra 3:10–11 ESV

And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David king of Israel. And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.” And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

Worship as Praise

Worship is Warfare, and it consists of Sacrifice, but it also consists of Praise.

The foundation of the Temple gets laid, and with music verse 11, “The people of Israel sang responsively praising and giving thanks to God.”

This is remarkable to me, because the Temple wasn’t anywhere close to being completed.

True faith praises God even before the results are seen or experienced.

This is what Abraham did in Romans 4:20-21 “No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”

I can’t tell you how many times or circumstances or situations in our lives have seemed overwhelming, despairing, and impossible. Yet, every single time we have turned to put our eyes on Jesus and recall who He is, and what He has done

everytime we have begun to verbally decalre his character and his deeds, that he is good, his steadfast love endures forever, and he is faithful always…

I have felt that disabling despair begin to lift, and the fog begin to clear and light penetrate the darkness, because we have weilded the weapon of praise in this warfare.

They verbally declared the character and deeds and goodness of God, and they did it with emotion!

Look at verse 11… with great shouts!

DId you know that it’s okay and proper to worship God with emotion.

In fact, the greatest commandment of our Lord and God is to love Him with all of our heart, sould, mind, and strength!

I think we struggle here church. As a Bible church, we need to be careful that we don’t unnecessiarily exalt loving God with our mind at the expense of our emotoins.

You see I believe, that when we really get a vision of His goodness, and steadfast love, we will respond with praise, even emotional praise.

When was the last time you praised God with emotion?

Maybe it’s time for God to wake you up and wage the good warfare with Worship!

Conclusion

But look quickly at verse 12

Ezra 3:12 “But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy,”

Some in the crowd remembered Solomon’s Temple, and instead of weeping with Joy, they were weeping with grief because the foundation of this temple was so much smaller and simpler than the former one.

Ezra 3:13 “so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.”

So Worship is Restored, and the foundation laid… and now as we turn to chapter 4… the hostility they feared gets realized.

Wage War with the Word of God (4 & 5)

Ezra 4:1–3 ESV

Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.” But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

Context

So these neighbors they so feared, come to Zerubbael and said.... we want to join you, because we are basically the same as you guys for we worship the same God that you gusy worship!

To which Zerubbabel says, “You have NOTHING to do with us.”

At first glance, it’s kind of like, geez man. Simmer down. Why so harsh.

Why is he being so exclusive or bigotted? Why is he discriminating!? Why not be more tolerant and accepting and loving?

Well notice verse 1… “the adversaries”.

Zerubbabel could discern their intent. He knew their political motivations.

They weren’t interested in being a part of what God was doing… they just wanted power and control.

And Zerubbabel also understood their spiritual motivations.

You see in 2 Kings 17, after Assyria had conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel and exiled them,

he 2 Kings 17:24 “And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.”

And this hodgepodge group of people we read, 2 Kings 17:29 “But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived.”

2 Kings 17:33 “So they feared the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.”

So when they walk up to Zerubbabel and say, “We worship God as you do…” it wasn’t the full truth, though they acknowleged Yahweh by name, they also worshiped other gods.

Church, this type of subtle request for uniformity by the world around us is rampant.

In essence, our culture comes to the Christian and says, “Oh we pretty much believe in the same thing you do”.

“We believe we should love others, and serve the poor, and accept everyone and Jesus, oh we love Jesus, he was such a good teacher.”

Just this week, as I was preparing for this sermon I had an incredibly sweet but challenging conversation with a stranger along these lines.

She saw my Bible out, and immediately launched into our subtle similarities.

“Oh I love Jesus. Look at my cross necklace, and cross bracelet. And here’s a mother mary medallion, oh I love Jesus.”

I responded, “ Oh that’s great, yes He has totally transformed my life.”

“She has changed me as well.”

She!?

Oh yes, God is a she.

And I love Jesus, but I also love the yoga path to spirituality so I call myself a “Crindu” (Christian-Hindu).

Now, it’s easy to scoff at this type of response but church, this is the world we live in. So with as much empathy and compassion and love that I could muster I looked at here and said,

“Mam, I understand what you’re saying, but God created us, and as Creator I believe it is He who gets to dictate how we relate to him, and not the other way around.”

And all throughout Scripture He is referred to as Him, and I believe it’s best to take Him at His Word.

Now, she was polite, but the convesation was no longer very bubbly or open.

You see Church, we live and worship God in a world that wants uniformity between the world and our Worship.

And althoug there are some things we can and should find commonalities in, when those aorund you do not have the same convictions,

And do not submit to the authority of God’s word.

Then we have to be firm and like Zerubbabel with as much love and compassion as possible say, “I’m sorry, you have nothing to do with us...”

And guess what… once you take that stand, you will be perceived and accused as a bigot, discriminatory, and sinful and that firm stance will rile up some of the most vile oppositoin you’ve ever known which is exactly what happened.

Ezra 4:4-6 “Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.”

The people of God were firm, and the animosity grew.

Discourage here means = relaxing the hands.

The opposition intended to get the people of Israel distracted. To relax their hands. To hinder the work.

Church, Ezra the author is trying to show us that there are real enemies that try to hinder God’s purposes and whenever God initates a spiritual work, or whenever worship begins to become vibrant and genuine, there will be opposition!

Now the timeline here in the rest of chapter 4 can be confusing, because he includes the reign of otehr kings not just Cyrus or Darius. And the reason is that the author is intending to show that this opposition was constant throughout the entireity of the rebuild.

And we will further develop this theme in Nehemiah but suffice it to say, Obedience Always Attracts Opposition.

And the opposition here ends up writing a letter to the King of Persia making inflammatory accusations about the Jews to stop their work.

Ezra 4:13 “Now be it known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue will be impaired.”

Ezra 4:15 “in order that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. You will find in the book of the records and learn that this city is a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it from of old. That was why this city was laid waste.”

Ezra 4:16 “We make known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls finished, you will then have no possession in the province Beyond the River.””

These accusations were full of massive exaggeration, and intended to be inflammatory.

“They won’t pay taxes!”

“They will rebel!”

Ezra 4:22 “And take care not to be slack in this matter. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the king?””

And unfortunatley, they hit their mark.

Ezra 4:24 “Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.”

For approximately 10 years, the work of rebuilding ceased.

What was once a people that gathered as one man, for a common purpose, has now been dispersed to their own individual rebuildings.

They left Jerusalem and returned to their own lands to build their own homes.

And grew in the meantime, lost vision and stirring of the purpose of God.

Oh how often this is true of us?

Consider youw own life… at one time you were on fire for God. Hungry for His Word, ready to serve His Purposes… but some difficulty, some form of opposition emerged and you relaxed your hands.

That fire is now a flicker.

That hunger is now satisfied by other things.

Your purpose is that 401K, and new boat, and going through the motions.

Your focus is now on your own purposes, not His.

Wage the Warfare! And as we move into Ezra 5, we see exactly how to do it.

Ezra 5:1-2 “Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.”

It was the Word of God that reinvigorated the Work of God.

Haggai 1:7-9 ““Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house.”

The people of Israel had given into the fear and discouragement of the opposition,

and had concerned themselves with trying to meet their own physical needs, while the spiritual needs of the community lay dormant.

But in steps the Word of God from his Prophets.

And the Word reproves and corrects, and reinvigorates the people.

Haggai 1:12 “Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.”

Haggai 1:14 “And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God,”

Church, the Word of God is the Weapon you must weild to Wage Warfare.

When Jesus was tempted for 40 days, it was the Word of God he quoted to overcome the opposition.

When the church in Ephesus was facing opposition, Paul writes, “take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”

When the church in Corinth was facing opposition, Paul writes, 2 Cor 10:4-5 “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,”

That word Stronghold= a habitual pattern of thinking.

In essence the opposition tries to erect strongholds in your mind, therefore wage the warfare by being TRANSFORMED in the renewal of your mind

and we can only do that with the Word of God.

May the Word of God reinvigorated you this morning as it did the people of Israel in the days of Ezra 5.

So they started rebuilding, because Ezra 5:2 “d the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.”

But the governor of the area “Tattenai” began to raise the alarm, and sent off a letter to King Darius once again warning Him of this rebellious people.

But this time, Darius searched the record and found the edict of Cyrus that we saw in Ezra 1, and wrote back

in Ezra 6:7 “Let the work on this house of God alone. Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its site.”

Their obedience attracted opposition, but by their Worship and the Word of God the work went on, and eventually Ezra 6:15 “and this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.”

But let me leave with you with one more Weapon that will aid us in Waging this Warfare.

Wage War with the Warrior (Passover chapter 6)

Ezra 6:19-22 “On the fourteenth day of the first month, the returned exiles kept the Passover. For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were clean. So they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow priests, and for themselves. It was eaten by the people of Israel who had returned from exile, and also by every one who had joined them and separated himself from the uncleanness of the peoples of the land to worship the Lord, the God of Israel. And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the Lord had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.”

The people of Israel celebrated the completion of the Temple by keeping the Passover.

The passover was a celebration remembering Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage.

On the night of their escape, God had instructed the Israelites to put the blood of a spotless lamb over their doorposts so that the angel of death might passover them.

That day, about 3 weeks after the dedication of the Temple, Zerubbabel and Jeshua the Priest, and all Israel remembered God’s great deliverance and sacrifice on their behalf.

A recognition that their greatest Weapon was God’s Divine Provision and Protection.

But that was only a Type for Christ. A foreshadowing of the redemption found in Christ’s sacrifice.

As 1 Cor 5 says, Christ, our passover lamb, has been sacrificed, and in his sacrifice and subsequent resurrection

Col 2:15 “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”

You see that night that Christ hung on the cross, the opposition thought they had won.

Like C.S. Lewis’s depiction of Aslan, the forces of darkness stood triumphantly over the slain body of the great lion. Arrogantly cheering and assuming victory was theirs.

But 3 days later when Christ emerged from the grave, he stood eteranlly triumphant, baffling the forces of darkness, putting them to open shame, to the point where our Opposition now stands disarmed.

Church, it is only by the blood of Jesus placed on the doorposts of your heart that you can wage the warfare of faith.

And as you stand in Christ, seeking to live obediently, you will face opposition, but you will wage the warfare.