Scripture and Planning

Today I am returning one more time to the book of Nehemiah. We have spent three weeks together as a church reading through the entire book of Nehemiah. And we have done this in order to consider what Nehemiah shows us about living an active faith. We have seen in the past weeks the ways in which Nehemiah puts his faith into action. He doesn’t just believe it; he lives it.

I desire that same thing to be true for every one of us who calls ourselves a Christian. Faith has so much more purpose and meaning when it becomes more than just a set of truths that we believe—when it becomes so embedded in who we are that faith becomes a way that we live. Nehemiah’s story demonstrates this kind of faith.

Nehemiah is a person of dedicated prayer

Nehemiah pursues faithful obedience in matters of justice and mercy because it allows his life of faith to echo God’s heart of justice and mercy

Over the past weeks we have examined some of the ways Nehemiah nurtures this active faith. When reading through the entire book of Nehemiah it becomes very clear that Nehemiah is a person of dedicated prayer. Connection to God through prayer is a key to Nehemiah’s life of faith. We have also seen the way in which Nehemiah seeks faithful obedience in his life of faith. The example we saw in chapter 5 is the way in which Nehemiah ensures justice for the poor who are being exploited by the wealthy. Nehemiah does not do this so that he can prove his worthiness to God. Rather, Nehemiah pursues faithful obedience in matters of justice and mercy because it allows his life of faith to echo God’s heart of justice and mercy.

Nehemiah prioritizes the centrality of God’s Word

Today we consider one more feature evident in Nehemiah’s life of faith put into action. It is the way in which Nehemiah prioritizes the centrality of God’s Word in everything he does. Scripture is embedded into everything Nehemiah pursues. Let’s take just a snapshot of two examples of this from the story of Nehemiah to understand what this life of faith embedded in scripture looks like.

Nehemiah 8:5–12 (NIV)

Nehemiah 8:5–12 NIV

5 Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. 6 Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. 7 The Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah—instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. 8 They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read. 9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. 10 Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” 11 The Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for this is a holy day. Do not grieve.” 12 Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.

Nehemiah 9:1–3 (NIV)

Nehemiah 9:1–3 NIV

1 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads. 2 Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors. 3 They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God.

Can you imagine doing church services like this? The people all stood up the whole time that the Word of God was being read. And it is not just a quick passage of ten to fifteen verses like we tend to do in church sermons. They spent half a day standing and doing this—listening to the Word of God and responding in prayer and worship. I’m not sure how many of you would stick around if I said we are all going to stand and stay standing while I just read the Bible out loud for hours and hours on end.

On the other hand, there are many of us in this church who sampled just a small taste of this over the past month. Many of us took hold of the opportunity we made available to gather in small group three different times and read through sections of Nehemiah out loud together. I can say that Laura and I have been enriched by those times in the last month when we got to sit around a table with a small group of you and take turns around the table reading Nehemiah out loud together. I will admit, we used an audio Bible app to read out the verses for us that were just lists of names. Those of you put the effort into reading all those names out loud in a group, you all get bonus points. We just did this three times and our meetings lasted just a little over one hour. That means in the last month I spent about three hours reading scripture out loud together in a group with other people. Nehemiah did twice that much with the people in just one day.

lists of names helps to increase accountability

I’m not sure what kind of discussions took place in all the other Nehemiah reading groups. The group I was in talked a bit about why all these lists of names appear in Nehemiah. Perhaps Nehemiah is just trying to take an accurate historical record. But our group wondered if one of the outcomes might also be accountability. Once my name is signed into the record and appears on the list, I am sort of making myself accountable to the rest of the group. It becomes something of a binding contract.

accountability with others in a group makes reading scripture noticeably more consistent

When it comes to embedding the Word of God as central priority in our lives of faith, we all might have different ways of doing that. The discussion about that in my reading group had a moment in which we had to admit we all have our ups and downs in dedication to spiritual growth in our lives through God’s Word. Moments in which we tie our spiritual growth in accountability with others in a group are noticeably more consistent. There are fewer of the ups and downs within the accountability of a group setting than there are when I am exclusively trying to engage scripture just on my own.

many know the increased impact of God’s Word in your own life of faith when we make room in our lives to open scripture together in a group

I know some of you here today understand that well. There are some of you here who have made room in your life to sit with the Word of God in a group every single week. Whether that is being part of the Sunday Bible study group that meets right here at church on Sunday mornings, or if you attend a weekly BSF group, or you are one of those students who gets up early on Wednesdays to be at the Van Ryn’s house for morning Bible study before school; many of you know the increased impact of God’s Word in your own life of faith when we make room in our lives to open scripture together in a group.

Let’s consider three features of how that embedding of scripture shows up in Nehemiah. The features I want to highlight come as the reactions, or outcomes, of spending time together in God’s Word. The first feature we see is in chapter 8. It is the priest Ezra who opens the law of Moses and reads it for the people along with the group of Levites mentioned in 7. But pay attention to the way Nehemiah describes this reading in verse 8.

Nehemiah 8:8 (NIV)

Nehemiah 8:8 NIV

8 They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.

vs 8 — interpreting what scripture says so that the meaning can be understood

They did not just read the words of scripture. They also spent time interpreting what those words say so that the meaning can be understood. It is one of the reasons why every worship service on a Sunday includes this thing we call the sermon. We not only read a part of scripture; we spend time together diving into the meaning of these words as it applies to our own lives of faith. This is something we do together—sort of. I don’t want to discount the value of hearing the gospel preached every week; being reminded every week of our identity in Christ is important and worthwhile. At the same time, the Sunday sermon is a bit one-sided. I am talking and all of you are listening (or at least I hope you are listening). Active participation in the reading and understanding of God’s word in a smaller group is different. In that setting, you are not just listening and receiving, there is active participation and response.

“Some people are concerned about the lack of biblical literacy in our churches. I share this concern. But I’m more concerned with the inability of Christians to read the Bible through the lens of Jesus' story. One can be biblically literate and tragically not aligned with Jesus.”

I was struck by something I read by Rich Villodas this week. (Rich is a pastor and author of the book The Deeply Formed Life.) he writes:

“Some people are concerned about the lack of biblical literacy in our churches. I share this concern. But I’m more concerned with the inability of Christians to read the Bible through the lens of Jesus' story. One can be biblically literate and tragically not aligned with Jesus.”

Nehemiah did not just want the people to hear the Word of God; he wanted to make sure the people understood its meaning—to be aligned with God’s heart.

What is the next response here in chapter 8? We see it in verse 10.

Nehemiah 8:10 (NIV)

Nehemiah 8:10 NIV

10 Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

vs 10 — responding in joy and celebration TOGETHER

Gather together around a table and celebrate together; be joyful! If you were here for worship back on January 31, I preached a sermon based on Ecclesiastes 3 in which I set forth a few suggested New Year’s resolutions for us as a church. One of those resolutions was a suggestion that we should gather around tables more often to eat together. One of the things Nehemiah tells the people after they hear the Word of God is to respond in thanksgiving with gratitude and celebration. Table fellowship gives expression to this response of gratitude and joy.

Nehemiah gives a tangible real-life action: make room around your meal table

The past several weeks after the service time on Sundays our Church Renewal Lab team has presented some ideas of what we see God placing in front of us as a vision for Fellowship Church. We have been using the idea of “making room” as an expression of that vision. We are talking about being people who make room to listen and respond to the Holy Spirit. And we are talking about being people who make room for others. Nehemiah gives us a tangible real-life action that shows us what this looks like. Make room around your meal table. It really is just that simple. Respond to hearing the Word of God by making room at the table for fellowship together around a meal.

ch 9 — responding in confession | honesty before God

The third feature we see in response to the Word of God comes in chapter 9. It is confession. The Word of God calls for a response of confession. Maybe we need to rethink a little bit what the practice of confession looks like as a response to the Words of God. I suppose there might be many who hear a word like confession and think it is admitting a list of sins which we have committed. Confession means there are no more skeletons hiding in the closet. That’s not wrong, but I think Nehemiah shows us something deeper than that when the Word of God is connected to a response of confession.

(1) what is the problem being expressed? (2) how does God show up?

When I teach people who are new the Bible the first basics about how to read and interpret scripture, I start with two basic questions. Whenever we read the Bible, we can always ask of the passage (1) what is the problem being expressed in the Bible? (2) How does God show up? Just about every story, passage, poem, and letter in the Bible expresses some kind of problem going on—which is something that always seems to be related to our sin and our brokenness. Author and theologian Paul Wilson says it like this: how does the passage of scripture express trouble in the world? And Wilson goes on to ask: how does that same passage of scripture point towards grace in the world? The trouble comes from the sin and brokenness of humankind. The grace comes in the ways in which God shows up and actively does something about our sin.

sin, brokenness, and trouble in the world serves as a mirror in which I can see my own sinful, broken, and troubled heart

In confession we come before God in absolute brutal honesty

When scripture actively points towards the sin, brokenness, and trouble in the world, that serves as a mirror in which I can see my own sinful, broken, and troubled heart. It is very evident here in Nehemiah that the reading of God’s law provoked Nehemiah and all the people to recognize just how broken and fallen they are. Scripture leaves us in a place of having no choice except to acknowledge to God just how stuck we are in our own broken sinful nature. In this sense, confession is more than placing before God a list of sins and failures. Confession is admitting to God the condition we are in because of our sin. At its most basic form, confession is an exercise of brutal honesty. Confession means I cannot make any excuses, I cannot cover it up, I cannot play the victim-card and blame someone else. I cannot lie or bend the truth. In confession you and I come before God in absolute brutal honesty.

confession before God is for our benefit

And here’s the thing about confession; it does not reveal to God any new information that somehow God did not already know. It is not like courtroom confession in which the judge and jury finally arrive at learning the truth. God already knows the truth. Rather, confession before God is for our benefit. Sometimes we just need to be honest with ourselves and admit to ourselves the brutally honest truth we find revealed in scripture about our own broken sinfulness.

However, scripture also points towards the way in which God keeps his covenant faithfulness towards his people. God does not choose to let us stay hopelessly lost and stuck in our sin and failure. God shows up and does something about our broken world. Jesus comes into the world and lives the perfectly righteous life that we never could. Jesus takes the guilt and punishment for all our sin upon himself and endures the full torment of hell upon the cross which results from our sin. And in taking the guilt of our sin upon himself, Jesus exchanges our guilt with his perfect righteousness. We now live as people who are covered with the perfect righteousness of Christ.

scripture reminds us of what we would be without Christ; and it reminds us of who we are now in Christ

Scripture reminds us of that. It reminds us of what we would be without Christ. And it reminds us of who we are now in Christ.

make room in your life to listen and respond to the Holy Spirit as God reveals himself to us through his Word given to us in scripture make a plan for the Word of God to be embedded in your life

Nehemiah’s life of faith demonstrates for us the way in which scripture kept his faith anchored in God’s redeeming covenant of grace. It is the same redeeming covenant of grace which God offers to each one of us through faith in Jesus. Would you like to grow and experience the life of faith more deeply? Would you like a life that more fully bears and produces spiritual fruit? Make room in your life to listen and respond to the Holy Spirit as God reveals himself to us through his Word given to us in scripture. Make a plan for the Word of God to be embedded in your life.