The Rebuilding Part 2

Intro

We can ask the question: Where do we go from here? What do we do?

Main Idea: Rebuilding takes more than manual labor

In Ezra 3, they are going to begin rebuilding the temple, but some things have to happen first.

Ezra 3:1-13

Truth #1: Rebuilding begins with sacrifice (1-3)

Exp. It’s hard to explain the significance of verse 1. They were divided. Finally reunited. All tribes meet together in Jerusalem. Looking at devastation. Reminds me of relationships that have started in light of this. Here’s what they did: Verse 2. Symbolic of post Egypt. Gathered around the Word of God to begin making offerings. Verse 3. “In its place” means exactly where it should be. They were driven by fear. Other nations were pressing in. Their fear drove them to offer sacrifices to God. They knew where to run to.

Ill. Reminds me of sports bloopers. Basketball: scoring on the wrong goal. Israel knew where they needed to go and what they needed to do. Offer sacrifices to God.

Arg. God is our strength in times of trouble. We should run to him in pain. We should look to him when we are lost. We should turn back to him when we sin. We should draw near when we are afraid. In order to do this, we must sacrifice.

App. We should sacrifice.

Lay our idols on the altar of God. Following Christ requires sacrifice. We have allowed culture to seep in and create a new version.

Politics. The lie: You can spend all your time worrying about the presidential candidate and still be completely grounded in God’s sovereignty.

Personal preference. The lie: You can be completely disconnected from the local church and still maintain a relationship with Christ.

Christ - How are we able to do this? Jesus is the ultimate offering whose death was a pleasing aroma to God. He was sacrificed. He laid down his life to be obedient to the father and for the salvation of others. We are able to sacrifice our idols because he was sacrificed for us.

Truth #2: Rebuilding requires consistency (4-7)

Exp. He continues with what they did next. Verse 4. Offerings and now Feast of Booths. As it is written. Verse 5. They began their regular rhythms again. Verse 6. The foundation had not been laid yet. They knew they needed to get into the rhythm before the temple was built. The Temple would not create their rhythms. They have to do that.

Ill. Dead period in football. Needed to keep the rhythm or you would be behind. The Israelites don’t need the temple to create the healthy rhythms in their lives.

Arg. The Feast of Booths was a festival celebrating God’s provisions in the wilderness. They would live in tents for a week as a reminder of God’s faithfulness. The goal was for them to experience the provisions of God in their time. They needed reminding that God would provide for them now as he did back then.

App. We should allow the stories of God’s provision fill our own stories.

Imagination - Place yourself in the narrative.

Imitation - Do as they did.

Application - Allow the peace of God fill your situation.

Christ - The Feast of Booths represents God sustaining Israel, we are sustained by Christ as we sojourn. Peter writes that we are sojourners and exiles longing for our home. Our only inheritance that sustains us is the blood of Christ.

Truth #3: Rebuilding leads to praise & reflection (8-13)

Exp. After the altar and rhythms were built, the temple foundation was next. Verse 8-10. Rhythms and offerings according to Law of Moses, singing according to David. Look at what they were singing. Verse 11. Literally singing Psalm 136. This psalm reminds the Israelites God’s steadfast love. Now that they’re singing, look at the response. Verses 12-13. There were shouts for joy and for sorrow. Why? They weren’t weeping because the new temple wouldn’t be like the first. They were weeping because their sin caused the destruction of the first temple. They were reflecting on their sin.

Ill. Having to miss out on going places because I disobeyed. Used to kill me as I sat there and thought about it. Imagine that multiplied by 70 years and the history of your people.

Arg. Their rebuilding was a time of joy but also reflection on their sin. The joy is that God has been faithful throughout the disobedience of his children. God promised he would bring them back, and here they are. The Temple marks Israel’s restoration with God.

Christ - God always dwelt in their midst. And for us that’s Jesus. Jesus made our bodies the temple. Something we rejoice and worship him for. However, if we reflect, we remember that it was our sin that put him on the cross.

App. Our sin and God’s Spirit cannot dwell in the same place. Our worship should be grounded in God’s goodness, but it shouldn’t lose sight of our sinfulness. In our eyes: God is not good if we don’t need him. He is good because we can’t rescue ourselves from sin.

Ephesians 2:1–7

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

What do we do?

Praise Him and his salvation. He could have left us, but he didn’t.

Reflect on why we need him. Don’t linger on your sin and fall into depression. We live in victory. We have to remember what we are victorious over.

Conclusion

Psalm 136 reading.