Committed Obedience | Nehemiah 10

Again, just a huge thank you to Shawn & Shelley for coming up and leading music today. Church can you just put your hands together and show them your appreciation?

And kids, I’m super proud of you for standing up here and doing what you just did. I know it can feel scary, but y’all did great and you encouraged our hearts. You convicted mine because your dedication to knowing the Word and the truths of it are something that we as adults wish we were as good as you…which that actually leads me to where we’re going today.

If you have your Bible’s, and I hope you do, grab them and head on over to the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah 10 is where we’ll be today.

I started off this year with the goal to lose some weight. We have a Peloton membership, a peloton bike, some weights, all the stuff to do it. I even have looked into multiple types of diets and how they’d be beneficial and what might could be a fit for us as a family. But ya know what…I haven’t really lost any weight. In fact, I think I weigh the same now as I did back on January 1—which isn’t a total loss, right?

Now I have all those things, but do you know what’s missing? I haven’t used them. I haven’t committed to the actual steps it’ll take for weight loss to happen, and not only that, I don’t really want to. Truth be told, I don’t love working out. Love sports! Love playing games! But hate working out.

Now let me ask you—would you say my goal or desire or confession that I want to lose weight is authentic if I don’t actually take the steps to lose weight? No! And even if I did take them, but hated every minute of them while they might accomplish their purpose, but what does it say about my heart? You see, at some point we have to ask whether our desires are real if they never move us into action, or if there’s something deeper going on in our hearts.

Over the past several weeks through this book we’ve seen the people of Israel rediscover the Word of God. It’s flipped their lives upside down. As the Word was read they were cut to the core. They repented of their actions, they observed the festivals that were commanded, last week we saw their confession of their sin, and now, what we’re going to see in Nehemiah 10 is that the people’s confession began to live itself out by their sincere obedience to His Word.

They so desperately long to live in relationship with YHWH, they long for His presence that now on the backside of their confession they make a covenant to completely commit themselves to obedience. And that’s what this text is going to call us to do to: Commit ourselves to obedience.

Main Point: Commit yourself to obedience.

But here’s the good news—what the Israelites longed for we can now have. What Jesus did on the cross initiated a better covenant, one sealed by his blood and through repentance and faith we are granted His Spirit to walk in His joy. By the power of the Spirit because of the relationship he initiated we can commit ourselves to obedience. We can walk out of this place different than the way we walked in built on a relationship and not on performance.

So with that in mind, let’s jump into Neh. 10.

I’m going to approach reading our text a little differently this morning. It really falls into two halves—the first is about the covenant, and the second is the terms of the covenant. So let’s read the first part, pray, and then seek to understand it. I’m actually going to back up one verse into and as much fun as I’m sure you’d have listening to me trying to pronounce the names in the first 27 verses of chapter 10, I’m going to skip over them and pick up in verse 28. So starting with Neh. 9:38

Nehemiah 9:38 ESV

“Because of all this we make a firm covenant in writing; on the sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.

Now jumping down to Neh. 10:28-29

Nehemiah 10:28–29 ESV

“The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding, join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes.

This is God’s Word for God’s people. And we respond: Thanks be to God. Let’s pray.

Two points this morning. The first comes from the part we just read:

Commit yourself to obedience because you have a relationship.

Look back at how chapter 9 ends…”Because of these things.” Because they heard & understood God’s Word, because they have now confessed for 1/4 of the day, because they had testified to God’s incredible faithfulness in the midst of their unfaithfulness—the only reasonable response is to “make a firm covenant” or more literally, cut a covenant. But what’s a covenant?

In our day we’re more familiar with contracts than we are covenant, but there are 2 different covenants that come to my mind that we are somewhat familiar with—a church membership covenant and a marriage covenant.

Now some marriage covenants are functionally more like a contract than what the Scriptures call them to be. In a marriage that functions that way, or a church membership too, people look at one another and say, as long as you do a, b, and c for me then we’re good. But the minute you stop doing them I’m out. When marriages function that way and one party offends the other, typically one person will grovel and try to work their way back into good graces by “paying off the debt.”

A covenantal marriage however says, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part. It is a full committal of a full person to one another regardless the circumstances. It’s built on love & self-sacrifice, not on an exchange of goods or personal pleasure.

So then, violation of a covenant is drastically different than that of a contract. Violation of a covenant cuts deeply because you have betrayed trust & you’ve belittled the other party.

But that’s what the Israelites are entering into here. This isn’t a religious contract. It’s a commitment of themselves to God saying, “YHWH we want all of you. We want your presence more than anything and we’re covenanting ourselves to you.” They bind themselves to God with a curse and oath to walk in God’s law.

But here’s what I find interesting and am not sure I’ve fully wrapped my mind around it all yet. If you were to scroll back up or flip back over to Neh. 9:8 you’d see that it was God who made a covenant with Abraham. When he did, he alone passed through the pieces—taking responsibility for both sides. Which means even when His people failed, He had already committed himself to make it right.

SO now by conviction from the Spirit through the Word, the people realize while God has been faithful, they have not. They think the only way forward is to double down on their commitment.

But here’s the beauty of the gospel: what they longed to maintain by their actions we can receive by God’s grace.

They believed their obedience would secure and sustain what only God’s grace could give. And spoiler alert: We don’t make it out of this book before we see how miserably they fail at it.

But look at the glory of Jesus—he came as the true covenant keeper. The laws they failed to keep Jesus kept perfectly. The commitment they promised to make Jesus lived out. But he was the one cut off on the cross bearing the curse so that we didn’t have to.

Through his blood, he made a new covenant. One that wasn’t based on the work of people, but based on him. So now, through faith in Jesus we can receive a relationship with the Lord our Lord.

So I have to ask: how many people in this room are basing their relationship with God on what they do; or have done? How many of you are actually believing that if you keep some sort of commitment, or that if you do some sort of work—good work, like be baptized or join the church or go to Bible Study—that based on that God will love you and live with you?

Nehemiah 9-10 show us that it isn’t our faithfulness that keeps—it’s His. And The cross tells us that we don’t enter into this relationship by our commitment or our works. In Christ God came to us and established a new covenant relationship with us through His Son. The people of Israel were trying to maintain, or maybe even enter into, a covenant relationship with God on their works. What are you basing yours on?

You see, when our relationship with God is based on what Jesus did instead of what we do, it changes everything. Now we’re free to live committed to a relationship with Him because we’re not earning it. He’s given it.

When I was dating, there was an undergirding fear that I might do, say, or look the wrong way and the relationship would be over. But now that I’m married, the relationship is secure. That security doesn’t make me careless—it make me free to actually love.

Faith in Jesus secures our relationship with God. And like a marriage covenant affects every aspect of our life, so much more does a covenantal relationship with the living God.

What we see in the rest of this is that their commitment to obedience isn’t abstract—it shows up in their relationships, their work, and their worship.

Pick back up with me in verse 30.

Nehemiah 10:30–39 ESV

We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. And if the peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day. And we will forgo the crops of the seventh year and the exaction of every debt. “We also take on ourselves the obligation to give yearly a third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: for the showbread, the regular grain offering, the regular burnt offering, the Sabbaths, the new moons, the appointed feasts, the holy things, and the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God. We, the priests, the Levites, and the people, have likewise cast lots for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to our fathers’ houses, at times appointed, year by year, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the Law. We obligate ourselves to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the Lord; also to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God, the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, as it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks; and to bring the first of our dough, and our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the wine and the oil, to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and to bring to the Levites the tithes from our ground, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all our towns where we labor. And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive the tithes. And the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse. For the people of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of grain, wine, and oil to the chambers, where the vessels of the sanctuary are, as well as the priests who minister, and the gatekeepers and the singers. We will not neglect the house of our God.”

The second thing Neh. 10 calls us to do is to:

Commit yourself to obedience in every area of life.

A couple months ago we had a Family Gathering and I showed you something that I picked up from a book I listened to by Paul Tripp. He didn’t reference Neh. 10 in the book when he described this, but Neh. 10 speaks directly to it. Tripp pointed out that God has given us 3 primary areas of life: our relationships, our work, and our worship. Baiden could you put that slide on the screen.

The people of Israel structure the terms of their covenant with God around the second most important covenant that they have: their marriages. They commit to not marrying any foreigners or give any of their daughters in marriage to foreigners.

This isn’t about some sort of ethnic superiority or pursuit of ethnic purity. This was about religious purity. To marry an unbeliever in ancient Israel’s day was to allow pagan gods to become a part of the household. That would open the door for paganism to take hold in the family and as goes the family unit, so goes the nation. Foreigners were invited to participate in worship of the Lord, but only after they had put away their pagan idols.

This is why Paul said in 2 Cor. 6:14 to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Today when a believer marries an unbeliever it becomes incredibly difficult for them to pursue Jesus together. And when parents treat the church as optional, it becomes unnecessary for their children.

But Paul doesn’t stop there…in Eph. 5 he shows us that holy marriages aren’t just about propagating faith. They’re actually a declaration of something much greater. The mystery of marriage points towards Christ and His church.

Obedience in marriage looks like wives submitting, and husbands giving themselves up for their wives. The humility, the self-sacrifice & self-denial, the love, the forbearance , the commitment all point towards Jesus. That’s exactly what He has done for us.

He humbled himself to become a man. A man who was so obedient to His Father that He died on the cross. He sacrificed himself and in doing so purchased us life.

When we humble ourselves and give ourselves up like that in marriage what we show the watching world is real life images of what Jesus did for you and me.

And while marriage is where the Israelites committed to obedience in, I think the same thing could be said for all of our relationships. Purity in the way we talk. Humility in the way we relate to one another. Self-sacrifice in the way we love. Imagine if as parents or as children we treated each other that way. Students, seniors, what if your relationships with your friends looked like that? The halls of our schools would be transformed. The morale of the city would change.

Knowing and being known by Jesus frees us to live in obedience so that our relationships aren’t just healthy, but actually display the goodness of the glory of God. And living like that gives us a tangible picture of what it’s like to have a relationship with God.

If obedience shapes our relationships, it also reshapes how we work. In verse 31 the people agree to not buy any grain or good on the Sabbath day AND to observe the year of Jubilee. Ok a lot going on here, but what the people were saying was that they were going to commit their work lives to obedience to God. They were going to observe a Sabbath. But what’s a Sabbath?

The Sabbath does a number of things. You could go back to Genesis 1 and see God rested from His work…not because he was tired, but to delight in what was good. So a Sabbath then was a time of refreshment but also one of worship.

As time goes on, however, Tim Keller points out, “God portrays the Sabbath day as a reenactment of emancipation from slavery. It reminds us how he delivered his people from a condition in which they were not human beings, but simply units of capacity in Pharaoh’s brick production system.”

In the surrounding pagan world you worked 7 days a week. You were a “unit of capacity in Pharaoh’s brick production system.” They’d bring their goods and food to town to sell on a Sabbath day, so for the Israelites to stop their purchasing of food on the day they came to town was to risk food for the week and economic collapse. Their obedience wasn’t theoretical—it put their livelihood at risk.

But as a sign of their trust in God, they committed to obeying his command to observe the Sabbath. And while that’s radical, they didn’t stop there—they observed the year of jubilee. That’s when they would give the land a break and cancel debts owed by others. However it was practiced, the point is clear—it took deep faith and trust in the Lord’s provision.

But does that mean that we should observe the Sabbath or the year of Jubilee? Thankfully the Scriptures answer that. Look with me to Col. 2:16-17

Colossians 2:16–17 ESV

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

The year of Jubilee and the Sabbath are just sign pointers. Rest, worship, the cancelling of debts, provision, is all delivered in Jesus. That’s why Jesus would say:

Matthew 11:28–30 ESV

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Rest is found in Jesus & with Jesus. He carried our biggest burden on the cross and in doing so made a way for us to find rest in our relationships and rest in our work. So rest is now yours to be had because of trust in Jesus.

You can rest because your provision ultimately comes from Him—not your constant effort.

You can rest because as Psalms 3 says, you went to sleep last night and then you woke up this morning. You didn’t keep your heart beating. You didn’t keep those neurons firing. God did. When you were completely unable, he was able.

And here’s the other thing…for both the Israelites and for us—when we do take a day off, do you know what everyone else sees? Satan would have you think they see you as lazy or not getting it done, but the reality is that our rest shows others we’re dependent on someone greater than ourselves.

So because of Jesus, we don’t have to take a Sabbath. We get to take a Sabbath. We get to pause and remind ourselves where our true rest is found. We can humble ourselves under His mighty hand by taking a day off. we can cast all our anxieties on him that might build during that time knowing that He cares for you.

I love this quote from Scott Hubbard: “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9). The ultimate Sabbath rest is coming, when God’s people will enjoy work without toil, hearts without sin, and an earth without thorns.”

“And how do we enter that rest? Not mainly by putting aside our weekly labors for one day in seven, but by believing: “We who have believed enter that rest.” Faith in Jesus Christ brings the rest of the seventh day into every day.” And when that truth sinks in, rest stops being a break from life—and becomes an act of worship. Which is the third area of life that the Israelites commit to obedience in.

The largest portion of this passage is dedicated to how the Israelites are going to seek to obey God’s instructions for worship which makes sense because how they relate to YHWH, the one who has remained faithful this entire time, would deserve the most attention. The people commit to obedience in caring for and keeping the house of God.

What does it take to care for and keep a house? Any house really…it takes money and people. If you leave a house empty and unattended what’s going to happen? It’s going to fall apart! So they commit to giving.

Now they’ve just abandoned a day of work & trade, so they’re seemingly bringing economic hardship on themselves there. And now they’re giving up a portion of their wages AND the firstfruits of their labor, their animals, and their children. It took deep trust for them to commit even more of their financial well-being to the Lord in obedience.

Look, we’re still 3 weeks away from planting watermelons. But for me and my guys when August hits we all are walking the fields to go find the first ripe one. We can’t wait to cut it open because we get this sense of success, accomplishment, pride, and we get to eat something really delicious. To give that first piece of fruit away specifically to the Lord is to take all of those feelings and say, Lord it’s from you, for you, and to you. The same can be said of anything we give the Lord.

But here’s the thing about their giving…it actually in turn served them & others. Because they gave sacrifices were able to be made. Priests were able to work and live. The temple itself would be maintained.

And while the paradigm they give for giving is instructive for us, Jesus takes our giving and magnifies it to a whole new level. Jesus came and he gave. He paid the temple tax, but he did more than that—he gave himself. As Col. 2:14 says,

Colossians 2:14 ESV

by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

He gave to pay our debts. In doing so, now our ability to worship isn’t limited to a temple in Jerusalem, but can occur right here where you live & breathe. The Israelites gave to maintain, but Jesus gave to create something new. He gave completely & generously. The Father gave His first & His best. And that transforms our giving.

A tithe literally means a tenth and that’s a great starting point, but it’s not a requirement. Our giving should reflect the giver & serves as an act of worship. What Jesus does is he sets us free from paying the temple tax and in turns reframes our giving. So instead of asking if you gave 10% this month or this year, our question should be: What does my giving say about the one who gave everything or me? Am I giving cheerfully, joyfully, trusting and knowing that He will provide because he already has?

Their commitment to obedience affected their giving & it affected their serving. The Levites, the priests and ministers in the temple systematically setup times & season to serve. They weren’t there all the time, but each had an allotted time in which they carried out their duties.

But now on this side of the cross, do you know who the priests are? It’s those who are in Christ! 1 Pet. 2:9

1 Peter 2:9 ESV

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Or you could look to 2 Cor. 5:17-18 in which Paul calls us ministers of reconciliation! If you are in Christ he has made you a minister on his behalf, an ambassador for him. It’s not me. It’s not just me. It’s us. We are the ones who now carry out the work of reconciliation—serving others so that they might come into a relationship with the God they were created to know and serve.

The people of Israel committed to obedience in their worship. They did not want to neglect the house of God because they longed for His presence to remain. They covenanted to give and to serve Him, and that in turn would affect their work & their relationships.

I want to go back to the Tripp diagram one more time.