Trusting God's Word and Worshiping Him

On the second day the heads of fathers’ houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the Law.

the route that we travel to certain places

With regard to worship we find this record.

how we do things - Monday was wash day

Nehemiah 9:3 ESV

And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God.

Ne 9:

school - most tests on Friday

In recent years there has been much discussion as to which is more important, worship or the Word.

Those of us who have considered that question, have very quickly concluded that they are of equal value and inseparable. Asking which is more or most important presents a dilemma that is impossible to resolve. It might be compared with questions like these.

Which leg is most important - the right or left?

Which wheel on a bicycle is most important - front or back?

In a car, which is most important - the motor or the transmission?

In an extended family, which generation are the most important?

In a congregation, who are most important those who sit on this side or that side, the front or the back?

Each of these questions are as impossible to answer as the question, which is most important, the Word or worship. The Word and worship are equally important and inseparably connected to our relationship to our Lord and each other.

If we see His Word as the way that God explained that we should we will see Him, as we see our heavenly more and more clearly, the result will be that we want to worship Him more and more. During the course of our worship, we will again be drawn to the Word so that we might know our Lord, His person, His character and attributes more accurately. We will also see our sin for what it is and confess it before our Lord who alone is holy but has provided a way to Himself through Christ.

Through the Word and worship or worship and the Word, we are pulled along by this heart moving continuum. The more that we worship, the more time that we want immerse ourselves in the Word and the more we are immersed in the Word the more that we long to worship.

During the course of our worship, we will again be drawn to the Word so that we might know our Lord, His person, His character and attributes more accurately

We left on at . In we read of an extended time of reading and coming to understand the Book of the Law of Moses. At the request of the people, who gathered as one man at the Water Gate, Ezra read the Book of the Law for 6 hours - from morning until midday. With the reading of the law , the people worshiped and came to understand the Word as it was explained to them.

What the people learned from the Word was both encouraging and discouraging. As they rejoiced in God’s love, power and care for them, they could not help but mourn and weep because of the many ways that they had sinned and rejected God.

While we are not told all that they read and were taught, it is obvious that they also learned that God while God is holy and just, He is also ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. While they repeatedly turned their back on Him and put Him and His Word behind them, He did not forsake them.

Nehemiah 9:17 ESV

They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.

That was repeated and emphasized 5 times throughout chapter 9.

For now, we join a segment of those who had gathered at the Water Gate.

This time it is the heads of the fathers’ houses of all the people.

This is the next after the events of 8:1, which happened on the first day of the seventh month (September/October).

The next day - the second day of the seventh month the fathers’ families came together for a Bible Study with Ezra.

While we are not given an overview of the Scriptures that they studied, the portions studied obviously included “God’s command by Moses” that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month.

AND

That they should proclaim it and publish it in all of their towns and in Jerusalem.

Whether the Bible Study began in Exodus, Leviticus Numbers or Deuteronomy, in each book they would read God’s commands with regard to the feasts that they were to celebrate every year.

God’s word gives us many reasons to celebrate, as long as the focus stays on the Lord and those whom He has graciously given to us.

- briefest summary. It was essential that every years, every generation, remember God’s deliverance.

- offerings to be presented each day of the feast

- an expanded explanation of the feasts in the context of all of the times that they were to present offerings to the Lord - probably background as why has so much emphasis on offerings and not neglecting the House of our God - 10:39

- brief but comprehensive including instruction re offerings.

Deut 16:13-1

Deuteronomy 16:13–17 ESV

“You shall keep the Feast of Booths seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress. You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns. For seven days you shall keep the feast to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord will choose, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful. “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.

We do not know when they would have studied this portion in Deuteronomy, but by the end of the Feast of Tabernacles we can be fairly sure that they did. Every one of the seven days of the Feast of Booths.

Nehemiah 8:18 ESV

And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.

Before we move on from we would do well to note that,

Those whom God was renewing:

THEY TRUSTED GOD’S WORD

1. TRUSTED GOD’S WORD

They trusted God’s Word enough to:

Study it - 8:13, 18

Teach it to others - the heads of the fathers’ houses left the Ezra Bible study and taught others - 8:13

Obey and practice - 8:16 -18

Rejoice - 8:17

While a first reading might suggest that the Feast of Tabernacle had not been observed since the time of Joshua, it had been observed but not with so great rejoicing.

2 Chron

2 Chronicles 7:8–18 ESV

At that time Solomon held the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt. And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for they had kept the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days. On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the prosperity that the Lord had granted to David and to Solomon and to Israel his people. Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house he successfully accomplished. Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules, then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’

Ezra 3:4 ESV

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,

When we obey and serve the Lord, we should do so with a joyous heart.

For ALL of the people to obey and celebrate.

all of the families - 8:13

all of the assembly - 8:17

To proclaim and publish our celebration - 8:15

When we spend time in God’s Word celebrating and learning, the line between sacred and secular becomes very blurred.

GOD DOES NOT ONLY WORK IN THE HEARTS OF HIS PEOPLE ON SUNDAY.

Those whom God was renewing:

2. Worshiped God - 9:1-37

With the time that we have left this morning, with open before us, we will slip quietly in the edge of those who gathered on the 24th day of the seventh month. Time in the Word and worship should be limited to the special days.

They read the book of the law a 1/4 of a day - 3 hours and 1/4 of the day - 3 hours - they made confession and worshiped the LORD - their God.

TIME IN THE WORD AND WORSHIP SHOULD NOT BE RUSHED.

After the Word was read for three hours, on the stairs of the Levites - 8 men cried in a loud voice the LORD their God - 9:3, 4

Then 8 Levites stood up and recited a prayer prepared beforehand - probably by Ezra.

Before the prayer, the people, I would imagine all of the people were asked to “Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

Before reading this we should be encouraged by the fact that:

While what they read for three hours would have been the sins of previous generations of their fathers, by this generation’s confession, they acknowledged they were not better than their fathers.

There is a repeated emphasis on their God being the LORD - YOU are the Lord- not He in a third person.

You took the initiate in creation - 9:6; choosing Abram, naming him Abraham.

You heard our cry in Egypt - 9:9

You rescued and lead us - 9:11-12

You came down and revealed yourself to us - 9:12 -13

You provided for us - 9:15

You cared for us even when we did not obey - 9:16-21

You were merciful and did not forsake us - 9:17, 19

You gave us a land - 9:22-25

When we rebelled, disobeyed and cast your LAW behind us, you gave us into the hands of our enemies BUT many times you delivered us according to you mercies - 9:27, 28, 31.

BECAUSE OF YOUR GREAT MERCY, YOU DID NOT MAKE AN END OF US OR FORSAKE US

Now God, even though we are slaves and deserve what we are facing, would You please forgive us and renew us.

Reading the prayer:

9:6-8 - Creation and Abraham

9:9-15 - Deliverance from Egypt and Speaking on Mount Sinai

9:16-21 - Disobedience in Sinai but God’s mercy and care

9:22-25 - Giving of the Promised Land and its riches

9:26-31 - Disobedience in the Promised but God’s mercy and care

9:32-35 - As You have been merciful to us before, would you please be merciful to us again.

What would the Word of God remind us of today?

The need for a renewed trust in God’s Word - private and corporate.

Time - private and corporate

Study - private and corporate

personal and small group - Small groups, Bible Classes

Teach others

Allocation of time

Obedience - What have God taught ME that I need to do?

2. The renewed need of worship

Reflection on God’s care, mercy and grace

Confession

Covenant - name, time and date

Time for reflection, prayer and singing

Time to listen and time to speak

3. Reflect and review the ongoing interconnection of trusting God’s Word and Worshiping Him.