Nehemiah 05 - The Restoration Manual (Neh 8)

Nehemiah: Restoring A Nation:

“The Restoration Manual”

INTRODUCTION

Today, we are continuing our series on the book of Nehemiah, focusing on Nehemiah’s efforts to bring restoration among the remnant of God’s people in Jerusalem around 445BC. His work (and the work of others during this period) in restoring the nation physically and spiritually, serve as a good example for us in our own efforts of restoration.

WHAT IS RESTORATION?

Restoration is what we need to be aiming for as God’s people today. We have been defining this concept of restoration using the illustration of restoring an automobile.

The restoration that we desire as God’s people is like the process of restoring a car. The person restoring a car has the goal of getting the car back to it’s original condition — the condition it was in when it came off of the showroom floor.

This is what we are aiming for in our own lives — to be restored to what God first intended at the creation of mankind — that we would be individuals who submit to His rule as those who are made in His image. We are being transformed into the image of Christ so we can enjoy the relationship with Him that He made us to have. This is a daily process for all of us as we help others to be restored to God and grow in a relationship with Him and as we ourselves work in our hearts to accomplish the same.

We have not achieved this goal yet. There is still work to do for all of us in being restored to what God originally intended for us. It is a life-long process for us. And it is a life-long mission for God’s people to help others be restored to God.

REVIEW - LAST WEEK’S LESSONS

In our lessons last week, we focused on the events of . We looked at many of the ways Satan used the enemies of God’s people to try to discourage Nehemiah and the builders in their work of restoration. They used many tactics to try to discourage the workers, but they were unsuccessful. With the Lord’s help, they got the walls completed in record time — in 52 days.

But there was still a lot of work to be done. The goal wasn’t just to build the walls. There were other goals that Nehemiah had. He wanted to do more for God and His people. He wanted to see Jerusalem populated. People needed to live in the city and build homes in the city. This is the focus of chapter 7.

And Nehemiah also wanted to see the people rededicate themselves to the Lord - to get back to where they needed to be spiritually. This begins in chapter 8, which we will focus on in this lesson. In this chapter, we see that the people of God had a heart for restoration, not just in regards to the work they had just completed on the walls, but for their relationship with God spiritually. They wanted to know God, draw near to Him, and be the people the Lord designed them to be.

And to make this happen, they got into the word of God. To be the people of God, and to be those who are seeking restoration — to be renewed into His image, they needed to (and we need to) go to the word — the source of information God gives us regarding how to be more like what he originally intended us to be.

As we consider , there are three points I would like us to consider — three ways in which the remnant displayed a heart that desired restoration in how they approached the word of God.

First, let’s consider the remnants desire for the word of God.

What is amazing and encouraging as you begin reading chapter 8 is that the people took the initiative to call together this assembly for the purpose of getting into the law of God. They certainly reflect the attitudes of their leaders — men like Nehemiah and Ezra, but what is amazing is that they didn’t need Nehemiah and Ezra to say, “Come, let us get together to study the law.” They took the initiative and did this on their own.

All the people came together as one man in the early morning. They asked Ezra to come to them and to bring the law of God so it could be read before the assembly. They prepared for this occasion by building a platform that Ezra could stand on along with many levites who could listen to the reading and share with the people what it meant so the law could be understood by all in attendance.

But their hunger for the law did not end with just one day of study.

In verse 13, we are told: “13 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.” (, ESV)

Many got back into the law the next day to try to understand it. It would not be surprising at all if the first day brought forth questions that needed answered. So they got together to study and to seek the Lord’s guidance.

Is this the type of zeal we have for the word of God.

Do we have this type of excitement to get in God’s word.

APPLICATION

Do we ever begin reading a book of the Bible and get to the point where we cannot put it down? Then we wake up the next morning and want to get back into it because of how exciting it was to be in it? We can often be this way with other types of books, but not with the Bible.

Just keep in mind, that they were reading books like Deuteronomy and Leviticus! They were reading the law. Could you imagine being excited if I announced that I was going to begin a series preaching through the law of God in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, and that I was just going to read the passages and give the explanation of them? Would you be excited? Would you look forward to those lessons? Or would you dread them and be bored just by the idea of having to listen to them? Do you feel this way when you get to these books in your yearly reading of the Bible (if you do this?)?

Do we feel this way about reading or listening to the word in general? Does the thought of reading (or even listening to) the Bible seem boring to you? If so, this may show something about your heart. Even if you don’t like reading books, God’s word should be something that you treasure and enjoy meditating on. If someone you loved sent you an email or letter, wouldn’t you be excited about it and read it even if you don’t like reading? Shouldn’t it be the case, if we love God, that reading and listening to His word should excite us? Shouldn’t it lead to excitement and joy instead of boredom?

THE PEOPLE RESPECTED THE WORD

They understood how important the word was, but they also understood Who it was from. They showed respect for the word.

They first did this by being attentive to the word.

“And he read from it... in the presence of men and women, those who could understand; and all the people were attentive to the book of the law.” (, ESV). They carefully listened to it understanding that the word of God was being read and taught. Their attentiveness to the word is amazing because, they were not just listening to a short 30-45min expository sermon. They were attentive to the law from early morning until midday. They were attentive to God’s law for about 4-6 hours! This shows just how much they respected God’s law.

One last point that shows their respect for the word is in verses 5:

“5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood.” (, ESV)

Just the opening of the book led them to stand in reverence to the God whose word was just opened up. They stood and listened to the word of the God of all creation, and as His law was being read, you see a mix of emotions in verses 9-12. The fact that they could understand the word of God led them to joyful worship. There is celebration and giving of gifts. But there were was also mourning and weeping, probably because they were confronted with their sin and reminded of the reasons why God sent His people into captivity and allowed the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem. But what we see in this passage is that being able to hear and understand the word was a big deal to them! It emotionally affected them!

APPLICATION

Are we like the remnant in these things?

Do we respect the word of God? Are we attentive to it as it is read, taught, or preached? I don’t believe that we necessarily have to stand in order to show respect to the word, but we do need to consider our heart attitudes towards the word. The condition of our heart may be seen when the only time we do stand up during or before a lesson is to leave the building or to go use the bathroom. Or we may plan ahead to skip a Bible class or a worship period where the word is preached because other things are more important to us during those times. We may plan a vacation to start on the day we would normally be worshipping the Lord and hearing His word be taught.

Now, I am not saying that there is never a good reason to get up during or before a lesson or to miss a service, but what I am saying is that we need to consider why we consider the preaching and teaching of God’s word as not being as important as other things.

If we count that time as the time in which we don’t have to be as involved, or that it is not as important as the other parts of our time together, this may show a lack of respect towards His word. May it be the case that these things may show that we don’t respect the word of God as we may claim that we do?

Do we ever respond emotionally to the word because you are able to understand it and know the Lord? When was the last time that the time you have spent reading the word really convicted you? When was the last time you were reading or listening to God’s word that it brought joy to you? That it excited you? That it caused you to worship - to break out in praising God?

Now our third point:

THE PEOPLE WERE WILLING TO CHANGE.

They were willing to make the changes necessary to make spiritual restoration happen. If they saw something they were not doing that God wanted them to do, they did all that was in their power to be faithful to the word. They wanted to be what God desired them to be. As they were learning the law together, we read in verses 14-17 that they learned about the feast of Tabernacles that needed to be observed during the month they were currently in.

It seems that they had not done this for some time now. They saw what God originally intended for His people to do at this time. Verse 17 tells us that from the days of Joshua this feast had not been observed as it was here by the remnant in . They were excited about it and followed every detail. Moses’ law, which was written over 1000 years earlier was just as relevant in the lives of these Israelites. They built tabernacles/shelters for themselves on their houses and throughout Jerusalem to celebrate how the Lord cared for His people as they travelled in the wilderness.

They did this for all eight days as commanded by Moses. They lived in their temporary shelters made out of tree branches. They rejoiced in being able to do this, and during the whole week they read from the book of the law, and on the eight day they had a sacred assembly according to the law.

The law of God was their great restoration manual. It showed them what God desired them to be. It showed them how to honor God and to live as His chosen people and according to His image.

Their excitement for the law, their respect for it, and their willingness to change showed just how much they wanted to be what God desired them to be.

APPLICATION

This is how God’s people should be described today. This is how we need to be today. We need to be the people of the book — not just in knowing the word, but in desiring to obey the word, no matter how much it demands of us.

It gives us the standard that we need to be living by. It shows us what we need to believe and do to be pleasing to God. It shows us what it means to be like Jesus, and it shows us how we need to serve him together. It is our restoration guide.

We need to be devoted to learning and obeying the teachings of the Apostles. We need to read and meditate on the scriptures so we can learn how it applies in each area of our lives and so that we can make changes in our lives.

We will talk more about this idea in our next lesson, but If you don’t remember the last time that you heard or read the word and were convicted to either stop doing something that you were doing or to start doing something you were neglecting, and actually made a change because of what we read or studied, there is probably a problem.

There is always work to do in restoring our hearts and lives to be more like God’s image. There are always things we can be working on to grow in how we encourage and stir one another up when we are together. There are always things we can do to encourage each other to be more like Jesus.

CONCLUSION

God’s word is so important for our work of restoration. We should never be okay or content with how things currently are. We need to always be reevaluating what we believe, why we do things the way we do as individuals and when we are together. We always need to be comparing ourselves to the mirror of God’s word so we can be more like what we see within it’s pages.

And we need to treasure the word more than the way we have always done things — more than our traditional way of doing things — more than what our parents and grandparents always have done and have instructed us. God’s word is the standard that we always need to be comparing ourselves and our congregation to if we are going to be successful in restoration.

The heart that treasures the word, respects the word, is open to being convicted by it, and is willing to make changes is a heart that truly desires restoration.

BLACK SCREEN