Restoration
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Good morning,
Good morning,
This morning we are going to be looking at the idea of restoration and when I think about restoring things my first thoughts are always about houses. Have you ever driven by an old run down falling apart house and had the thought, “that was not what the builder that built that house intended for it to look like.”
From a spiritual perspective our lives can be compared to a house as well. Is your life well built or could you use some restoration? [Not external but internal]
To restore means to put back, or to put in order.
In the recovery world it is called taking a moral inventory.
Today we are going to be back in so lets begin with prayer and open the word of God.
I am going to read the whole text and then go back and break it down,
And the word of the Lord came to me: “Take from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go the same day to the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah. Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and set it on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. And say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. It is he who shall build the temple of the Lord and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.” ’ And the crown shall be in the temple of the Lord as a reminder to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen the son of Zephaniah.
“And those who are far off shall come and help to build the temple of the Lord. And you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. And this shall come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.”
Zechariah 6:9-15
At first glance this seems to be an odd example of restoration but my hope is that we can put some pieces together and have it all make sense in the end.
As we have seen over the past few weeks, the Israelites were released from captivity to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple that was destroyed.
Have you ever thought of captivity as a good thing?
Often times it is by being held captive by something or someone that we come to a place where we know that something is missing need to be restored.
Let me explain; the something could be when you are far from God and it seems that your whole world is out of control. It could be a drug or alcohol issue for some, but for many of us it could just be that we have lost our first love by getting our priorities mixed up.
The someone might be that you know that you need to seek forgiveness from someone but the thought of it just makes you freeze inside so you carry that burden and it eats you alive.
However, when we begin to deal with these issues, we find freedom and priorities and people are restored, and we begin to hear from the Lord again.
Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness...
Joshua is the high priest in charge of making sure the temple gets built, Pastor Steve taught us that last week from chapter 3.
Often times it is by being held captive by something or someone that we come to a place where we know that something is missing need to be restored.
Let me explain; the something could be when you are far from God and it seems that your whole world is out of control. It could be a drug or alcohol issue for some, but for many of us it could just be that we have lost our first love by getting our priorities mixed up.
The someone might be that you know that you need to seek forgiveness from someone but the thought of it just makes you freeze inside so you carry that burden and it eats you alive.
If you have ever been involved in a building or remodeling project at home or at church, the first thing you realize is that the money doesn’t go far enough to complete the project.
Everybody loves fundraising don’t we?
As the word of the Lord comes to Zechariah, he learns that he is supposed to go to the house of Josiah and collect the gold and silver that has just been brought from Babylon to be used for rebuilding the temple, but instead of using it to finance the construction he is told to make it into a crown and place it on the head of Joshua the priest.
One of the things that fascinates me about the word of God is how so many different people are given a piece of what God wants accomplished here on earth, and they have to take their piece and put it together with other peoples pieces to fulfill the work of the Lord.
It makes me wonder sometimes if I have any relationships in my life that need restoring because I have the piece they need to accomplish the work of the Lord in their life or if they have the piece that I am missing?
Paul describes like one body with many parts
(ESV)
(ESV)
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
Can you imagine what Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah thought as they brought their offerings to help build the temple only to have it used to make a crown for the priest?
39:30
They could have been offended!
Often times it is by being held captive by something or someone that we come to a place where we know that something is missing need to be restored.
Let me explain; the something could be when you are far from God and it seems that your whole world is out of control. It could be a drug or alcohol issue for some, but for many of us it could just be that we have lost our first love by getting our priorities mixed up.
The someone might be that you know that you need to seek forgiveness from someone but the thought of it just makes you freeze inside so you carry that burden and it eats you alive.
However, when we begin to deal with these issues, we find freedom and priorities and people are restored, and we begin to hear from the Lord again.
Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness...
The conversation might have gone something like this; I can’t believe he took our offering and used to make a crown instead of using it to build the temple. Why does the priest need 2 crowns anyway?
Tyndale Bible Dictionary Crown
(Ex 29:6; 39:30
; They made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote on it an inscription, like the engraving of the signet, “Holy to the Lord.”
Have you ever withheld an offering to the Lord because you weren’t sure how the recipient was going to use it?
When we were in Anchorage, I had done some work for someone and they gave me $100 and I knew that I was supposed to give it away. The person I gave it to was so grateful that they turned to someone else and gave it to them.
At that point I had to make a choice, did I give with strings and become offended or be thankful that I was able to give?
As it turned out the person that ended up with the $100 had sold a car to the other person and they had $100 left to pay off the debt. At the same time the final recipient was wanting to fly home to see her sick mom.
We all have a piece to give that someone else needs, the moral of that story is to obey what you feel the Lord is saying.
And say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. It is he who shall build the temple of the Lord and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.” ’ And the crown shall be in the temple of the Lord as a reminder to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen the son of Zephaniah.
Zechariah 6:
This is a prophetic picture of what will happen in the future.Joshua is the priest in charge to building the temple in Jerusalem.
God has placed him there not only to just rebuild the temple but to lead the people back into a relationship with God.
In fact the first thing they did when the temple was completed was to offer sacrifices for their sins, and to celebrate the Passover.
However, there will be a Branch to come by the name of Jesus, who will be called the Master builder in charge of the ultimate restoration project, the spiritual temple, and the spiritual will always trump the physical-AMEN
you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
There is someone here this morning that needs to grasp this. You may be in that place called captivity right now, but God wants to remind you that you may not be where you want to be, but when you submit your life to the Master Builder, He will make you into a living stone being built up as a spiritual house.
One of the most amazing truths I find in the Free Methodist doctrine is idea of prevenient grace. This is the grace that God gives us that goes before salvation.
"Human beings are totally incapable of responding to God without God first empowering them to have faith. This empowerment is known as "Prevenient Grace." Prevenient Grace doesn't save us but, rather, comes before anything that we do, drawing us to God, making us WANT to come to God, and enabling us to have faith in God.
Quite often He will use our circumstances, or other people that we have relationship with to try and get our attention.
Have you ever looked at someone and saw something in them that you wanted? It’s Jesus.
Have you ever met someone and knew right away they were a Christian and they didn’t have to tell you? It’s Jesus.
The OT focuses on the ritual of a person but Jesus focuses on the heart of a person.
When we first came to faith in Jesus, our focus was more toward the things that we could no longer do
But somewhere our focus needsd to change into thinking more about who we are becoming.
Our ministry to others will always come out of our intimacy with Jesus!
As for the 3 that gave of their offering, verse 14 tells us that the crown shall be in the temple as a reminder.
Do you think that could have happened if they had been offended by how their offering was used?
Restored relationships are a big deal to Jesus.
But the most important restoration that can take place is our relationship with our Heavenly Father.
Have you ever noticed that in the 10 Commandments that the first 5 have to do with our relationship with God, and the last 5 have to do with our relationship with Jesus?
Mathew 25 has an excellent example of how these two ideas go together.
(ESV)
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Our final scripture from Zechariah 6:15
(ESV)
Often times it is by being held captive by something or someone that we come to a place where we know that something is missing need to be restored.
Let me explain; the something could be when you are far from God and it seems that your whole world is out of control. It could be a drug or alcohol issue for some, but for many of us it could just be that we have lost our first love by getting our priorities mixed up.
The someone might be that you know that you need to seek forgiveness from someone but the thought of it just makes you freeze inside so you carry that burden and it eats you alive.
23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
However, when we begin to deal with these issues, we find freedom and priorities and people are restored, and we begin to hear from the Lord again.
Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness...
Architect
To me Jesus is saying that He will wait for you to restore that relationship
Builder
“And those who are far off shall come and help to build the temple of the Lord. And you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. And this shall come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.”
There will be a time according to this verse, when those who are far off will help build the temple. This was fulfilled in the New Testament as the disciples went out and preached the gospel to the gentiles, but I also believe that it pertains to us as well.