Grateful or Regretful?

A Big Comeback

The World Series is on. I love baseball.

My grandmother let me stay home from school the afternoon there was a game 7 in the series

Red Sox and Cardinals in ‘67

Tigers and Cardinals in ‘68

I played thru college and when I graduated I graduated to slow-pitch softball.

I played on 2 teams, 1 serious and 1 for fun.

The fun team had a game and I was to play 2nd base.

Last minute the shortstop hadn’t shown up so they moved me over.

One problem, I hadn’t warmed up.

Early in the game I fielded a ground ball to my right and had to throw it hard to 1st to get the runner.

I felt something give in my shoulder.

I had messed up by not warming up. The biceps tendon had partially separated from the bone. I couldn’t throw w/out pain.

I had it injected then operated on. If it had torn they could have fixed it.

Doctor told me some day when I’m picking up a heavy box it will separate completely. We’ll decide then what to do about it.

So, I’m 25, can’t throw w/ any velocity, what do I do?

Sit around a complain? No.

I picked up golf, and complained.

Golf is a humbling game.

Fast forward, we have 3 kids, and they are all athletic.

Soccer

Basketball

Pool volleyball games

Football

Jason played organized

We had a lot of neighborhood football games and our daughter was always right in the middle of it.

Baseball and softball.

Maybe I encouraged it a little. But they all loved it.

Alyssa at 3 years old in the basement in Minot hitting wiffleballs back at me.

I coached all of them in baseball and softball. I’d throw footballs and shoot baskets with them for hours.

I couldn’t throw very hard, but they were kids.

Even when they were teenagers I could throw hard enough.

All consequences of a bad decision I made one evening in 1985 to not warm up my arm before I had to make a hard throw with a softball.

My shoulder healed to the point that I could play w/ my kids.

That was my do-over.

I could have gone into a tailspin, regretting that decision to not warm up that day

It cost me my dream of the major leagues. Not really.

It cost me my dream of the major leagues. Not really.

Or, I could be grateful and appreciate that I could function well enough to be involved w/ my kids in their neighborhood games and on their organized teams.

I wish I could have thrown harder. I could have done more with them. But I am thankful for what I could do.

When we get do-overs often times there are consequences to the bad decisions we made that led to the do-over.

A failed business and the financial losses led to having to work for someone else the rest of your career.

A failed marriage limiting the possibilities of having companionship as you grow old.

A failed investment reducing your standard of living in retirement.

So, when you get the do-over, are you grateful for the job?

Are you grateful for the relationships you have?

Are you grateful for little house you live in and the money you have in the bank though it might be less than what it could have been.

Are you thankful to God for His gracious provision. We don’t deserve anything that we have. We have it b/c He promised to provide for us and protect us.

Or, is your life characterized by regret. Being unsatisfied w/ what you have b/c you had so much more.

Regret: Not having what you want b/c you got what you wanted. And, it didn’t work out the way you thought.

Mistakes have consequences.

But, when God gives us a do-over we need t/b grateful for what we have and not regretful for what we don’t even when we used to have more than we do now.

Be grateful, not regretful.

, a group of Israelites from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin have returned from exile and start the work rebuilding the temple.

This is Israel’s great, big do-over.

First Things First

Ezra 3:1-

Ezra 3:1–6 NIV

When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled together as one in Jerusalem. Then Joshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with what is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices. Then in accordance with what is written, they celebrated the Festival of Tabernacles with the required number of burnt offerings prescribed for each day. After that, they presented the regular burnt offerings, the New Moon sacrifices and the sacrifices for all the appointed sacred festivals of the Lord, as well as those brought as freewill offerings to the Lord. On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, though the foundation of the Lord’s temple had not yet been laid.

7 months after they arrived. It took time to get settled to get moved and get settled.

I hate moving. So much time and energy to get things packed, unpacked and put away.

They had to eat. So maybe the had time to harvest a crop or at least find friendly neighbors to buy supplies from.

Festival of Tabernacles was a fall festival; Sept./Oct.

Returned in the spring. Now it’s fall.

They all gathered in agreement. It was unanimous what their first big project would be.

Maybe not what anyone expected.

They were legitimately afraid of the surrounding nations. They did not want the Jews back.

So, if you’re afraid of your neighbors, what’s the first thing you build?

A wall?

An army?

An altar! Does this make sense? Absolutely!

It was vital they got back to the Mosaic covenant.

This is what their ancestors abandoned that led to their trouble.

God’s game. God’s rules.

He said, “If you love me, keep my commands.”

Therefore, if you don’t keep His commands, what does it say about how much you value God?

He laid out this elaborate sacrificial system for them that taught them all about God’s character and their own condition.

Sacrificial lamb of God. Grace. Scape goat. Sin and atonement. Mercy.

They built an altar first thing.

On the original site of the old one.

No building around it. No city. No wall.

The feast of tabernacles. A fall festival. It was a little about the harvest but much more about God’s deliverance from Egypt and His provision in the wilderness.

8 days. Sabbath to Sabbath. The people were to pitch a tent and move out of their house and into it for the week.

Like camping in your backyard. The kids would have loved it.

It was celebration of living in a temporary shelter on their way to the PL.

All 8 days of the festival called for burning sacrifices.

This was an expensive festival.

Like us hosting an 8-day festival and every day we take an offering. You may think that it would be okay to divide your weekly contribution by 8 and give a little every day.

That’s not what’s going on here. They are giving the entire amount every day.

Think about when you sit down to write your contribution check.

Think last month we had some unexpected medical bills, the dryer died, car trouble.

Maybe I should give a little less this time.

They built the altar so they could get back to worshiping God.

Worship: Communicating to God His worth to you.

What is most important to you? write that check first.

God is more important to me than dry clothes.

That’s what they were doing.

What if they ran out of food in the winter?

They would trust God to provide.

What if their neighbors invaded?

They would trust God to protect.

God is more important than a building, a city or a wall.

All these were important, but God more so.

Were they going to depend upon themselves for protection? Or, would they trust God?

When we worship:

The music gives us collectively the opportunity to tell God what He is worth to us.

The prayer time gives us individual opportunities.

The offering, the same.

The sermon is intended to teach about God’s character and our condition. So, when we realize that something in our life is inconsistent w/ God’s character we can change it.

We don’t expect God to submit to us and change His expectations. We submit to God.

All this communicates His value to us.

There is nothing more important in our lives.

We will trust Him for protection and provision.

The bottom line was, they were Grateful. They were grateful for all that they had.

They acknowledged it was all from gracious God.

They didn’t deserve what they had.

They had much less than their ancestors had when they first arrived in the PL. But, mistakes have consequences. There would be scars.

Now, they were home and they were free. God had kept His promise. And, they had the opportunity live in the land that God promised would produce for them if they remained faithful.

A do-over. A new opportunity. Just like the old. But only a promised opportunity, not a guaranteed outcome.

The decision had been made where to start, and they had. But, there was much more work to do. The temple needed to be built around the altar.

Have you ever built a house or a building?

Plans, architectural drawings, permits, etc.

They had Solomon’s original plans. It was a huge project.

Preparations had to be made.

Preparations

Ezra 3:7–9 NIV

Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and gave food and drink and olive oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, so that they would bring cedar logs by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, as authorized by Cyrus king of Persia. In the second month of the second year after their arrival at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak and the rest of the people (the priests and the Levites and all who had returned from the captivity to Jerusalem) began the work. They appointed Levites twenty years old and older to supervise the building of the house of the Lord. Joshua and his sons and brothers and Kadmiel and his sons (descendants of Hodaviah) and the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers—all Levites—joined together in supervising those working on the house of God.

7 months after those first sacrifices since the Babylonians tore down the temple, 7 months after the feast of Tabernacles. 7 months later they started the foundation.

Anyone who has built anything knows how slow the preparation process goes.

It just does.

They had to get organized. This was a huge project.

They had Solomon’s plans for the temple, but they needed a contractor, subs, materials, and money.

They had to negotiate contracts, prices, quality of materials and craftsmanship.

There was attention to detail. Standards had to be met. This was God’s house. And, the amount they spent, time and attention communicated to God more of what He was worth to them.

The temple was different than the synagogues that would be rebuilt in the towns.

The synagogues would have been more like our local churches.

The temple was the headquarters, maybe, kind of like the Vatican city; only God resided in the temple not just the pope.

Those who had returned had donated finances from what the Persians had given them before they left.

Someone, or a committee had to be in charge of the budget, contracts, and purchasing.

Levites were responsible for oversight of the construction. Yes, they were young. They had the specific plans. There weren’t a lot of decisions they had to make. They had to make sure the craftsmen built everything according to the specs already decided by God, thru Solomon, to them.

Back and forth. Communicate to the leadership if more lumber was needed, more rocks, more labor. Then communicate w/ the laborers what they had to work w/.

They had to send ships to lebanon to buy the lumber. Where did they get the ships? They had to rent them. Hire them.

The lumber was cedar from Lebanon. Lebanon was known for its cedar.

The people here would have seen the significance of this as Solomon bought the lumber for his temple from the same place.

Is there anything in your home that is unique from a special place? Spanish marble? California redwood? Brazilian granite? Plastic from Phoenix?

It takes time to pick out exactly what you want, buy it, and transport it to the constructions site.

They had workers ready to go. Both craftsmen who specialized and laborers who assisted.

Everyone showed up to work. ‘The rest’ came and did what they could to get this project underway.

And, for the most part, everyone remained grateful.

But, typical of many religious organizations, some people were too stuck in “Good old days”.

These people were regretful. They could not be happy for what was going on b/c they were too upset about what had happened and how much better things were in the past.

The foundation came to a climax. And, while there was a great celebration for most; for others it was anti-climactic and they mourned.

(Anti-) Climax

Ezra 3:10–13 NIV

When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David king of Israel. With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord: “He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.” And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.

The vast majority were thrilled.

They were careful to follow Solomon’s plans as best they could and then celebrate the same way he and his father David celebrated when God did something big.

Their song celebrated ‘hesed’ love. That is, covenantal love, or the love that God demonstrates by keeping His promises.

He keeps His promises even when people do not. That’s the nature of a 1-sided contract. Even if one party fails to pay, the other party provides.

God was their promised protector and provider.

They were acknowledging what God had done for them even though they didn’t deserve it.

This is big for us, too. We don’t deserve what God does for us. We might want more. But that is an immature and irresponsible reaction to what we have and what we used to have.

Some may be disappointed and cry while we are singing and celebrating.

While the majority celebrated, a few older folks cried and mourned. They remembered the grandeur of the first temple.

And, for whatever reason, we don’t know what it was, they saw the new temple would not be as nice as the old.

They mourned for the ‘Good old Days.”

Some just can’t get past their past.

Regret; not wanting what you have b/c you got what you wanted. It didn’t turn out the way you thought it would. Now, you can’t.

There are consequences to mistakes. But, God is gracious to give us do-overs, 2nd chances.

Consequences can be like an unwanted pregnancy, divorce, bankruptcy, a police record, a smaller house and lifestyle in retirement, chronic pain from an injury.

Can you worship God anyway? Can you communicate to Him that you are grateful for what you have and not regretful for what you don’t.

Israel got a great big do-over and most of them were grateful.

We get do-overs, too, b/c we worship a gracious God who gives us chances we don’t deserve.

Applications

Be Grateful

Obviously.

Someone posted on FB a quote that went something like this:

If all you had today was what you thanked God for yesterday, what would you have?

Do you spend most of your time complaining to God about what you don’t have?

Who likes people like that?

Challenge: Spend a day when all you do is thank God for everything you use that day. No complaints!

Blame?

Whom do you blame.

Don’t blame God for decisions people make, including yourself.

You value your freedom to choose. God gives you that freedom just like He gives others.

Unfortunately, people have the authority and opportunity to make their own lives miserable and the lives of everyone around them miserable, too.

Make better choices.

Then, thank God for protecting you b/c it could have been much worse. And, thank him for promoting your recovery.

We make mistakes. Learn from them. Don’t repeat them.

Accept responsibility where you need to and appreciate every second chance.

Worship

Don’t just attend a worship service.

Take advantage of every opportunity we give you to communicate to God His value to you.

Let the words of every song be your prayer.

Pray when given the opportunity.

When you discover something in your life that is inconsistent w/ God’s character taught in the Bible, don’t expect God to change what He expects of you.

Humbly make whatever changes necessary.

All this communicates to God that He is more important than anything else in your life.

Worship well.

Mistakes have consequences.

But, when God gives us a do-over we need t/b grateful for what we have and not regretful for what we don’t even when we used to have more than we do now.

Be grateful, not regretful.