Stop, Be Thankful

Be Thankful!

I am so thankful to be your pastor.

This is another do-over for me.

The number of times I’ve messed up.

Be thankful I’m not the same guy I was when I was a 30-year old, brand new seminary graduate, know-it-all.

The mistakes I’ve made!

Lessons that have been written in my blood.

Like the time in Minot the church needed a new computer.

The creative minds, the staff, wanted a powerful Mac. As it was we were doing a lot of the creative work on my personal Mac. But, it would have been nice if the church owned one.

But, the board that made the decision also was responsible for the budget and they wanted a PC.

We ended up having it out one night at a meeting. It did not go well. We ended up w/ 2 small computers and neither one was big enough to do what we needed it to do.

Or, my second church. I was the CE guy. For curriculum orders I kept track of attendance in the children’s classrooms.

I noticed right away that we were graduating 12-14 kids into the youth group and only bringing 2 or 3 kids into the 2-year old class.

So, I went to the elders to tell them that we needed to do something to reach younger families. The church was on a bad path.

Again, did not go well. I came across as that know-it-all. One of the elders later slipped and let me know they called me “Chicken Little” after that.

Here’s the thing w/ that, though. That church is gone. They never figured out how to backfill the pews after the core moved on.

I was right. But, I didn’t handle it well. I’m supposed to be a communicator!

Or in Indiana when I showed up to a couple of adult Sunday School Bible study classes and just announced we were moving the to a different time.

We, legitimately had a space problem and needed to make some changes.

But, just showing up and announcing to 100 adults that I’ve made the decision to disrupt their Sunday morning schedule that they’ve had for 10 years.

Here I am. I thank God that He led us here.

In ministry in Paradise w/ all of you. I am so thankful!

Still, not perfect by any stretch. I don’t make as many mistakes as I used to. But, thanks for your patience.

They still happen. Hopefully, I’ve learned a few things.

I’m so thankful for my wife. She has been so patient w/ me.

She’s been w/ me since I I didn’t know a thing about negotiating when were first married. Some guy tells me the price and I’m pealing bills out of my wallet before she stops me and starts working they guy.

I still barely know which end of a tool to hold.

I’ve learned a few things, bought a few things, fixed a few things and learned a little along the way.

I’ve learned to stay out of the kitchen until it’s time to clean up.

I’m thankful for my kids. They are so far from perfect. But they, too, have been patient w/ me and Sara for our imperfections.

They all know Jesus and are either in careers, or headed into a career, of helping people.

Sara has started apologizing to them for being 84. We’re not 84, yet. And, when we are we won’t be sorry for making their lives hard. So, she’s apologizing now.

I’m not done w/ my ministry here.

John Martin, one of my seminary profs told us.

“Your best ministry years are between 40 and senility.” So, I’m good till my belt starts slipping.

And, Sara and I, if were average, we’ve got 25-30 more years together.

Then, you know, you never stop parenting your kids. Well, that is until your belt starts slipping.

All the mess-ups, all the scars and consequences, all the lessons written in blood and all the do-overs; we’re still not done w/ what God called us to start.

But, it’s important to stop, from time to time, and be thankful. We need to admit mistakes, apologize for them and accept forgiveness.

And, appreciate all that God has graciously done for us as well as what He has promised to do in the future.

the Jews finished building the Temple and celebrated with a dedication service.

There was still a lot of work to be done. This was their do-over; their second time to be in the PL.

They had the altar and the Temple they built around it. But, they didn’t have a city or city wall, yet. Nehemiah would come later and finish.

And, there still are only 2 tribes represented. A few years later, and in the next chapter, Ezra will lead the rest back.

But, even w/ all the work yet to be done, the stopped and gave thanks to God for what they had up to that point.

Project Completed

Ezra 6:13–15 NIV

Then, because of the decree King Darius had sent, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates carried it out with diligence. So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

With Diligence!

Active, energetic, perseverance.

This describes the Persian gov’t officials.

From the last passage, we read that the Jews were working diligently. Now, everyone is on board and all in on this project.

The governor and his assoc are trying to please the king, hoping for favor and maybe a promotion.

Remember what the king’s decree included.

Leave them alone. No harassment.

Use tax money to pay for the construction and sacrifices.

Enforce capital punishment on anyone who violated this edict. Including the gov’t officials!

They were motivated to help the Jews get this done.

They don’t believe in God. They didn’t worship Him.

Can God work where there is no faith? Absolutely.

He is not limited by a lack of faith in Him.

Does He? Sometimes. If it suits His purposes.

He wanted the Temple built. It got done.

God moved in the hearts of everyone in the region.

He was in every layer of leadership.

The Persian kings are listed: Cyrus, Xerxes, Darius and Artaxerxes.

The Persian governor of the Trans-Euphrates and his associates.

Zerubbabel was the civil leader who was the contractor overseeing the entire building project.

Joshua was the religious leader providing the day-to-day functions of the temple sacrifices and worship services.

Haggai and Zechariah were the preachers. They rec’d their messages from God and passed them along to the people.

The people prospered under their preaching as they built.

And, the elders of the tribes led their families in accomplishing the priorities of the people. They worshiped God and they worked at the construction site until it was completed.

You see God’s hand in the leaders. Leaders lead people. Following their example the rank and file lived faithfully and obediently, trusting God to provide and protect as He had always promised.

The Temple was completed in 516 BC. Late in the year.

4 years after Haggai called them to get back to work. It had sat 16 years dormant as a monument to their fear and lack of faith.

Approximately 70 years after Solomon’s Temple was destroyed; around 586 BC.

God moved in the heart of Cyrus and in the hearts of the Judahites and Benjaminites to return to their homeland.

A few returned, they were not wealthy. The Temple foundation was laid in hard times.

It ended up not as grand as the first.

But, now that it was done it was time to celebrate the triumph.

There was still a lot of work to do. But, what they had accomplished to this point could not have been done on their own.

God was gracious and gave them this do-over.

It was time to stop and be thankful

Thanksgiving

Ezra 6:16–18 NIV

Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy. For the dedication of this house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred male lambs and, as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, one for each of the tribes of Israel. And they installed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their groups for the service of God at Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses.

The Hebrew word for dedication is “Hanukkah”

it literally means anything that is newly made and made available only to God for anything He wants.

Later, in 165 BC, it became the name of the festival we think of today celebrating the re-consecration of the Temple after Antiochus Epiphanes burned a pig on the altar.

There are worse things, but not many.

Cows, lambs, sheep, goats, okay.

Pigs were a major violation.

Isaiah 29:13 NIV

The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.

This was Isaiah’s prophecy against them before the exile.

Lip service. Rules.

No relationship and no faith.

This time, no only did they obey the rules, they brought their hearts to the altar, too.

Their faith was young. But, the relationship was real.

They put their money where their mouths were.

They sac’d 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 male lambs and 12 goats.

This was huge for them. They didn’t have a lot. Though the gov’t officials offered to pay for their animals that would not have been a sacrifice.

It’s not a sacrifice if you give up someone else’s stuff.

2 tribes and they didn’t have a lot. But they gave sacrificially from what they had.

Compare to the dedication of Solomon’s Temple when they were the wealthiest world power:

1 Kings 8:63 NIV

Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the Lord: twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the temple of the Lord.

The second time they didn’t even come close to what Solomon sac’d the first time.

But, the nation was much wealthier at the time. God seemed t/b pleased w/ both.

Regardless of the total amount, the amount of the sacrifice was the same.

Solomon didn’t offer a sin offering. But, that time PL was theirs for the first time.

This time, they are returning. They had been exiled due to their sinful disob.

1 goat/tribe? as a sin offering? For disob. so horrendous they got kicked out of the land?

Well, they couldn’t sacrifice enough to make up for their disob. Even if they were as wealthy as Solomon was, they could’t give enough to pay for their sin.

We can’t either.

The goats were symbolic of what Jesus would do later.

What Jesus gave was enough for them, and us, to pay for every sin we would ever commit.

The entire Mosaic covenant and sacrificial system pointed to the work Jesus would do.

Then, as now, it only saves us when it is accepted by faith.

W/out faith, even though Jesus died for you, His death won’t save you.

His death is enough to atone for every sin.

The sacrifice of the scape goats pointed them to what God would ultimately do for them. But it only worked then, as now, when accepted by faith.

They owned their past. The admitted their mess-up. Apologized with their words and works. They accepted God’s forgiveness and restored relationship.

All this thru the sacrifice of the scape goats

The Jews then made the appropriate assignments so they could continue to worship God as Moses had communicated and God had commanded.

It marked a return to authentic worship. It had been 70 years since they had had the opportunity.

They stopped to give thanks. And, they continued as they took advantage of the opportunity so far God had given them in this do-over.

The season was filled with new firsts. The Passover was just a few weeks later. This was the first Passover in the new Temple of their Do-over in the PL.

Passover

Ezra 6:19–22 NIV

On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover. The priests and Levites had purified themselves and were all ceremonially clean. The Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their relatives the priests and for themselves. So the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the unclean practices of their Gentile neighbors in order to seek the Lord, the God of Israel. For seven days they celebrated with joy the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because the Lord had filled them with joy by changing the attitude of the king of Assyria so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.

The lambs were slaughtered for everyone to eat just like they had since the very first Passover the night before they left Egypt.

That was a pretty big do-over of its own. God delivered them out of slavery and out of Egypt with an opportunity to be free from oppression and free from sin.

It led to their first trip into the PL.

This time, everyone was welcome. The surviving Jews who had returned to Jerusalem. And everyone who had previously occupied the land but had come to God in faith.

No doubt, as they watched God work miraculously thru the Pagan kings and thru the returned exiles it made an impact.

Many came to faith and joined the Jews in their faithful celebrations.

Even the Assyrians are mentioned here. They pre-dated the Persians.

God used them just like He used the Babylonians and the Persians to purge, judge, then bless His people.

This do-over blessed a lot of people.

And, everyone who acknowledged they had been blessed by it paused at the appropriate times to give thanks.

No matter where we are in the process, we cannot wait until we have finished what God has called us to start to stop and give thanks.

Pause, at regular intervals, own your past. Admit mistakes. Apologize for their pain. Accept forgiveness.

Be thankful every step of the way for what God is in the process of doing in your life w/ each and every do-over.

Applications

Accept

None of us can sacrifice enough to make things right w/ God.

1 goat/tribe. Hardly.

It simply intended to point them to Jesus.

Look back at the cross and accept Jesus’ death as the ultimate and only thing you need to make your life right w/ God.

Don’t try to do anything else.

Now, live as if you’ve been forgiven and receive every blessing God offers.

Compare

Don’t compare your sacrificial gift to anyone else or to any gift you’ve given in the past.

Today, give whatever God calls you to give.

Time, involvement and money.

Whether you used to be wealthier and could give more, or poorer and gave less; today just give whatever God calls you to give.

You can’t make God love you more or less or teat you any better or worse.

You can’t give enough to make amends for whatever you’ve done or plan to do.

Just give. It’s a sacrifice. It’s supposed to hurt a little w/out being debilitating.

Be Thankful

Stop and give thanks along the way for whatever God is in process w/ you.

Don’t wait until you’re done w/ what God has called you to start to say “Thanks”

I am thankful for all of you, this church and this opportunity to serve you.

I am thankful for my wife and my kids, and my granddaughter.

I’m not done w/ any of them. But, today, I thank God for all of them.

What would like to thank God for today?

All the mess-ups, all the scars and consequences, all the lessons written in blood and all the do-overs; we’re still not done w/ what God called us to start.

But, it’s important to stop, from time to time, and be thankful. We need to admit mistakes, apologize for them and accept forgiveness.

And, appreciate all that God has graciously done for us as well as what He has promised to do in the future.