So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand.  He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand.  And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.

Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform built for the occasion.  Beside him on his right stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah; and on his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam.

Ezra opened the book.  All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up.  Ezra praised the LORD, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen!  Amen!”  Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

The Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah—instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there.  They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.

One priority in worship is the preaching of the Word of God.  Though multiplied churches today have exchanged this central feature of worship for book reviews, lectures on sociology, or even anaemic studies in voodoo economics, the Word of God has been central to worship of the saints God since God first gave His Word.  In this Age of Grace, God has given His Holy Spirit to His people and the Spirit of God yet speaks to His people through the written Word of God.  Underscore in your mind that truth: God’s Spirit applies the truth of the Word to the open heart as the Word is read.

In our text is painted a scene of major importance to all who long to worship God.  After seventy years of captivity the people of God were permitted to return to Zion.  Nehemiah was specially commissioned by Artaxerxes, king of the Medes and the Persians, to return with the remnant of the Jews to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls of the ruined city.  These returning Jews persevered despite severe opposition from the inhabitants of the land, and the walls were again raised around the city.  After the walls were rebuilt, the people declared a day of praise and worship to the Lord God of Israel.

On the appointed day of observance, the first day of the seventh month, Ezra brought the book of the Law and opened it before the people.  The text is quite specific in noting that assembled there were men and women and all who could understand.  There was no children’s meeting.  If an individual could understand – that one was present.

Moreover, the worship consisted of reading the Law … for more than six hours!  The seventh month in the Jewish calendar would have begun near the middle of September, according to our calendar.  Daybreak would be around six a.m. in those latitudes.  Therefore, the reading of the Word continued for at least six hours.  As the Torah was read, the Levites would provide exposition, explaining and applying the Word of the Lord in turn.  That is my kind of church, where the preacher can read and preach for six hours and the congregation does not get restless!

I remember the days in which I worshipped in a black church in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas.  At the time I was not welcomed among the white churches because too many blacks had been converted during my early prison ministry.  So, I worshipped with my black brothers and sisters, rejoicing in God’s goodness and grace.

Brother George Pryor, pastor of New Birth Baptist Church, would chide me on occasion, “Little white brother, you folk are in too big a hurry to get done.  We come to church to worship.”  And worship they did.  The service began at eleven in the morning with singing, prayer and reading of the word until about twelve noon.  The sermon continued for at least one hour, and more frequently for an hour and a half or even longer.  The invitation in one memorable instance continued for one hour, and only after an hour did we have a response from one man who decided to join the church.  Then there was the evening service…  I confess that I sometimes miss those days among those dear folk.

The people in our text came to worship, and their attentiveness to the Word humbles us.  I’m not placing all the blame on those occupying the pews, they have a hard time staying awake in too many of our services.  We who handle the Word of God stand condemned too often for our attitude toward the Word.  I was often reminded by a great teacher, Dr. H. Leo Eddleman, that the unpardonable sin for a preacher was to be boring.  Having sat under a few preachers I can tell you that I have great sympathy for those who sit under a droning mouthpiece who has no fresh message from the Living God.

Worship is an act which requires the whole of the Body of Christ, however.  Pastor and parishioner are responsible to insure that God is honoured and that together we meet with the Risen Son of God.  The people must prepare themselves to meet God, and the pastor must insure that he has a word from the Lord when the people arrive.  That was the case in our text as Ezra read the Word to an expectant people.  Open your Bibles, then, to Nehemiah 8:2-8 to discover again the place of the Word in worship.

Worship as Seen in the Word – Why did you come to church today?  What do you expect to gain by being here today?  What have you done in the week past to insure that your expectations are met?  If you seek God’s presence and power you will have invested time with Him through prayer and through reading the Word to discover His will for your life.  Then, you will have endeavoured to be obedient to His revealed will.  Essentially, we get out of worship what we put into our preparation for that divine activity.  If we choose to come to church with a chip on our shoulder and seeming to dare God to make us rejoice, we will probably receive little of value from the time we spend with the People of God.  If, on the other hand, we have sought the Lord’s blessing before we come to His house we are quite likely to meet Him in the midst of His people.

The people in our text waited expectantly as Ezra stood to read the Word.  As he opened the book, the people all stood up.  It was a spontaneous response to the opening of the Word.  They expected to hear from God and they would honour Him as He spoke through His Word.  Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and all the people responded in the Baptist fashion by lifting their hands and exclaiming “Amen!  Amen!”  Then, they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.  God met with His people and they did not consult an analytical concordance to prove that He met with them that day.  They were overcome with a sense of awe and wonder in the presence of His holiness.  Most of what passes for worship in this day is like prairie wildfire … generated by our own enthusiasm and just as quickly extinguished after our enthusiasm dies down.

I note that Hebrew worship was noisy.  Many people today would not be comfortable around the Israelites as they worshiped.  There was singing accompanied by loud music.  How else shall we understand the Psalms which speak such of joyful music?  The one hundred fiftieth Psalm speaks of praising the Lord with trumpet, harp, lyre, tambourine and dancing, strings and flute, and with cymbals clashing and resounding.  Singing and shouting seem to have marked the services of the Hebrew people according to the Psalms.  In that context take note of Psalm 33:1-3.

Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous;

it is fitting for the upright to praise him.

Praise the LORD with the harp;

make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.

Sing to him a new song;

    play skilfully, and shout for joy.

A harp and what would be akin to a guitar together with practised music and shouts of joy appear to have been part of the worship of God at that time.  Also, take special note of Psalm 98:4-9 which speaks of the noise of all creation uniting in praise to our God.

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth,

burst into jubilant song with music;

make music to the LORD with the harp,

with the harp and the sound of singing,

with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—

shout for joy before the LORD, the King. 

Let the sea resound, and everything in it,

the world, and all who live in it.

Let the rivers clap their hands,

let the mountains sing together for joy;

let them sing before the LORD,

for he comes to judge the earth.

Again, there is jubilant song and loud music which burst forth from the hearts of worshippers.  Did you notice that there were trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn, the shofar?  As well there are shouts of joy.  The hearts of the people are full and they cannot help but rejoice in loud song and joyful music.  How unlike our day!

I mean no disrespect to the Living God when I instruct you in this fashion.  Neither do I intend to suggest that you should make noise for the sake of making noise.  If you loudly praise God in song and with shouts of joy because you think that will make you more acceptable to God, you error.  However, if because your soul is full of the joy of Christ and you anticipate meeting with Him, you cannot help but rejoice vocally and with clapping and joyful music.  The Word, however, will ever be central to worship and elicit response from those hearing it expounded.  That response will frequently be vocal as the worshiper rejoices in the knowledge of God’s will.

The story is told of an old farmer who went to a great city church, one with marbled columns and a red brick exterior.  The solo before the morning sermon consisted of a woman warbling at the upper end of what human ears could tolerate and the organist scampered across the keyboard like a puppy pawing for a mouse in a cornfield.  The people sat in stony silence as the preacher spoke in hushed tones. 

As he expounded upon the Word the preacher soon said something good about Jesus and the old man joyfully shouted, “Amen!”  That preacher was taken aback by the disturbance and momentarily lost his place in the sermon.  Soon he regained his composure and got back on track and began again to preach his sermon.  Shortly, he again said something good about Jesus.  The old farmer couldn’t hold it back any longer and lifting his hand he shouted “Hallelujah!”

The preacher was so shaken that he completely lost his composure and looked around for some sort of help … any sort of help.

An usher, noting the preacher’s distress and aware of the occasion for the disturbance walked down the aisle and up to the pew where the old farmer was sitting and tapped him on the shoulder.  “You must be quiet.  You can’t shout like that in our church.  You can’t do that here,” he roughly said.

“But I’m just praising Jesus.  I got religion,” he responded.

“Well, you didn’t get it here, so shut up,” shouted the usher.

It is not unlike an experience I had when I attended a small church in Neodesha, Kansas on one occasion.  As the preacher made a good point about Jesus, I unconsciously exclaimed, “Amen!”  It was obvious that the people were somewhat disquieted, but the preacher just smiled as he paused briefly.  He began again, and soon he said something good about Jesus again.  Again I exclaimed, “Amen!”  He stopped preaching to look around the congregation, and finally he asked, “Who said that?  Who said ‘Amen!’”

Thinking that perhaps I had committed some terrible breach of etiquette I reluctantly lifted my hand and said, “I said it.  I said, ‘Amen’.”

“Well,” the preacher said, “I wish you’d teach these people to say it.  I’ve been here three years and that is the first time I’ve had a response to my message.”

I’ve already mentioned New Birth Baptist Church, the Black church in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas where I was constrained to worship for a period in my early days as a believer.  To this day I can see an old, black deacon coming to the altar to deliver a morning petition before the Lord.  He voiced the longings of the people on behalf of the congregation.  How that prayer humbled me before his words of worship led me into the presence of the Saviour to rejoice before the Lord God of Heaven and earth!  Listen, that old man told the Lord a few things about every one of us in that congregation!  The people were with him as he prayed and they voiced their agreement loudly and often.

“Lawd, don’t got no church shoes, but I gots feet an’ strong legs and can cum to church.  Thank you, Jesus!  Din’t have no breakfas’, but I’se got some grits fo’ lunch.  Thank you, Lawd!  Now let us wo’ship you, Jesus.  Come meet wid’ yo’ people, Lawd.”

No complaint!  Just expectation that the Lord would meet with us as we worshipped and praised His Name.  As the preacher opened the Word to declare the Word of God the congregation and all the ministers of God seated on the platform at the front of the auditorium waved their white hankies and shouted the glory, me right along with the rest.  We worshipped in the presence of the Lord, because we came expecting that He would meet with us because His people had sought His face.

Here is the point.  If you spend all your time as we meet to worship fretting over how someone else praises God and enters into the service, you reveal that you did not come to meet the Lord.  If you waste your time looking around in disgust at the conduct of others instead of losing yourself in the presence of the Lord, you demonstrate that it is not God whom you expected to meet in the service.  If you cannot rejoice that others meet God as we unite in assembly, you are exposed as a religious fraud.  You prepare yourself for worship by investing time in the Word seeking the face of the Master.  Then you come to church expecting to hear the Word declared and opened so that you can understand it.  Why else would we wish to go to church?

Permit me balance that statement by reminding each of us that the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets.  Where the Spirit of God reigns there will be no excess for the sake of excess; but how can we be excessive in worship if that worship finds its origin in the Lord Himself and if He is the One energising it?  Balance is the key, but the balance sought is that which arises from seeking the Lord Himself in His Word.  To paraphrase the Apostle, I will worship with my spirit, but I will also worship with my mind [cf. 1 Corinthians 14:15].

The Word is Central to Worship – Because we live in a fallen world and because even we who are called by the Name of Christ are contaminated with sin, some within the Christian community have introduced bizarre doctrines foreign to the Word.  They are perhaps believers, but having majored in minors they are theological lightweights.  Consequently, the man of God is compelled to warn the flock against imbibing from these polluted wells.  One such weird doctrine is the insistence that only one particular translation of the Word of God is inspired of God.  Whenever someone tells you that one translation is inspired, you may take it as a given that that individual has drunk deeply from a polluted stream.  You may prefer one translation to another because it is more accurate, or you may prefer the dignity of a given translation, but don’t ever deceive yourself by thinking that God is adding to His Word through inspiring a translator.

Though selection of a translation is less important to equipping you for worship pleasing to God, it is vital that you prepare yourself for worship through reading the Word prior to worship and through implementing that Word in your life.  Then, whenever you meet with the saints for worship, insist that your minister employ the Word skilfully through sound exposition and through public reading of the Word, just as Paul instructed Timothy.  Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching [1 Timothy 4:13].  Clearly these elements were central to New Testament worship and they were likewise elemental to worship in the Old Testament.  Thus, we may conclude that God expects us to weave the Word throughout our worship in this day, reading the Word, preaching the Word, and providing teaching of the Word.

Those churches in the evangelical and free church traditions broke with the practise of the liturgical churches following the reformation.  They moved the pulpit from the side of the congregation to situate it central to the congregation’s view.  This was a graphic symbol to those in attendance that henceforth preaching of the Word would be central to worship within those traditions.  Almost all churches following the reformation began to provide a large pulpit Bible in the centre of the altar as a reminder that the Word was central to faith and practise.  These changes were made with deliberate forethought and with reference to the practise of the Word, much as what we have seen in our text.

Would you truly worship God in a manner which pleases Him?  Consider simply one of the Psalms.  Twenty-four times in the 119th Psalm we see reference to the Word.  Living according to the Word insures purity of walk (verse 9).  Hiding the Word in the heart insures against sinning against God (verse 11).  The Word is an antidote to discouragement (verse 25) and sorrow (verse 28).  It is the Word which keeps us from idolatry (verse 37) and gives us the answer to taunts against our Lord (verse 42).  Putting the Word into practise in our life causes the saints of God to rejoice (verse 74) and gives us encouragement in times of spiritual drought (verse 81).  It is God’s Word which lights our way (verse 105) in a darkened world.  Our hope of life is in the Word (verse 107), and it is the Word which serves to protect us from evil men (verse 114).  Then, if all this were somehow insufficient to encourage us of the centrality of the Word for worship, the Psalmist says that understanding comes by the Word (verse 169) and his tongue will sing of the Word of God (verse 172).  Praise to the Living God arises from the Word.

How would you know what characteristics or attributes of God were deserving of praise if He had not provided His perfect revelation in the Word?  How would you know of the love of God and be enabled to worship Him had He not spoken through His Word?  It is the Word which instructs us and which equips us to worship.  It is that Word which must ever be central to our worship lest we forget our God and begin to substitute our own imaginations.

Exposition of the Word is Necessary to Worship – We of the English speaking world are so richly blessed.  We have the Word of God in multiplied translations.  We know what was meant when the prophets and apostles and wise men meant when they wrote in those ancient languages.  Every shade of meaning has been explored and the precise meaning is readily available to us.  Furthermore, there are sufficient ancient manuscripts available to us to insure that we have the very Word of God at our disposal.  Every turn of the archaeologists’ spade verifies the accuracy of the Word of God.  Every stroke of the critic’s pen proves the veracity of God’s Word.  Thus, anyone reading in contemporary English can take comfort in the knowledge that not only is the Word of God available, but it is accurately translated into our tongue.  Yet there is need for exposition of the Word.  There is a place for the teacher of the Word in the Body of Christ.

As the Levites read from the Book of the Law of God they explained its meaning … they endeavoured to make it clear.  Just so the preacher in this day is required to provide instruction in the Word.  A sermon is so much more than a mere Bible lesson.  Until application of the Word is provided, there has been no exposition.  Until the people know what to do with the Word of God, it is mere knowledge.  This is the reason so many preachers seem to live schizophrenic lives, declaring a doctrine of holiness of life while living lives marked by grossest immorality.  This is the reason so many religious educators can seem to know all about Jesus without knowing Jesus.  This is the reason so many people can attend the church of their choice without a transformation of life.

Certainly the preacher is responsible to provide understanding of the meaning of what is written in the Word.  Thus he is responsible to study, to explore the historic context of a given passage and to discover the nuances of the words which these original writers employed.  He should invest time in study of the original languages to make the text scintillating and vibrant in the ears of the hearer.  Then, having discovered the original context, he is responsible to insure that text is applied to our present situation.

Whenever a people hear the Word of God and understand that it has application to this present condition, they cannot remain neutral.  The presentation of the mind of God will result either in intense resentment or submission to Him Who gave the Word.  Any preacher who has long stood before a congregation can relate instances where the Word has produced great resentment.  Likewise, any preacher can point to those instances where the Word of God found lodging and created faith and a new life in Christ.  What is important to our study today is the reminder that without exposition worship cannot long be sustained.  A congregation will either move toward obedience to the Master and thus bow in awe before Him, or a congregation will begin to wander ever further from Him.

The wise man stated the situation well when he wrote

Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint

[Proverbs 29:18].

You perhaps first heard that verse from an older translation which speaks of a lack of vision and of a people perishing, but the thought behind the Hebrew text is that of a failure to receive revelation and the fact that people begin to follow their own imaginations.  Just so, many churches can be straight as a gun barrel theologically … and just as empty.  Their services are icily regular, coldly correct, precise and dead.  There is no application of the Word … no passion in the preaching.  Thus the spirit dies and the fires which once burned brightly die down to cold ashes.  Of the first church, alive and full of holy power, it was said that no one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded [Acts 5:13].  Where the Spirit of God is welcomed because the Word is declared in power, there is no casual adherence.  No one would dare thrust his hand into live coals; but who fears ashes?

The Impact of the Word Results in Worship – As the people gathered before the Water Gate heard the Levites provide an exposition of the Word, and as they heard that Word they spontaneously bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.  They displayed deepest humility before the Word of the Living God, for they realised the will of God had not been obeyed among them.  Thus they sought His face.

A. W. Tozer avowed that worship was the missing jewel in evangelical churches.  One of the surest marks that we know little of the presence of God in our services conducted in evangelical churches is the fact that we are not often seized with awe in the presence of God.  We approach the Word with an attitude which fairly screams defiance: repent after a fashion and believe such as it were or be damned in a measure.  Consequently, we know little of obedience to the Divine Will since it is of no great importance to know that will.  Having neither heard the Word read nor declared we are functionally ignorant of the will of God.  When a preacher does declare the Word, we often deeply offended.

Do you know the will of God for your life?  I’m not speaking of some detailed outline for your life’s vocation or for domestic bliss; I speak of the clearly revealed will of God for conduct of your life.  How will you know the will of God save through His revelation of that will?  He calls us to be holy, to seek to honour Him in all that we do, to witness to His grace.  Clearly, this is the will of God for each of us.  Working out those aspects of the Divine will, however, requires knowledge of the specific design of God.

Those who seek the will of the Lord discover that Divine will.  Throughout the annals of Judah are discovered accounts of kings who endeavoured to honour God juxtaposed with kings who gave no consideration to the will of God.  What is interesting is the response of each of those men as God reveals Himself to them through His written Word.  Those who sought to live up to the light they had been given received greater light still.  Those who were indifferent to the will of God expressed their disdain for His commands.  Here are two examples from the period near the end of the Judean monarchy.

Josiah was a godly king who longed to honour the Lord His God.  When the Book of the Law was discovered during Temple renovations, it was brought to him and read in his presence.  The worship of God had nearly died out under Manasseh and Amon, kings who reigned after Hezekiah and before Josiah ascended to the throne; but now Josiah sought to call the people back to God.  As the Book was read to him he tore his robes and instructed that the priests were to inquire of God.  He knew the people had disobeyed God and that judgement was their lot.  He humbled himself and asked for mercy of the One whom the nation had offended [2 Kings 22:8-23:27].

Jehoiakim sat upon the throne within a few brief years of the death of Josiah.  He was a godless man who cared little for either God or His will.  When Jeremiah wrote for him the words of God in a book, the king listened with disdain as Jehudi read that Word and after a few words were read, he cut the page which had been read from the scroll and threw it into a firepot.  There was displayed only contempt for the Word which God had caused to be written and a haughty spirit in that proud king [Jeremiah 36:1-26].

Where the Word of God is read and received His Spirit works His gracious and convicting work, just as was promised through the lips of our Lord.  Where the Spirit works the people worship the Lord in humble adoration.  Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.  When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgement: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgement, because the prince of this world now stands condemned [John 16:7-11].  God’s Spirit instructs us through the written Word which the Lord God has given.  He guides the people of God into all truth, bringing glory to Christ by taking from what is the Master’s and making it known to God’s people [cf. John 16:13,14].

In the ninth verse or our text we read that the people were weeping.  They knew they had sinned against the Lord, and they knew that their fathers had sinned against the Lord.  They realised that the Lord’s wrath had been justified and that when He had sent their fathers into captivity it was because they had defied His Word.  We try to create an emotional climate in expectation that such will lead to worship.  Never!  However, worship which causes us to bend low before Holy God will touch the heartstrings in a manner we could never anticipate.  The wellsprings of the heart will be opened when once we have met the risen Son of God and realised His love for us.  How can it be otherwise?  True worship always touches the heart, but mere emotionalism will never lead to worship of the true and living God.

The reason I make this point is to encourage each of us to invest time in pursuit of our God before we meet for worship, and then come expecting to discover the Lord present among His people in worship.  Seek the face of God in private and when we meet together we will discover that He is pleased to again meet with us.  Invest time each day seeking Him that we might meet Him afresh and anew as we meet to worship on Sunday.

You who are guests, I challenge you to discover again the place of the Word in worship.  Spend time alone with God before your service this coming week.  Your transformed mien will frighten your preacher to death, but when he recovers his composure you will have a new preacher.  It is your responsibility to “fire” your preacher … fire him through being a fellow worshipper and fire him through encouraging him by having sought the face of the Lord God Almighty before ever he stands to preach.  You who are members of this congregation are challenged to continue doing what you do … only more so.  Did you pray for this service before you came today?  Did you seek the face of the Lord before you came today?  Did you call the name of this preacher in prayer before you came today?  If not, what have you done for heaven’s sake?  Insist on the centrality of the Word in worship, and insist on it through practising its centrality in your own life.  Stand ready to meet the Lord in worship ‘ere ever you enter the building to meet with the people of God.  Amen.