Nehemiah - Restoring Your Committments

Introduction: Today happens to be mine and Amanda’s 12 year anniversary. 12 amazing years. 12 years filled with joy. 12 infuriating years. 12 adventurous years. 12 years filled with love. 12 years filled with challenge. One of the things that people don’t tell you on your wedding day is that marriage is not easy. It takes more than just love. It takes a choice to love and a commitment to endure even when you don’t feel the love.

An anniversary is a great opportunity to renew that commitment. And it doesn’t have to be a yearly vow renewal. I look across the table and say, “I still do.” She looks across the table and says, “ehhh.”

Marriage is not a set it and forget it kind of relationship. It takes years of restoring that commitment over and over and over again.

Now in the Bible, the number 1 most used metaphor of God’s relationship with His people is that of marriage. In that God is the husband and His people are the bride. And while God has always been faithful, His people have always struggled.

So God determined that each year, the people gather and read the law together and say “we still do.”

But that didn’t happen. They had a “set it and forget it” attitude that ultimately led to their downfall. And for hundreds of years they failed to restore their commitment to God, But here in that is about to change when the people gather together and say, “We are restoring our commitment to God.”

Turn with me in your Bibles to Nehemiah 10.

Obeying the law leads to freedom.

knowing the boundaries makes you feel safe.

We interpret the OT in light of NT revelation.

Transition to the Text: and 9 detail this lengthy assembly of the people where Ezra reads the Law and the people mourn but are called to rejoice. They celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles and eat a lot of food. This is followed by a solemn assembly where they confess their sins and the sins of their fathers. And it culminates with Nehemian 9:38:

Nehemiah 9:38 ESV

38 “Because of all this we make a firm covenant in writing; on the sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.

And is a list of names of the heads of households committing to restore their commitment to God.

But commitment to God is not about the individual. Everyone was called to join together and restore the commitment of the whole nation of God’s people. And that’s exactly what happens.

Let’s read:

Nehemiah 10:28–29 ESV

28 “The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding, 29 join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes.

neh 10:28-

Neh 10:

Nehemiah 10:30–39 ESV

30 We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. 31 And if the peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day. And we will forego the crops of the seventh year and the exaction of every debt. 32 “We also take on ourselves the obligation to give yearly a third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: 33 for the showbread, the regular grain offering, the regular burnt offering, the Sabbaths, the new moons, the appointed feasts, the holy things, and the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God. 34 We, the priests, the Levites, and the people, have likewise cast lots for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to our fathers’ houses, at times appointed, year by year, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the Law. 35 We obligate ourselves to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the Lord; 36 also to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God, the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, as it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks; 37 and to bring the first of our dough, and our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the wine and the oil, to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and to bring to the Levites the tithes from our ground, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all our towns where we labor. 38 And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive the tithes. And the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse. 39 For the people of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of grain, wine, and oil to the chambers, where the vessels of the sanctuary are, as well as the priests who minister, and the gatekeepers and the singers. We will not neglect the house of our God.”

Transition to the Big Idea:

Big Idea: We need to regularly recommit ourselves to God.

No intermarriage with unbelievers

Observe the Sabbath and the Sabbatical Year

Support the proper worship of God.

1. God’s Law is a family commitment. (Nehemiah 10:1-29)

Explanation: It’s a strange thing in life how few people ever want to feel alone. Even misery loves company. How often when thinking about going somewhere do you ask, “Well who is going to be there? We are so afraid of commitment, not because we are afraid of commitment, but because perhaps we’re just afraid of being bored and alone…even in the presence of other people. Most of us would rather be bored and alone in front of the TV binge watching netflix. If I’m giving that up, the people better be worth it.

When coming to we should immediately be struck by the word “We.”

“We...”

“We join...”

“We obligate ourselves...”

“We also take on ourselves the obligation...”

Why is this important? In today’s hyperindividualistic world, we have somehow come to the conclusion that faith and a relationship with God is something do alone. It’s not.

Illustration: I marriage, it struck me that “we” is very important. The joining of 2 people as one is literally the turning of my “me” to “we.” No longer could I do whatever I wanted or go wherever I wanted. No longer could just buy whatever I wanted (made that mistake). There was not another person that I needed to keep in mind and consult. Some might be like well that’s too controlling. Checking with your wife? What are you whipped? No, I’m married. It takes a while to get there but eventually you stop thinking about me and you begin to naturally respond with we. That’s the type of relationship we should have with God and other followers of Jesus. Commitment to God and the church is not about me but we. This is why the Bible is so clear that gathering together as the people of God is not an option and it’s not about you. It’s about us. (And we’ll talk about this more in a few minutes when we get to point 2).

Yes you are responsible for your relationship with God, but you are also to answer Cain’s question in …your brothers keeper. And the covenant that the people of Jerusalem entered into with God is one that was not private, but a family affair.

Illustration:

Application: Now there are still obligations that we have from a biblical perspective. We are still called to be holy even if no one else is trying to be holy. We are still called to make disciiples even if no one is doing it. We are still called to follow Jesus…even if it’s not popular. But just think how much better it is when “we” do the requirements of God in community with one another.

It’s true it’s easier to do everything when there is someone right next to you holding you accountable, calling you out, but better yet celebrating with you when you find victory over that which you were stumbling.

Moving on...

2. God’s Law sets His people apart. ()

Explanation: Now this is a tough one because all of our lives we are told that we need to fit in and blend in with everyone else. There is nothing more painful that walking into middle school on the first day of school with the wrong backpack. You thought that the fun kids backpack was still cool, but nope we’re in solid colors now. Or even as adults we know the pressure to keep up with the Jones’ and I don’t even know who the Jones’ are!

And as much as we say we don’t care what other people think, we often do. God’s people, by the very nature of the God that they worship are called to be set apart. The word Holy, means set a part or different. In fact, if we’re honest, the Bible actually tells the people of God to be a little weird. The old testament law is meant to be so radically different that from an outsiders view they look a little weird.

The Sabbath was a big part of this becuase they were not allowed to work on the sabbath. They were giving up a whole day of productivity to worship God with their families and to allow everyone to rest…even their animals. That was weird to outsiders. It was also weird that every 7 years they let the ground rest and they didn’t work in the fields at all.

The people of God are called to be weird.

Weird in the way that they loved and cared one another.

Weird in the way that they only give their children in marriage to other believers.

It wasn’t about racisim when they wouldn’t intermarry. It was about same faiths. To give their daughters to marriage to pagans was essentially to condemn them to hell. But if that other family converted to Judasim regardless of ethnicity, there was no problem, because those people were evenly yoked.

Weird in the way that they give generously.

Weird in the way that they guard the integrity of their faith family.

Weird in the way that they dress.

Weird in the way that they eat.

Even weird in the way that they impose their faith on others through evangelism and proselytizing.

Illustration:

Illustration: Now weird is not always a bad thing. Sometimes weird is the feeling that something has changed....for the better. I had a friend in high school that had a really hard life with a hard family. He was fully of anger and hate. He was constantly getting into fights and even my dad would tell me to stay away from him because he was bad news. Well I ran into him a few years later and it was extremely weird. He was smiling. He was joyful. No anger or hate. Someone bumped into him and rather than shoving the guy, he simply said, “excuse me.”

So I asked, “What happened?” I was not surprised when he told me that he had given his life to Jesus. He had been transformed by the power of the gospel. Seeing the changed life of someone was a little weird.

Application: Many times we look at the Law or the Bible and we think of it as so restricting. But the truth is walking through life with no direction or guidance is terrifying. The Law creates boundaries and clear boundaries create freedom within those limits. Think of kids playing on a playground that is close to a busy street. If there is no fence, the kids usually stay as close to the playground as possible, because they are afraid getting hit by a car. But put a fence around the playground they will play all over. Boundaries have created freedom. The same is true of God’s word.

But let’s remember that obedience is a heart issue. It’s not a check box.

3. God’s law is more than just following Rules. (Nehemiah 10:32-39)

Explanation: I’m reminded of the story of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus and asked what must I do to be saved. Jesus said follow the Law. He said, I’ve done that. Jesus doesn’t rebuke the lie he just told, but says, still one thing you lack, go and sell all your possessions and follow me. For this young man, it was all about following rules and measuring up. When in reality it was always a heart issue.

When we look at , we understand that this wasn’t something they were entering into half-heartedly. They had spend weeks by this point thinking it over. Their hearts had been humbled and they were ready to go all in with God.

Illustration:

Application: For us today, it’s easy to have a check list of things that we do for God and feel we are ok.

For some that check list involves coming to church once a week or twice a year.

For others they will add praying before their meals.

For others they will add reading their Bibles.

Service, evangelism, helping the homeless, generosity.

But none of this is of any value if your heart isn’t right.

You might notice that there are 2 different titles for this sermon. The Bulletin cover says, “Restore your Obligations” while the insert says “Restore your Commitments.” The cover was the original title and I do think there are things that we are obligated to do. But obligation has the ring of negativity. If you only do things because you are obligated is that going to be right?

Imagine if you only did things for your spouse because you were obligated. The truth is your speech will like reflect that obligation. But if you are committed to him or her, you still fulfill your obligations, but it’s from the heart.

God wants our heart.

Transition to the Conclusion: And what does a heart after God look like?

Matthew 22:37–40 ESV

37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

So how are you doing?

I like to ask myself 2 questions:

Do I find myself drawn more easily to God in worship, in prayer and in His word?

Do I find myself getting less irritated with people especially those who typically drive me nuts?

Love God, Serve Others and When we do that....we can change the world.

Conclusion: What do I want them to know?

Recommitting to God isn’t a one time thing. It’s a daily choice to follow God and to give him your all.

This may have been the first time that anyone of the Jewish people ever committed themselves to God. Sure maybe their were some fake committments, but to some it was the realest thing they ever did.

Giving your life to Jesus is the best decision you will ever make. But from that point, life won’t be easy. It will then become a daily sacrifice to follow Jesus and do whatever it takes to follow His lead.

Reflection: Will you rely on God as you seek to follow Him?

Let’s spend some time reflecting on that?

Recommitting to God isn’t a one time thing. It’s a daily choice to follow God and to give him your all.

This may have been the first time that anyone of the Jewish people ever committed themselves to God. Sure maybe their were some fake committments, but to some it was the realest thing they ever did.

Giving your life to Jesus is the best decision you will ever make. But from that point, life won’t be easy. It will then become a daily sacrifice to follow Jesus and do whatever it takes to follow His lead.