2006-09-10 - The work at Hand - Ezra 1 1-4
Message: The Work at Hand Newport Baptist Church
Scr: Ezra 1:1-4 Date: 2006-09-10
Intro: story – picking rocks – 1 hr on & off… Paste a smile on!
Explanation – Some jobs I love, others not so much – give examples
Problem especially when I’m doing something I love but need to do something else because it needs to be done or is the right thing to do.
Many distractions around us – call of Christ is to his work.
Luke 9:62 - 62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
Challenge today for us here at Newport United Baptist Church is to focus on the work at hand and together work to accomplish the mission of God’s church.
TS - These chapters describe four key events in the history of the remnant of Israel that had returned to their land. Found that not everyone was willing to go along and that a remnant would have to do the work. Not comfortable but necessary
1) Returning to the Land (1–2)
a) Ill – Mom and Opa – walking in the back 50 – someday…
b) The proclamation (1:1–4).
i) Isaiah 44:28–45:3 contains an amazing prophecy of Cyrus before the great Persian ruler was born. In 539 B.C. Cyrus conquered Babylon and established the Persian empire. His policy with prisoners of war was opposite that of Babylon, for he encouraged the Jews to return to their land, rebuild their temple, and pray for his welfare. Its possible Cyrus extended this same privilege to other displaced nations and their gods. His decree was in 538 B.C. had to do with the people returning to the land and rebuilding the temple. This decree was a marvelous fulfillment of Scripture.
c) The precious things (1:5–11) – collected temple treasures
i) Ill – my teddy bear – “boo boo” – Edmund and the bear’s nose
ii) The Spirit of God worked in the hearts of the people and of their captors. The temple treasures were restored to the Jews, and the Gentiles also gave them freewill contributions for their temple.
iii) The Jews could not restore the temple worship without the appointed furnishings.
iv) How unlike our worship! – John 4:21-24 - 21 Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
d) The people (chap. 2).
i) Ill – genealogies – boring! But!
ii) About fifty thousand Jews were concerned enough to leave the safety and luxury of Babylon and return to their own land.
iii) Most of the Jews had settled down in Babylon and had no desire to return to their Promised Land. Content with security and material gain, they abandoned the land of their fathers and stayed with the captives in Babylon.
2) Rebuilding the Temple (3)
a) Ill - The story is told of the foreman on a building site who asks one of the workers what he is doing. The worker replies, "I'm breaking rocks." Another worker is asked the same question, and he answers, "I'm earning for my family." The question is posed to a third worker. With a glint in his eye, he responds, "I'm building a cathedral."
b) Establishing the altar (vv. 1–6).
i) The altar was the center of the Jewish worship for without their sacrifices they could not approach God or expect His blessing. The exiles feared their powerful neighbors, but they knew God would protect them if they obeyed Him.
c) Laying the foundation (vv. 7–13).
i) The people apparently gave offerings, adding these to the gifts from king Cyrus (1:5–11) who also provided materials to rebuild the temple. In the year 535 they started the work, in the second month (our April–May). The Levites led the way in doing the work, assisting the other workers on the job. So grateful were the people that they sang and shouted when the foundation was laid.
ii) God was doing the impossible in this situation (Jer. 33:1–11).
iii) Of course, there were older people there who remembered the former temple in its glory, and they could only weep as they saw the plainness of this second temple (see Hag. 2:3). However, it is not good to live in the past.
3) Resisting the Enemy (4)
a) Ill – Prayer of Joe Wright - ”Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know your Word says, “Woe to those who call evil good,” but that’s exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values. We confess that: We have ridiculed the absolute truth of your Word and called it pluralism. We have worshipped other gods and called it multi-culturalism. We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternate lifestyle. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it a choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the airwaves with profanity and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas, and who have been ordained by You, to govern this great state. Grant them Your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of Your will…Amen”
b) Our enemy, Satan, never wants the Lord’s work to prosper. Christ is the Builder; Satan is the destroyer. We now see the hand of the enemy as he seeks to oppose and hinder the work.
i) Compromise (4vv. 1–3).
(1) The people of the land offered to assist the Jews in their work, but Zerubbabel and Joshua refused their aid. These people were the Samaritans, a half-breed nation of mixed Jews and Gentiles. Read
(2) 2 Kings 17 for a description of the Samaritans and their false religion. (In John 4:20–24, Jesus clearly rejected Samaritan religion.) The Samaritans finally built their own temple on Mt. Gerazim and remained separated from the Jews.
ii) Interference (4vv. 4–5).
(1) The people of the land hired men at court to resist the Jews, and this device succeeded in stopping the work; see 4:24. For nearly fifteen years (534–520) the work ceased on the temple.
4) Resuming the Work (5)
a) Fifteen years go by between chapters 4 and 5. It is not until the Word of God is proclaimed by the two prophets Haggai and Zechariah that the work of the temple begins again. The Word of God had begun the work (Ezra 1:1), and now the Word of God would encourage the workers and ultimately finish the work (6:14). From 520–515 the people labored and finished the temple.
b) There have been interruptions in the past and there will be in the future in the ministry of this church
i) Change of pastors and passing of Pastor David Porter (e.g.)
c) Time for rebuilding
i) Youth a priority, worship and prayer a necessity
ii) Building – maintaining and updating it for ministry
iii) Adults – discipleship, fellowship, worship, service, evangelism
d) Make the main thing the main thing
e) Ill – 4 contractors, landscaper, one for foundation, carpenter for walls and one for roof. Landscaper builds a beautiful garden on the bare area where house is to be built, Roof guy shows up, sees garden where house should be so he builds trusses, sheaths and shingles the roof over top of the garden, wall guy shows up at the right time but the roof is already there, so he builds walls on top of the roof – inside floor is hills, under floor is shrubs and flowers! foundation guy shows up last and pours concrete over the whole mess!
(1) Dogma – foundation – Jesus is the saviour – essentials of faith
(2) Doctrine – walls & ceiling - Baptism – important
(3) Opinion – landscaping - optional
Conclusion – The work at hand remains before us.
Romans 10:17 – Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
The word is this – John 3:16
The work is this – Matt 28:18 - Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them ina the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, he has told us that those who follow will do even greater miracles than he did. We will see God’s power as we return to the land he promised us, rebuild his church, resist the devil and resume the work which he has given.
Close with prayer from Ephesians 3:14
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Prayer –