Forging the Road Ahead

Intro: How many times have you wanted to start a project and, like me, you really have no idea where to start? You have a couple of options. You can either start hacking away at the project, perhaps end up with a frankenstein… You can ask someone for help… Or you can find a tutorial. Whatever route you choose, you have an end goal in mind, and you have to constantly choose to make the next right decision.

Choose the Right Fear

Ezra 3:1–6 ESV

When the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. Then arose Jeshua the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. They set the altar in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening. And they kept the Feast of Booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the rule, as each day required, and after that the regular burnt offerings, the offerings at the new moon and at all the appointed feasts of the Lord, and the offerings of everyone who made a freewill offering to the Lord. From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord. But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid.

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The Seventh month (the seventh anything, just about) in the Jewish calendar year holds special significance. 7 - Number of perfection or completion, so many feasts and sacrifices are held in this month.

The Israelites are first and foremost being obedient.

But we also see an interesting and important detail that happens here… The Israelites are worshiping IN RESPONSE TO their fear of the peoples around them.

Yes, it was obedience to Scripture, but don’t lose sight of the fact that obedience, joy, and quelling of fear all go hand-in-hand.

Instead of choosing to fear their enemies, the Israelites chose to engage in fear of God.

Fear of God = worshipful reverence of God, an understanding of His great power over our lives.

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Where your fear drives you will tell you a lot about the state of your heart.

Do you go into hiding? Do you find refuge in your friends and family? Do you build up walls of possessions to act as a barrier against your insecurities? I know people who trust their jobs and 401Ks more than they trust the guiding hand of God. Then, when they lose that job, or the Great recession hits, they have a crisis of belief… Not because they’ve been trusting God, but because they’ve been trusting their income to keep them from life’s troubles. Do you find it hard to be a Christ-follower in front of your peers?

All of these are great affronts to our identity as worshipers of God. They betray our trust in Christ.

A trust in the things of this world shows a worship of self-preservation as opposed to a worship of God.

Christian, are you tied down by self-preservation? These Israelites left their towns and their homes to worship God. They didn’t leave behind anyone to watch after their stuff. They could have lost it ALL, but they trusted God to care for them in the midst of their obedience.

In the midst of COVID, are you worshiping more or less?

T: There was, however, a great problem that had to be addressed… The Altar was not a longterm solution. They needed a Temple.

Get to Work, Give the Glory

Ezra 3:7–11 ESV

So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus king of Persia. Now in the second year after their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak made a beginning, together with the rest of their kinsmen, the priests and the Levites and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity. They appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to supervise the work of the house of the Lord. And Jeshua with his sons and his brothers, and Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together supervised the workmen in the house of God, along with the sons of Henadad and the Levites, their sons and brothers. And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David king of Israel. And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.” And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

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So the Israelites struck deals, paid their laborers, and got to work on reestablishing the foundation of the Temple.

In doing what God had called them to do, they had clear direction. When they returned to Jerusalem, they were to rebuild God’s Temple so that worship of Yahweh could continue as written in the Law of Moses.

There wasn’t question about timing or whether or not to move.

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The Israelites were going about doing the next right thing.

They knew the goal or the trajectory upon which their generation was to act. They were to make sure that they and generations after them could worship Yahweh.

They engaged in a work that went beyond their own generation.

In their act of doing the right thing, they were providing for the generations that followed them.

Such is the case with us, too. When we engage in obedience, it sets the stage for those who will come after us.

And when we engage in disobedience, it carries over from generation to generation.

Our obedience is our investment.

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After the foundation had been laid, the Israelites turned to worshiping God.

The Scripture says they SHOUTED and praised God!

Now listen, I’m not one for emotionalism, but the true response of believers in worship is an emotional thing. It comes from deep within the soul. And so it did with these Israelites.

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Does your soul engage in worship? When was the last time you truly gave your all in worshiping the Lord?

This also points to the fact that our obedience fuels the intensity of our worship. When we are obedient, this acts as a catalyst for the soul in engaging in worship.

Be sure you understand what i’m not saying: I’m not saying the most wild and crazy worshiper is the most obedient. It’s not a show. What I am saying is that your obedience directly informs the way you worship.

How is an engine supposed to go without fuel? How can the microwave work if it’s not plugged in? Worship without the fuel of obedience is like the car coasting down the hill. It will get to the bottom, but without fuel, it’s not getting any further, and it certainly won’t climb that next hill.

T: But it’s clear that celebration wasn’t the only response to the Temple being built.

Don’t Ignore Grief

Ezra 3:12–13 ESV

But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

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There were others in the crowd, specifically those who had seen the temple before, who were gravely disappointed.

Why do you think that was?

I have a few thoughts: Perhaps the foundation wasn’t quite as majestic as the temple before it. The temple before had used massive stones, and there’s reason to think the stones used in this foundation weren’t near as large.

There was something lost from what was before.

Think about the last time you moved houses. You may have been excited about moving into a new home, new neighborhood, maybe even moved several states over. Even if it’s a great move, you probably experienced some grief in that you missed things at the other house, in the other town or neighborhood. Even in good changes, there is grief.

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I know our church experienced a significant amount of grief when there were certain changes made to the worship style, and some of that had to be rectified.

The fact that I even brought it up probably causes some folks to feel a certain way.

What many experienced during that time is very similar to what the Israelites experienced here. There was excitement all around, but grief amongst many.

We as a culture tend to ignore, or tamp down grief. I could preach a whole sermon on the grief that we choose to ignore and all the unhealthy things that brings up.

These Israelites knew that what had to be done was done. This would spell the future for the coming generations.

Notice, they didn’t grieve because the message or methodology had changed. They grieved because what they once knew was forever gone. But they had to rebuild to save their way of life.

Church, we need to be acutely aware of how we pass on our faith to the next generation. And if you’re curious about the vision for the church, I can tell you, one key element is passing on our faith to our children.

Studies show that the next generation is leaving the faith in large swaths. If we don’t get serious about giving our kids a good understanding of God’s Word, we will continue to lose them to the secular culture.

Conclusion

What about you? How will you engage in passing on the faith to those around you? How will you strengthen others? What are you willing to give up for the sake of the kingdom?

Do you know the Good News? Do you know that Jesus Christ died for your sin and is willing to take all of that on so you can receive forgiveness and closeness with God?