The Priority of Scripture

Today we embark on a journey of renewal. There comes a point in the life of every church where its people must ask themselves, “Are we still achieving the goals Christ has commissioned us to achieve?” Are we still effectively ministering to the community? Are we still advancing the gospel? Are we seeing people renewed and transformed through the ministry of the church? Or have we found that we have closed ourselves off, gotten comfortable, and merely maintained the status quo?

The mission of the church is to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that Christ has commanded. We must always evaluate how we are achieving this mission and what adjustments we need to make to do so more effectively.

Israel had a covenant with God which among other things stated, “If you will follow me and these laws that I am giving you, you will continue to be my people and you will continue to occupy the land that I have given you. If you do not, then you will lose these privileges.” As we get into the text of Nehemiah, let’s take a bird’s eye view of the events leading up to this moment.

After the death of Solomon, the nation of Israel split in two. The northern kingdom retained the name Israel and the southern kingdom took the name Judah. The northern kingdom steadily declined and was exiled by the Assyrians. The southern kingdom saw periods of renewal, but still declined and faced exile by the Babylonians. Because the Jews did not heed the words of her prophets, they faced exile for breaking the covenant with God.

The Persians eventually took over and they had a different tactic. They allowed their captive people to return home. A group of Israelites returned to Jerusalem with Ezra and rebuilt the temple, but the city was defenseless since its walls were still in shambles. When Nehemiah heard this news, he was grieved. With permission from the king, he was able to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls. Though they faced opposition, the building of the walls was complete and then here in Nehemiah chapter 8, they hold a ceremony in accordance with Jewish law.

Let’s read Nehemiah 8:1-8 together.

Nehemiah 8:1–8 NASB95

And all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had given to Israel. Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women and all who could listen with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month. He read from it before the square which was in front of the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of men and women, those who could understand; and all the people were attentive to the book of the law. Ezra the scribe stood at a wooden podium which they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam on his left hand. Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the Lord the great God. And all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, explained the law to the people while the people remained in their place. They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.

Israel was in a state of renewal. But what can the Christian church learn about renewal from a period of renewal for the Jews thousands of years ago?

The church will experience renewal when it places the proclamation of scripture as its first priority.

What do you think is the church’s top priority? The church is a people who worship. Our first priority must be the proclamation of God’s Word, for from it we find our instruction for living out this new covenant with Christ.

Renewal requires establishing a time and place for the proclamation of God’s Word.

The Israelites established a set day and time for the proclamation of the Word of God. Verse two says they came together on the first day of the seventh month. Now this was not the only time all year that they established a time and place, but for this instance, they set a time and place where the people gathered to hear the proclamation of the Word of God.

Now I want you to notice a few things about this passage. First, It was the people’s idea to establish this time and place and the agenda for the meeting. They asked Ezra to come and to bring the book of the Law of Moses and then he read it from early morning to midday. There was a priority on setting a time and place to hear the Word of God, which brings me to the next thing I want you to notice.

The Israelites gathered to hear the Word of God, not a cleverly crafted speech from Ezra the priest. In other words, Ezra was not the main attraction. He was not the show. He was the vessel through whom God was speaking. In the same way, you are not here to hear Jesse Hammonds speak. You are here to hear the Word of God proclaimed from the pulpit. God has chosen me of all people to be his mouthpiece in this pulpit every week. My job is not to give you my opinion on what the text says, but to rightly divide the word of truth, proclaiming the Word of God so that you can understand.

The Word of God must take center stage in everything that we do at First Baptist Three Rivers. In every meeting, in every event, the primary focus should be on sharing the Word of God with those in attendance.

Application: What is your attitude toward Sunday morning gatherings? Sunday school? etc.?

Renewal requires attentiveness to God’s Word.

Not only should we have a determined time and place, but renewal requires attentiveness to God’s Word. Attendance does not equal attentiveness. I pray often that Sunday morning would not be a time where we simply go through the motions. To go through the motions means we show up and passively participate in what is taking place. Verse three says that all the people were attentive to the book of the law. They were actively participating as they heard the Word of the Lord spoken. Their attention was on what was taking place in front of them.

Today we live in a very noisy society. We are constantly bombarded with messaging from radio, to television, to smartphones. We are always connected and we are always surrounded by noise. As such, it grows increasingly difficult to focus on any one thing.

About a month ago, Marci and I celebrated our 10th anniversary with a trip to South Dakota. One of my favorite parts of the trip was driving through the Black Hills National Forest. We arrived to a lookout spot and climbed some of the rocks to a point that took us just above the tree line. The landscape opened up and it was just tremendous. The view was beautiful, but the thing that impressed me was there was absolutely no noise. No birds were chirping, no wind was blowing, no cars driving by. There was a moment where we could hear nothing. All we had to do was pay attention to what was going on right in front of us.

Every week we face the challenge of coming in here and choosing between passive and active listening. Passive listening occurs when you don’t give your full attention to what is being heard. You experience this when you listen to music while exercising, listening to an audiobook while driving, or when your spouse says something while you’re watching TV or scrolling through Facebook.

Active listening occurs when you give the thing which you are hearing your full attention. Active listening demonstrates concentration and comprehension of the message. Comprehension is understanding. There is a Hebrew word in this passage translated in a few ways: listen in verse 2, understand in verse 3, explained in verse 7, and understood in verse 8. The word generally means to understand or pay attention. Here we see that understanding comes through the use of one’s ears as he hears the message. Without attentiveness to God’s Word, one cannot hope to understand it.

How are you doing this morning? Are you actively listening to the Word of God, or passively listening?

Active listening requires a response.

When we actively listen to the proclamation of God’s Word, it demands a response. When we actively listen to the Word of God, we become sensitive to the Holy Spirit, resulting in conviction. When the Israelites heard the Word of God in Nehemiah 8, their reaction in verse 6 was to say, “Amen! Amen!” They lifted their hands in the air and then bowed low with their faces on the ground. There was an outward expression of their worship as a result of what they had heard. They experienced renewal and expressed it amongst one another as they responded to what they had heard. The men surrounding Ezra had gone among them explaining the law to the people and through that explanation, they understood.

The Israelites had learned a tough lesson. They learned for generations what it means to disobey the Lord and break their covenant. When they chose not to live God’s way, he allowed them to suffer the consequences. The same thing applies to the church. If the church does not want to live the way God wants us to, he has the right to close the doors on us. But that doesn’t have to happen. We can experience renewal when we set the proclamation of the Word of God as first priority in our lives. We set aside Sunday morning not for the sake of socializing with one another or carrying on a tradition. We gather to hear, “Thus saith the Lord” because our first priority is the proclamation of God’s Word.

Application:

How would you rate your attentiveness to God’s Word week by week?

What is standing between you and better attentiveness to God’s Word?

How can you do a better job of prioritizing scripture in your life this week?

What is your priority?

We serve a king whose first priority was to secure salvation for his people.