The way we live: Confession and Worship
Notes
Transcript
Bible Passage: Nehemiah 9:1-5
Bible Passage: Nehemiah 9:1-5
1 On the twenty-fourth day of this month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting, wearing sackcloth, and had put dust on their heads.
2 Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.
3 While they stood in their places, they read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day and spent another fourth of the day in confession and worship of the Lord their God.
4 Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the raised platform built for the Levites and cried out loudly to the Lord their God.
5 Then the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah—said, “Stand up. Blessed be the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting.” Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise.
Prayer: Lets stand, in Spirit if not in body, before the Lord, now: let’s pray for God’s Word to bear fruit in our lives, and lead us to worship Him with all respect. Let’s bow before God!
Turn in your bibles, please to Verse 38 of Nehemiah 9 ...
38 In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement in writing on a sealed document containing the names of our leaders, Levites, and priests.
These last few weeks - and now months - have all been about getting ready to return to church again. I hope you noticed that.
Like Nehemiah we took notice of where the church was at (Nehemiah 1,) as we considered the “news”, or in our case, the facts, of the state of the church.
We had to conclude that the church, generally speaking, was in disrepair, just like it was in Jeremiah’s time:
Ne 1:3 heading, as a church - towards making a binding agreement with God again - and that is where I hope to continue to lead our Session, and specifically, over the next two months, so please listen attentively!
3 They said to me, “The remnant in the province, who survived the exile, are in great trouble and disgrace. Jerusalem’s wall has been broken down, and its gates have been burned.”
We undertook t make reparations; and started such reparations, if not on the physical walls, then in our hearts, I pray (Ne. 2, 3, 6).
We took sober note of the fact that wherever a people turned to God, there will be much opposition, from outside of the church, and, often, from within! (Ne.4);
We were reminded that the church has a duty towards the frail, the weak, the lonely, and the lost, (Ne.5)
We rejoiced in our hearts to see the work that the people of God set out to do, was and always will be completed, by the grace of God, in the strength of God (Ne. 6: 15-19)
And, in chapters 7, 8, we found a description - not a prescription! - of what we might expect, when the people of God, faithfully return to church, honoring their promise and commitment, to pay due attention to the ministry and service of God in this world!
In Ne 9:38
38 In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement in writing on a sealed document containing the names of our leaders, Levites, and priests.
We to that part in the Bible, where we see Israel undertokk, anew, to do just that, again!
In short, God gives us this passage, to remind us of our duty towards Him alone!
and His promise that if we do, He will never forsake us!
Loved Ones in our Lord Jesus,
Israel once upon a time in history, after years of half-hearted, occasional, unenthusiastic worship,
got to a point, where they felt they had nowhere else to turn, but to turn back to God!
Are we there yet?
For many years, they had slowly drifted away from the due true worship of their merciful God!
But, how could they now this?
By turning to God’s Word again!
By relying on God’s Word, to show them the way that God had showed them from the beginning of time,
and, in Nehemiah’s time … the way back to Jerusalem, the promised land, and the Temple!
back to God, no less; because that is the only way to everlasting peace and joy - and life!
For Nehemiah and the Israelites, it all started - as it will be for us - officially, when the people of God
recommitted to return to the gathering of God’s people
for regular prayer and confession and praise, again!
Back to the Tabernacle and the Temple; back to church, we might say!
And so that is what they set out to do - and indeed, what they did, as we saw.
Last week we saw what that looked like - Ne. 8?
The people of God:
gathered expectantly;
the listened attentively;
they responded rightly (prayer and praise)
and they departed joyfully (Ne 8:1-12)
- celebrating, again, the feasts that reminded them of God’s faithfulness and providence! (Ne 8:13-18)
And now, it is three weeks later,
and the people of God are still gathering expectantly,
listening carefully,
reacting properly,
and, as we will see, depart joyfully, again!
(God’s worship calls for something that we might find on a shampoo bottle:
“Wash, lather, rinse, repeat …)
But now, they needed to ake it official, and they wanted to make it binding!
binding on their consciences, and binding in their families, as a matter of a legal agreement!
And the way the people of God does that, is to renew, their vows,
their promises before God, for regular faithful, holy living!
This morning we see, that it started with a recognition,
and a confession
of their having turned away from God!
Turn to chapter 9 of Nehemiah in your bibles, please …
See the headline?
“National Confession of Sin”
Have a look what verse 1 and 2 of Nehemiah 9, says:
1 On the twenty-fourth day of this month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting, wearing sackcloth, and had put dust on their heads.
2 Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.
The picture of what was happening there on that 24th day of the Seventh month, as we saw in Nehemiah 8, was something like this:
Early that morning, a rather sorry looking group of people started arriving at a point of assembly!
They were dressed for the occasion!
They were dressed in Sackcloth, and had earth and ashes strewn over their heads (“dust”)!
Their dress (or lack of it …) was a display of their remorse … indeed their shame; their guilt, no less
before Almighty God! As they had to admit, that they had neglected their duty towards God!
And the way that they act, and the way that they are dressed
- distinguishes themselves from those other” people around them!
It’s not as if other nations - Godless nations - don’t experience shame and guilt
it just that Israel, have been set apart, (that’s what “holiness” means)
set apart for holy living, and seen to be different!
B&S, are we prepared to be seen to be different?
in the way we relate to God
in the way deal with guilt and sin?
As an example, one might imagine this scene:
It is about 3 or 4 in the PM, and an Israelite and a Babylonian are working together in a field,;
The Israelite says: “I sorry to leave you to finish all this, but I have important business to attend to.”
The Babylonian, says: “What do you mean? What is it you need to do at this hour of the day?”
The Israelite says: “I am going to the Tabernacle! The Shabbat (Sabbath, is about to start!)
But, this day, is even more special!
On this day, they are overtly contra-cultural!
(They separate themselves from the heathen nation to whom they are slaves, by their own doing … you know the story…)
(While the world carries on around them as normal,
the Israelites, on this day, there in that strange land,
gather, as, Israelites!
They are, by their circumcision, by the foods that they eat, and don’t eat, by their very practice of the Sabbath day - different to those who carry on as if here is no God!
And from now on, Israel, the people of God, would undertake to be faithful in their worship before God!
Things are going to be different, from now on!
And they are ready to sign their names to such an undertaking!
An undertaking, that they would never again renege on their promises before God!
Friends, you ready to sign your names to such an undertaking, again?
You might be thinking, “...but I have never signed my name to such an undertaking” in the first place!
Really?
Do you not remember the promises you made when you did your profession of faith? (((Pause))
Do you remember the vow you took when you got married? (((Pause)))
(Marriage vows are made before God, even as we promise we will love one another
in the same way that Jesus, the husband, promised to love the church -
that’s why we get married in church, with the people of God as witnesses, before God.
It’s a big deal, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives - do you still remember your marriage vows?
Do yo remember the promises you made when you became a member of this church?
Let me read them to you:
“I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Saviour, and I want to follow and serve Him as His disciple …
I acknowledge that the teaching of the Old and New Testaments, summarized in the creeds and our confessions, and taught in this Christian Church, is the true and complete doctrine of salvation;
I promise to do all that I can, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to strengthen my love and commitment to Christ, by sharing faithfully in the life of the church and its means of grace ...
… and when you answered - as you did, “I do!” or “I promise” …
you as good as signed your name to a binding document!
You see? You did once promise?
And now, when we come asking, as we will, soon, B&S, that you recommit, again, to your promises before God
Will you join us - as the Session of this church; as the the communicant members of this church
and if you are not a communicant member of this church, will you join us, and become one?
/// /// ///
Israel , declared themselves ready, on that day … and, again, that is what today’s passage is about!
And it is time, Loved ones, that we did the same!
It won’t be easy - there will be opposition, from outside of church (sometimes family… and friends ..)
and from within (brothers and sisters in the church … sometimes from within ourselves!)
but we will be successful - if we are sincere in our re-commitment!
And it will be unnerving!
One does not come flippantly into the presence of a Holy, almighty God,
A God, who has shown He has the power to conduct all of History,
to remind the His people that they had neglected Him, turned away from Him,
as I believe He is doing right now through World Events and affairs!
(As God showed Israel, through their exile, through their enslavement to foreign nations)
“”By the rivers of Babylon, where we wept … O how can we sing the Lord’s song // in a strange land?””
It will be difficult, because we don’t really see the problem anymore!
You see, our slide away from God, is always gradual and slow
- and soon we become all too familiar with the un-Godly
and, over time, unmarked time … we become comfortable there!
History shows it is so ... for those who still consider history useful.
We have become, in many ways like the proverbial frog in a pot of cold water, swimming happily along
unbeknownst to the fact that someone has moved the pot onto the stove
and is turning up the heat, one notch at a time!
It is time, friends, we ask ourselves whether we are that frog
in the pot and the water that is the world
and the heat: … sin ...
Slowly, but surely, we have again turned away from God,
from the true worship of of God
… one Sunday evening service at a time … ((((pause))))
one co-habitation-relationship outside of marriage at a time (((pause))))
… one now legal abortion at a time … ((((pause))))
and now, euthanasia laws are being put through parliament, that will make us just a little bit comfortable with the notion that human beings are only valuable when they can contribute to society - and therefore, the old, and the depressed and the hopeless ones, may be discarded off!
Heat, sin, callousness, slowly turned up, one notch at a time - can you see it? - disregard for the Holiness of God, who alone gives life, and determines the days of our worth and usefulness - to Him!
- until we are quite able to withstand rather high temperatures, without even noticing the heat is being turned up!
Until it begins to boil … that is !
That, is where Israel found themselves in the months and years before that Seventh Month of the year in the reign of King Artaxerxes!
And it is by Gods grace and mercy and love, alone, that their consciences is pricked; that they become aware that the life they ran off to, like the prodigal son, was no life at all, compared to a life in our God and Father, who longs to see us come home again!
God is merciful that way, friends ...
And this morning, if we will let it be so ,
God’s word - this very passage in Nehemiah 9 - may break into your life!
And you may start to long to be home with God again, everyday of your life, and especially, Sundays, Church days!
//// //// //// ////
Israel had neglected their right worship of God
… and they had turned to the Babylonian Baals and other man-made gods, banking on good luck, and lottery tickets … have you heard this line: “When I win the Lottery ...”
Israel, had placed their bets on false Gods and worldly kings - and they were left in ruin and in chaos - that’s why Jerusalem needed to be rebuilt, you see!
Is it time that we set out to rebuild the walls around our lives; our families; our church?
Nehemiah 9:1–2 (CSB)
1 On the twenty-fourth day of this month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting, wearing sackcloth, and had put dust on their heads.
2 Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.
But, how did they come to this knowledge, this experience, of the hopelessness of their position, but for mercy and forgiveness of God?
Nehemiah 9:3 (CSB)
3 While they stood in their places, they read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day and spent another fourth of the day in confession and worship of the Lord their God.
See that?
It is the reading of the law, pouring over it
- spending about 3 hours (“for a fourth of the day”)
which leads to their re-commitment to God!
They spend three hours (a quarter of the day) on this occasion, to reading the Law of God
and, in due course, they will spend another quarter of the day, in confession ...
(I hope you have a picture in your mind at this point …
--- it seems to be an ability that has been lost in modern society … to use our imagination, to see with faith eyes … ---
(Perhaps that’s why we find it difficult to conjure up the image of a Holy God - in spite of Jesus having walked among us ...?)
On this day, B&S, Israel get it!
And so they come, to the gathering of the people of God,
dressed in a fashion that is a display of their repentance and heartbreak!
… and they weep, for it!
8 They read out of the book of the law of God, translating and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was read.
9 Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to all of them, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the law.
Can you see them?
Perhaps verse 4, 5 will give us faith eyes, to see the picture:
4 Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the raised platform built for the Levites and cried out loudly to the Lord their God.
5 Then the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah—said, “Stand up. Blessed be the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting.” Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise.
There they are, the leaders of the the people of God,
representing the people of God, before Him
crying out to Him:
“God, our God, have mercy!”
For three hours, they pray and confess their own sins, and the sins of their fathers;
before they turn … to worship:
Nehemiah 9:5 (CSB)
5 Then the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah—said, “Stand up. Blessed be the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting.” Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise.
And John Lennox might say at this point: “And they’re back!”
The people of God had come back to Him; they had come to their senses
and they were moved to tears and gratitude that God remained merciful
- that He had not abandon them
even when they had turned way from God
From now on, they would come expectantly again;
listen attentively again
react properly, again
and depart joyfully again, after each meeting of the people of God, with their Holy God!
Are you you looking forward to returning to church, again, B&S, you … the people of God?
Will you sign your name and your family to faithful worship again!
We will come asking, again, soon!
Till then …
God be with you, till we meet again!
Amen!