The Calling of Word of God

Introduction

Webster’s dictionary defines determination as firmness of purpose. In our passage today, we see the Hebrew word, determined, with the same meaning. Of course, Marty McFly taught us, “If you set your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.” So I wonder, is there something in your life that you are determined to do, a purpose, something that you have set your mind to make sure happens? Right now most of you are determined to get the corn and milo harvested. Many are determined to get the wheat planted. If we dig deeper, you may be determined to raise your families in the Lord.

How many times in the last eighteen months have you heard that we are living in unprecedented times? I still remember when people were excited for the new year, glad that 2020 was coming to an end. Here we are, almost ten months in and we long for those good old days. Did our priorities change with the chaos of the last couple years?

I fear that we have allowed the problems in our day to distract us from the calling that is on our lives. I had a discussion with fellow pastors this last week. I had a thought that came to mind that terrified me. So many, including myself, see rights that we have taken for granted in our country, begin to erode away. I have heard so many say things about fighting for our rights, lines that they would take, stands that they would make. I am not saying that I do not think that our rights are not worth fighting for, but I am curious if we are as determined to live out our faith, as we are to fight for our rights? Would we be willing to sacrifice as much for our neighbor to know Jesus as we would the rights in our nation?

As we move on in the book of Ezra, we will meet the namesake of the book. We are going to be introduced to Ezra and see how it is that he journeyed to Jerusalem from Persia, a trip that was probably about nine hundred miles. As we have seen the Israelites come back to Jerusalem and build the temple, we now see Ezra come back with a purpose of making sure the Israelites are following the law of God about eighty years after the temple had been completed.

Ezra 7:8–10 CSB

8 Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, during the seventh year of the king. 9 He began the journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month and arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month since the gracious hand of his God was on him. 10 Now Ezra had determined in his heart to study the law of the Lord, obey it, and teach its statutes and ordinances in Israel.

God has revealed himself through his word and charged his people to know, obey, and teach his word.

God uses people of all backgrounds - that includes you

Qualifications are important when applying for certain jobs. I remember a commercial when I was kid that was on TV for years. I believe that it was for a technical school in Kansas City called DeVry. Maybe you remember this commercial. A young person at an interview for a job, and she is questioned about her qualifications for this job. She goes on to tell them that she has no qualifications, but she has a “brilliant personality.”

I think for many of us, we see ourselves as this person being asked what our qualifications are, we have nothing to offer. Maybe the questions in our day are different. Instead, we might be asked who we are to tell anyone who God is? We are told, “there is not one God, or one truth. You have your god, your truth and I have mine.”

Ezra 7:1–6 CSB

1 After these events, during the reign of King Artaxerxes of Persia, Ezra— Seraiah’s son, Azariah’s son, Hilkiah’s son, 2 Shallum’s son, Zadok’s son, Ahitub’s son, 3 Amariah’s son, Azariah’s son, Meraioth’s son, 4 Zerahiah’s son, Uzzi’s son, Bukki’s son, 5 Abishua’s son, Phinehas’s son, Eleazar’s son, the chief priest Aaron’s son 6 —came up from Babylon. He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted him everything he requested because the hand of the Lord his God was on him.

God orchestrated our background to accomplish his will. We see Ezra’s family line. It is quite impressive, going all the way back to Aaron. Showing that he is from the priestly line. Maybe you cannot take your family line back that far. Ezra’s story is not your story, or mine.

Some of you have grown up in a family that would pray each night before bed, each time you had food in front of you. Your parents were in church every time that the doors were open and drug you there with them. Praise God! Others of you might not have had the same experience. You are from a broken home. Maybe your family believed in God, but it was not a priority in your home. For some reason many believe that this has to anything to do with our ability to speak about the word of God.

Maybe it is not your upbringing, but instead, the life experiences that you have. That decisions that you have made in your life have disqualified you from telling others about God, what he says is right or wrong. In doing so, we disqualify ourselves.

Ezra had the pedigree. He came from the right family. Maybe this is what put him in the King’s presence. Not everybody had the ear of the King. You were not allowed to speak to him, and if you did, if you made him mad, it could cost you your life. But verse six says, “the hand of God was on him.” This means that God was with him, helping him. Not just in the presence of the King, but giving him that opportunity in the first place. The point that I am trying to make is this, God will put you in positions to use the experiences that you have in your life to further his kingdom, to speak his word. unfortunately, too many of us use those past experiences as excuses.

Not only has God given us the experiences that we have to set us up with others and share the word of God, he has given us the word as well. Notice how Ezra is described. Skilled in “the law of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given him.” It is that last part that we must notice. It is called the law of Moses many times in scripture. But Moses simply passed on what was given to him by God.

The word of God, the Bible, is something that we can rely on because it is from God. If Ezra would have told us that it was Moses that gave the law, that it was from him, then what do we have? Basically, a law from a sinful man. That leaves us with nothing. Nothing to rely on, nothing with power. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:16-7 “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” The word inspired, means breathed out. It is as if as the writers of scripture would breath in deep and as the would exhale, God would speak his word through them. It is because it is from God that we can rely on it, learn from it, allow it to direct our lives, and correct us when we are out of line.

Ezra 7:8–10 CSB

8 Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, during the seventh year of the king. 9 He began the journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month and arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month since the gracious hand of his God was on him. 10 Now Ezra had determined in his heart to study the law of the Lord, obey it, and teach its statutes and ordinances in Israel.

Ezra “determined” that he would study, obey and teach God’s law. Maybe that is why we actually feel disqualified. We have not set our minds, determined that we would study the word of God. I know that you are here now because you are wanting to hear from the Lord. But once a week, listening to me preach is not really studying the word of God. You must search and study the scriptures on your own as well.

God has called each us to know it, obey it, and teach it. You might remember Matthew 28:18-20 “Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”” How can we obey what we have been commanded unless we know what we have been what Jesus taught?

God’s desire is that you would use the experiences you have to tell others, comfort others with his word. We must determine that we will study, obey and teach the word of God.

God will remove obstacles that prevent us from teaching his ways

Have you ever watched somebody that is really good at hurdles. You never see them jump. They sprint at the hurdle, taking the exact same amount of steps each time between hurdles and know exactly how high they have to stride to get over the hurdle. It is so smooth, it really is amazing. At the same time, have you ever seen a bad hurdler? They do not sprint, they are tentative, stutter stepping to the hurdle. They may jump over it, but it is a high hop, not a smooth stride.

We see all kinds of opportunities in our lives today to share the love of God with people. But far too often, we are scared of them and we stutter step up to them, afraid that we will fall on our face and get hurt. In chapter seven, we can see how God has removed all obstacles that might have gotten in the way of Ezra making sure that the Israelites were obeying the Law.

Ezra 7:11–16 CSB

11 This is the text of the letter King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest and scribe, an expert in matters of the Lord’s commands and statutes for Israel: 12 Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, an expert in the law of the God of the heavens: Greetings. 13 I issue a decree that any of the Israelites in my kingdom, including their priests and Levites, who want to go to Jerusalem, may go with you. 14 You are sent by the king and his seven counselors to evaluate Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God, which is in your possession. 15 You are also to bring the silver and gold the king and his counselors have willingly given to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem, 16 and all the silver and gold you receive throughout the province of Babylon, together with the freewill offerings given by the people and the priests to the house of their God in Jerusalem.

The king issues a decree, freeing up any and all Israelites that would want to return. We see a lot of people return with Ezra and it is listed out like it was at the end of chapter one. Ezra 7:7 “Some of the Israelites, priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, and temple servants accompanied him to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.” This is approximately eighty years after the first group of exiles returned to Jerusalem. There were still quite a few Jews left in Babylon. Isn’t it funny how we can feel all alone in a large group?

One of the biggest obstacles of the Christian life is loneliness. Satan loves to isolate us, convince us that we are the only sinners that have struggled through something. Believing that other believers would not understand your sin, or even that God would not understand your sin. So what do we do, we hide, we lie, we pretend that everything is okay. Yet the new testament tells us that we are to confess our sins to one another in the book of James. In Hebrews it tells us that we are not to forsake meeting together, but to encourage each other, lifting up one another so that we are ready to go back out into the world. When God created Eve, He said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” We were made for community. Even the one God we serve, is a communing God, being the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In Elijah’s story we know that for a time Elijah was depressed and felt alone. God sent him Elisha, a man that would serve alone beside him. Not leave his side throughout his ministry. Now, with Ezra and this nine hundred mile journey, he has people lined up, never allowing him to face this journey alone.

God also provided everything that Ezra would need to obey the sacrificial laws. As exiles they had nothing. Everything belonged to Babylon, then when Babylon was taken over by Persia, it belonged to them. Over and over we see God plundering the places where the Israelites were and enriching them.

Haven’t we seen this in our time as well. God provides. I love hearing the stories from those who who around at the start of Faith Fellowship. How God provided for that group of believers, for this church. How God continues to provide. In the meeting that I had this last week with Pastors. The question came up, “How are you dealing with the people who still have not come back, and the lack of giving since Covid?” We kind of went around the table, it got to me, and I reported that God is providing. Our attendance is up, financially, last year, we were good.

God gave Ezra the authority to do everything that he needed to do. The king gave Ezra this letter to make sure that all of the local officials knew that the king had authorized this. That they would know that the king not only gave permission, but that the kingdom would be paying the bill. Give them whatever they need. Ezra was basically given a blank check and a get out of jail free card.

I am not saying that God will make it so that our government will always be okay with us proclaiming Jesus. I have said many times that I believe that there will come a day in our country that it will be illegal to preach the gospel as openly and freely as we do now. But our authority to do that does not come from the government. All authority has been given to Jesus who told us, Matthew 28:18-20 “Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

God may not remove the obstacles for us, but he will give us the ability to deal with them. Some of us may look like a bad hurdler going over them, but in our weakness he is made strong. As we obey and allow him to see us through those obstacles, he will be glorified.

God will be glorified

When I worked in the business world we did not have problems, we had opportunities. What this meant is that a customer, or guest as we would call them. Because a guest is somebody that you would get to know and feel welcome. When a guest would have a bad experience, we had the opportunity to turn it into a great experience. Yeah, it didn’t really work for me either.

Unfortunately, we see these obstacles as problems, when really they are opportunities for God to glorify himself. In the beginning of the twenty-third Psalm, we see how the psalmist speaks about all of the things that the Lord has done for him. Psalm 23:1-3 “The Lord is my shepherd; I have what I need. 2 He lets me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He renews my life; he leads me along the right paths for his name’s sake.” So you see that, for His name’s sake. Psalm 46:10 “10 “Stop fighting, and know that I am God, exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth.” we know that we are to be still, to stop fighting. God will be exalted. Too many times we are worried about what we are facing, instead of excited to see how God will glorify himself.

Ezra 7:27–28 CSB

27 Blessed be the Lord, the God of our ancestors, who has put it into the king’s mind to glorify the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, 28 and who has shown favor to me before the king, his counselors, and all his powerful officers. So I took courage because I was strengthened by the hand of the Lord my God, and I gathered Israelite leaders to return with me.

Ezra saw that it was the Lord who had orchestrated all of these things. He is the one who had gave him favor with the king and his counselors, provided for the Israelites to obey the laws. So what did this do for Ezra, it encouraged him.

When we begin to trust in the Lord and allow him to work in our lives, when we obey, and see how God uses us to further his kingdom, it gives us confidence. We do not become confident in ourselves, but confident in the Lord.

What are you determined to do? I pray that you have set your mind, determined that we will live for the Lord. We as individuals and a body of Christ, will live for the Lord. Strive to further his kingdom. That we will determine to study the word of God, so that we may obey what he called each of to do, that we might tells others about Jesus. That we might love others enough to tell them how to be saved. That we might further his kingdom.

What does it mean to be determined?

Do you have something in your life that you are determined to do?

What qualifies somebody to teach others about God?

Are there things in your past that disqualifies you from teaching?

Have you ever felt alone?

How does confessing sin to one another bring believers closer to one another?

What obstacles has God removed in your life as a Christian?

How does studying God’s word give us confidence to share our faith?

Why is obedience important in our walk with the Lord? with us sharing our faith?

Has God every used you to glorify himself? How?