Are You Committed?
Notes
Transcript
Intro: Last week we went through Nehemiah 8, where the people asked Ezra to read from the book of the Law.
Intro: Last week we went through Nehemiah 8, where the people asked Ezra to read from the book of the Law.
Whenever we come to the Bible, the word of God and read it, or hear it preached, it requires a response from us.
The response could be worship, repentance, a new commitment, celebration, thanksgiving and many other responses. But it does require a response.
What we see in the following chapters is the commitments the people made and we will discover if there was real transformation.
The first commitment we see the people make is a commitment to be the covenant people of God.
The reason we see this response is because that is the response is because this is the way the people responded when they read the law in Deuteronomy 27-30. I encourage you to read those chapters this week.
A covenant is a life long commitment two parties enter into, it involves curses if someone brakes the covenant and blessings if you are faithful. In the case of God, he is always faithful, he is the great covenant keeper. The people of Israel time ad again have broken the covenant, therefore have been cursed or punished by God, which is why they were in exile and now returning.
The people come now after reading the law and want to renew th covenant, notice what Nehemiah 10:29 says,
Nehemiah 10:29 (ESV)
and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law that was given by Moses the servant of God,
The people were renewing the covenant and becoming a Covenant people of God. What does that mean?
We can see what it meant by what they say they are going to commit to. To become a Covenant People of God the people were committing to:
A commitment to know God’s word - “and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes.
Notice the words, walk in God’s law, observe, do all the commandments. What does this imply?
In order for any of us to walk, observe and do all the commandments, we must first KNOW the commandments, we must KNOW God’s word. In order to become a Covenant People of God, we must be committed to reading, studying to know God’s word.
A commitment to live God’s Word - and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes.
I love the words Nehemiah uses here,
to walk in God’s Law implies that your lifestyle, they way you live your life on a daily basis is according to God’s word.
to observe - gives the idea to keep, to watch over or to preserve. God’s word is so valuable to you that you treasure it and guard it.
to do - which is pretty plain, you are going to obey the Bible.
Walk, Observe, Do some of the commandments? No all, which means the ones I do not like, don’t want to obey, the ones that I feel like invade my personal space.
Knowing about the Bible, knowing about God, knowing about Jesus is not the goal of knowing God’s word. The goal of knowing God’s word is knowing the Lord God who will bring about life transformation. The goal of knowing God’s word is trusting God to empower you to live in obedience to God’s
A Commitment to worship Yahweh Alone - The commitment they are making is to worship God alone and forsaking all others. The Bible compares the relationship to God and his people like a marriage. When two people come together in marriage they do so with the intent of a life long commitment, forsaking all others. The people of Nehemiah were making a commitment to forsake all other gods. They were going to forsake the god of wealth by closing the markets and resting on the Sabbath, they were going to forsake the gods of relationships and partnerships by only marrying Israelites.They were going to bring their offerings and sacrifices to the temple and the store house. They were committed to worship God alone.
A commitment to serve God’s people - To serve God’s people in the OT meant they were going to ensure the Levites and the Temple had what was necessary to worship God. When you read the rest of chapter 10 you will see the people giving to the levites and giving to the house of God. This was so the the worship and sacrifices to God in the temple could be performed when necessary.
The people in Nehemiah’s day were making a commitment to Know God’s Word, Live God’s word, to worship God alone and to serve God’s people. What about us? Are we committed?
A Commitment to build the city (Alfredo) (Nehemiah 11 - 12)
A Commitment to be Zealous for God’s Glory
I know I have stood up here, many times in this series and said Nehemiah did what he was doing for the glory of God and we must live our lives and do what we do for the glory of God.
What is God’s glory?
We could take all day and night to talk about the glory of God, but we will not commit to that today. So let me give you a brief description.
In Isaiah 6 we read a description the prophet Isaiah had of the Lord. Isaiah describes the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filling the whole temple. Above him stood serphim angels these angels had 6 wings, 2 to cover there eyes, two to cover their feet and with to they flew. The foundations were shaking and the place was filled with smoke. These angels were declaring one to another the following statement;
And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
The angels declare that God is holy, separate, unique, there is no one like him. He is infinitely beautiful, infinitely worthy, there is no one who is in the same class as God, he is holy!
Yet what we would expect angels to say is the whole earth is filled with his holiness, but that is not what they say, they say the whole earth is filled with his glory. I believe this passage is key in helping us understand what God’s glory is because when God’s holiness is on display, and when God’s holiness goes public on the earth and fills it, that is called glory.
So what is God’s glory?
“The glory of God is the manifest beauty of his holiness. It is the going public of God’s holiness on the earth. The glory of God is his unlimited beauty his infinite and intrinsic worth and the greatness of his manifold perfections displayed, going public on earth on the earth.” John Piper
So what is zeal?
It is on all consuming passion, enthusiasm and dedication to something. If you were any were near Markham and University yesterday from 9:00 - 13:00, you seen a lil glimpse of zeal. There thousands of people zealous for Razorback football.
In Nehemiah 13 we see what a commitment to being zealous for God’s glory is and we what it isn’t. Let’s find out what it isn’t first and then we will discover what it is.
What we discover in Nehemiah 13, is Nehemiah returned to back to Persia as soon as things stabilized in Jerusalem. After being away for some time Nehemiah returns, unfortunately when he returns he discovers the people have broken every commitment they have made.
They Eliashib the high priest defamed the House of God, the Temple, by giving room to Tobiah the Ammonite.
While this was taking place, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. And after some time I asked leave of the king and came to Jerusalem, and I then discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, preparing for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber. Then I gave orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.
The people stopped supporting the house of God
I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each to his field. So I confronted the officials and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their stations.
The people began working on the Sabbath
In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them on the day when they sold food.
The people began marrying the unbelieving people in the nations that surrounded them.
In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people. And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.
Is this what a people zealous for the glory of God look like? Absolutely not! The people of Israel display for us what a people not zealous for God’s glory looks like. This describes a people who have no regard for God and his word.
The sad thing is if we examine our lives, how much of our lives resemble the people of Isreal in this passage? A people who have no regard for God’s glory, the public display of God’s holiness in this world.
Yet, there is hope! If we go back through the same passages 1. Nehemiah displays for us what a commitment to be zealous for God’s glory looks like on this earth.
Nehemiah was zealous for God’s Temple
“And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber. Then I gave orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.”
Nehemiah was Zealous for work of God in the Temple of God
“So I confronted the officials and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their stations.”
Nehemiah was Zealous for the Sabbath Day of Rest and Worship
As soon as it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, that no load might be brought in on the Sabbath day.
Nehemiah was zealous for the the command to be faithful and holy.
“And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.”
We see the people of God unfaithful to God again, we see Nehemiah coming back from Persia and cleansing the people of God once again. I could imagine the Nehemiah feeling a sense of discouragement and hopelessness for his people.
Does your zeal resemble Nehemiah’s or are you more like the people of Israel? Do you have a sense of hopelessness because you are depending on yourself to be obedient to God? When you look at your life and examine your faith do you truly know God or do you just know about God?
Some of you may not realize, but Nehemiah is most likely the last book written in the Old Testament. After this book we have 400
years of silence, there are no other Holy Spirit inspired books written, God is still working and moving and ruling in the back ground, but there is silence. The final words written in the OT is a prayer from Nehemiah to God, “Remember me, O my God, for good”.
After 400 years of silence, God answers the prayer of Nehemiah
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
God answers the prayer of Nehemiah and all the prayers of the OT saints looking for the messiah, by sending his one and only Son Jesus Christ. The hope for the hopeless. We would love to talk to you about him!