Nehemiah 10
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Intro
Intro
We need a healthy concept and practice of church membership just as much today as ever before!
July 4 1776 is a date I’m sure you know but there are a couple more that you should also know.
August 2 1776 is when this declaration of independence was officially signed.
September 17th is another important date, not because it is my birthday and for that matter 10 years later Pastor Drew’s also.
Sept 17th 1787 … the constitution was officially signed into adoption, government under the U.S. Constitution would officially begin on March 4, 1789.
May 29, 1790, … Rhode Island ... the last of the original 13 colonies joined the United States.
Today, the U.S. Constitution is the oldest written constitution in operation in the world.
part of something bigger
they believed in it
they sought to be held accountable to one another together for something!!
Message
Message
The Signatories
The Signatories
We need to know who is IN and who is OUT.
Neh 10.1-27 = 1 Gov | Priests 22 | Levites 17 | Chiefs 44
List = clarity = who is in and who is out
2 Thes 3.14 “14 If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed.”
Tit 3.10 “10 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him,”
1 Jhn 2.19 “19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”
2 Corinthians 6:14 “14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”
Separated from something to something… V28 - “separated themselves … to the law of God”
Mutual understanding and open enrollment… standards of enrollment… V28 - “ALL who have separated themselves… ALL who have knowledge and understanding” & V29
28 “The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding, 29 join with their brothers, their nobles, 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.
The General Oath of Obedience
The General Oath of Obedience
We need to have a STANDARD of what it means to be IN.
The Practical Pledges / Practical Standards / Measurable Involvement…
No Intermarriage = Unbelievers = God cares about Marriage / Relationships
30 We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons.
Gen 2.24 “24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
Eph 5.21-33 “21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and …”
1 Cor 7:39 “39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.”
2 Corinthians 6:14 “14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”
Pursue His Will
Exalting Jesus in Ezra-Nehemiah No Intermarriage (10:30)
So if you’re a married person, let me invite you to renew your commitment to the accurate display of the love between Christ and the church in your marriage. If you’re not married, I call you to commit yourself to marrying only someone who is united with you in the worship of the one true and living God by faith in Christ. Prepare yourself for that by relating to other single people in ways that will lay a foundation for a marriage that displays the gospel.
Sabbath & Sabbatical Year = Finances & Family = God cares about your work and play
31 And if the peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day. And we will forego the crops of the seventh year and the exaction of every debt.
Honor His Day
Value His Creation
Reflect His Love
Exalting Jesus in Ezra-Nehemiah Sabbath and Sabbatical Year Observance (10:31)
Keeping the Sabbath is evidence of faith. This commitment to keep the Sabbath is not about legalism. It is a declaration of trust in Yahweh. An old covenant Israelite could only keep the Sabbath by trusting the Lord. A man could not keep the Sabbath apart from faith because there would always be something he would like to be doing
Exalting Jesus in Ezra-Nehemiah Sabbath and Sabbatical Year Observance (10:31)
Forgiving debts required the Israelites to believe that God provides; God makes rich. Resting the land required them to believe God’s promise to cause the sixth year to produce enough for three years (Lev 25:21–22).
Lev 25.21-22 “21 I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. 22 When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating some of the old crop; you shall eat the old until the ninth year, when its crop arrives.”
Exalting Jesus in Ezra-Nehemiah Sabbath and Sabbatical Year Observance (10:31)
If an Israelite didn’t trust God, he wouldn’t keep the Sabbath, wouldn’t release debts in the seventh year, and wouldn’t let the land lie fallow.
Rom 14.5-6 “5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.”
Col 2.16 “16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.”
Heb 10.25 “25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
Support of the Temple & Ministry = Worship & Witness = God wants you to be involved
32 “We also take on ourselves the obligation to give yearly a third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: 33 for the showbread, the regular grain offering, the regular burnt offering, the Sabbaths, the new moons, the appointed feasts, the holy things, and the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God.
Nehemiah 10:39 (ESV)
39 … We will not neglect the house of our God.”
Exalting Jesus in Ezra-Nehemiah Support for the Temple Ministry (10:32–39)
These commitments were not about legalistic obligations, nor is the covenant we enter into when we join a local church today legalistic. These commitments and obligations that we take upon ourselves are things we do to enjoy the good pleasure of our God.
Support His Work
There is still a people in the land who do not know God !!
you cannot say you love Jesus and not love His bride…!!
Exalting Jesus in Ezra-Nehemiah (Support for the Temple Ministry (10:32–39))
What is at the heart of these three issues to which the Israelites have committed themselves?
The Lord is the point of marriage: marriage exists to display the way God loves His people.
The Lord is the point of the Sabbath: old covenant Israel rested from their labor to declare that Yahweh was their provider. We rest from our works and take on the easy yoke Christ offers to proclaim that He saves us; He gives us rest.
The Lord is the point of temple worship: the point of that temple being beautiful, the point of those priests offering sacrifices, the point of the seasonal trips to Jerusalem to worship the Lord there—all that is about being with God, knowing Him, enjoying His presence.
Church Membership?
Church Membership?
We need a healthy concept and practice of church membership just as much today as ever before!
We need to hold each other ACCOUNTABLE to that STANDARD for our GOOD and for the GLORY of God.
Being a part of something bigger
Held accountable by one another
Guarding against deception and defilement
Matt 18.15-18 “15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
James 5.16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another...”
James 5.19-20 “19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”
2 Thessalonians 3:14–15 “14 If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. 15 Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.”
We need a healthy concept and practice of church membership just as much today as ever before!
Close
Close
Founding Fathers - Signed Doc - Committed to something Bigger
Standards - In/Out
Exalting Jesus in Ezra-Nehemiah (Conclusion)
What you live for is what gives meaning to everything else in your life.
These old covenant Israelites are saying, “We live for the Lord.”
That dictates who they marry.
That dictates what their calendar looks like.
That dictates that they care for the most sacred place in their society.
We live for the Lord.
We need a healthy concept and practice of church membership just as much today as ever before!
1 Peter 2:4–5 “4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
1 Peter 2:9–12 “9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”
We need a healthy concept and practice of church membership just as much today as ever before!
SO, are you in or are you out?
Group Questions
Group Questions
What are the benefits of joining with other believers in the membership of a local church to pursue the glory of God through the advance of the gospel by the power of the Spirit?
If you are a member of a church, does your church have a church covenant? What is the value of a congregation reading their covenant together?
If you are single, what actions should you take to reflect your commitment to honor God by marrying only a believer?
If you are married to an unbeliever, please read 1 Corinthians 7:12–16 and 1 Peter 3:1–7. What areas of your life need to be brought into conformity with what those passages teach?
If you are married to a believer, how are you pursuing a marriage that displays the glory of the relationship between Christ and the church (Eph 5:22–33)?
Describe a marriage that would make others want to emulate it.
Does your conscience require you to observe the Sabbath? If so, why? If not, why not?
Have you experienced rest in Jesus? How do you feel about His call for all who labor and are heavy laden to go to Him for rest for their souls (Matt 11:28–29)?
How does the idea that believers together are the temple of the Holy Spirit affect your attitude toward the church?
What are the reasons a Christian should support the work of the ministry financially through a local church?