Turn with me to Ezra 9.
EZRA 9:3-5
After putting it off for a long time, a man finally went to the doctor. After the examination and all of the tests and blood work, the doctor just shook his head. He told the man, “You are in terrible shape. In order to pull out of this, you’re going to have to change some things. First, you’re going to have to tell your wife to start fixing you three well-balanced, nutritious meals a day. Then you’re going to have to quit working so many hours. That’ll mean you’re going to make less money. So to compensate for making less money, that means your wife is going to have to make a budget. Not only is she going to have to make a budget, she’s going to have to stick to it. And here’s another thing. When you get home from work, you’re going to have to learn to relax. You need to tell your wife that when you get home, she’s not to worry you with the kids and a honey-do list. I know those are some drastic changes, but unless you do them, you probably won’t last a month.” The man was smart enough to know he couldn’t go home with that kind of list for his wife. So he told the doctor, “Doc, this would sound more official if it came from you. Is there any way you could call and give her the instructions yourself?” The doctor agreed that would be best. Well, the man went on to work and didn’t think much more about it. Then when he got home that night, his wife ran up to him crying and hugged him. Being the concerned husband he was, he said, “Honey, what’s wrong?” Through her tears, she looked up at him and said, “I talked to your doctor. After talking to him, I know you only have 30 days to live.” That man had a problem. He had some obvious lifestyle issues that were killing him. And the only way they would keep from killing him was if he and his wife changed. But people don’t like to change, do we? In the late 19th century, the Duke of Cambridge said, “Any change, at any time, for any reason, is to be deplored.” That sounds harsh and unreasonable. But isn’t it really just putting into words the feelings that most of us have deep inside? Actually, the Duke was really just more honest with himself than most of us are. Look at the theme of this election so far. It’s not a new thing, it seems to be the theme of every election. But the theme is “change”. Nobody says what the change is from or what the change is to, but everybody wants change. But let’s be honest with ourselves. We all see the need for change. It’s easy to look around and see all the things around us that are messed up. It’s called living in a cursed and fallen world. That’s easy to see, so it’s easy to see the need for change. But the thing that makes it difficult is when that change involves us changing as well. It was easy to see that things were going to have to change in the man’s life. I’m sure the wife could see it as well. But when those changes became personal—well, that’s a little too hard to deal with. FM Cornford, a British author and poet once said, “Nothing is ever done until everyone is convinced that it ought to be done. And has been convinced for so long that it is now time to do something else.” He also wrote that, “Nothing should ever be done for the first time.” So, it’s painfully obvious that we as human beings have a very conflicted view of change. We find it very easy to see the need for change. But within ourselves we have a tremendous resistance to change. We like our routine. We like our comfort zone. Just like that poor man’s wife, we have done what we do for so long that we don’t want to change it—no matter what the consequences are. And it will always be that way unless our motivation to change overrides our desire for comfort. Or to use Mr Cornford’s words, we are “convinced that it ought to be done.” And hopefully we’re convinced before it’s time to do something else. That’s where Ezra and the people of the remnant found themselves in our passage tonight. In verses 1-3 that we looked at last week, they opened their eyes and saw their sin. They saw the extent, the nature and the consequence of their sin. And they saw that they weren’t just part of the problem, they saw themselves as chief in the trespass. But as we’ve said, it’s easy to see the problem. It’s easy to see the lack of passion for the lost. It’s easy to see the need for outreach. It’s easy to see the urgency of the situation around us. That’s easy. What’s hard is getting motivated to do something about it. And that’s what happens in our passage tonight. Ezra leads the remnant in getting motivated to change. To change from the sin they had become so comfortable with to the humble, pure, changed lives God would use to accomplish the work He had in store for them. So how do we become motivated to change? We do it the same way Ezra and the remnant did. We become motivated to change by looking in three directions. The first direction is outward. Look at verse 3:
EZRA 9:3
We are motivated to change by looking outward. This goes back to the situation that the princes had brought to Ezra that we talked about last week. The people of the remnant had blatantly disregarded the Word of God. They had intermarried with the pagan nations around them. And by doing so, they were ready to slide down that same slippery slope that had gotten them in this predicament in the first place. And when they came to Ezra with that news, it devastated him. It devastated him because he was able to see the big picture. He saw the severity of the situation as he looked outward at the sin around him. He was so in tune with the will of God because of His consistent study of His Word, he immediately knew how serious the situation was. He knew what it would lead to if this sin of intermarriage was left unchecked. He knew it would lead to the Jews allowing foreign gods into their houses. Then the foreign gods would move from their houses to their hearts. Then they would move from their hearts to the public and to the temple. That was what had happened from the time of Solomon on. And that was what ended up causing Assyria to destroy Samaria and Babylon to destroy Jerusalem and carry off the Jews into exile. Ezra’s consistent study of God’s Word showed him the severity of the situation as he looked outward at the sin around him. And when he saw it, it motivated him. It motivated him so much that he expressed his grief and sadness in the most vivid and graphic way possible. And then he sat down “astonied.” The word that’s translated “astonied” is the same word that’s used in 2 Samuel 13:20. There it’s used to describe how Tamar felt inside after she was raped by her brother Amnon. And after she was raped, by one brother, she was hidden away in isolation in her other brother Absalom’s house and told to keep quiet about the whole thing. Scripture says she “remained desolate” in Absalom’s house. That same horrible, astonished, hollow, empty, desolate feeling is what Ezra felt when he looked outward at the situation around him. How do you feel when you look around you? Have you studied God’s Word consistently enough that you see that things just aren’t right? Do you see the severity of the situation around you? How does that make you feel? As far as I know, each and every one of us are able to go about our daily routines. Tonight we’ll be able to go home and fix a snack, watch some TV, do some reading and go to bed like normal. Tomorrow morning we’ll be able to get up and go on with our normal Monday morning schedule. Why do we never find ourselves astonied? Why do we never find ourselves so overcome by the severity of the situation around us that we can do nothing but fall down in grief and mourning? Could it be that we really don’t recognize the severity of the situation around us? Could it be that we don’t hate sin like we think we do? Could it be that we really don’t love people like we think we do? When we truly begin to look outward through the lenses of God’s Word, it will motivate us. We will be motivated to change like the remnant was. Not only are we motivated to change by looking outward, we are motivated to change by looking upward. Look at verse 4:
EZRA 9:4
We are motivated to change by looking upward. Notice what happened here. As Ezra sat before the Lord in desolate mourning, He also sat before the people. And that caused the people to feel the same way about their sin that Ezra did. Now, think of all the ways that Ezra could have handled it. First, when the princes came to him about the remnant’s sin, he could have handled it like a cheerleader. He knew what their mission was, so he could have done the American pragmatic thing and said, “We’re not going to let anything get in the way of our success. We’re going to press on just like nothing’s wrong.” It’s like the Bluefield/Princeton game last year. Ezra could have been like the Princeton cheerleaders in the fourth quarter. Still cheering their team on as they were getting trounced on the field. That was one way he could have handled it. Another way he could have handled it is like a taskmaster. He could have put the verbal whip to them. “You people are nothing but a bunch of worthless, good-for-nothing sinners. It’syou’re your fault. You’ll never amount to anything.” The dictator says, “Here is a list of stuff you have to fix—and don’t talk to me till you’re done.” He could have handled the people’s sin like a cheerleader and ignored it. He could have handled it like a taskmaster and whipped them for it. Or he could have handled it like he did. He handled it like a pastor. See, the cheerleader and the taskmaster are both looking at the same thing. They’re both looking only at the people. One motivates the people by looking at their emotions and giving them false hope. The other motivates the people by looking at their guilt and giving them added fear. That’s what a leader has to do when he only looks at people as the motivation of change. But that’s not where Ezra looked for motivation to change. He looked where a pastor looks—upward. And an interesting thing happened when Ezra looked upward. The people began to look upward too. All of a sudden, as Ezra sat there grieving and mourning the people’s sin before the Lord, a small crowd began to gather. All of a sudden, people were drawn around Ezra. But notice that they weren’t looking at Ezra. If he had been a cheerleader they would have been. If he had been a taskmaster they would have been. But where were they looking as they assembled? They were looking at the Word of God. And as they looked, they trembled. That word trembled can mean either physical or emotional trembling. But it carries the idea of being awe-struck and being shaken to your very core. I don’t know of anyone who has ever been awe-struck and shaken to the core by a cheerleader or a taskmaster. But I do know that the Word of God has shaken even the hardest coldest heart to the core. It has the power to motivate even the coldest and most lifeless Christian to change and bend himself to God’s will. If the power of God’s Word can motivate Lazarus to change from death to life, it can motivate you to change too. And it can motivate me to change too. We are motivated to change by looking outward at the severity of the situation around us. And we are motivated to change by looking upward at the Word of God. We are also motivated to change by looking inward. Look at verse 5:
EZRA 9:5
We are motivated to change by looking inward. As the people were gathered there all around Ezra. As they spent the entire day trembling at the difference between what he had taught them from the Word of God and what they saw in the lives of the people around them. As their eyes were turned throughout the entire day to God and His Word. As all of that happened around him throughout the day, Ezra moved from looking outward and looking upward to looking inward. Looking outward at the extent and the nature and the consequence of the sin around us… Looking outward and truly seeing the sin around us the same way that Jesus sees it… Looking outward like that is a burden. Looking upward at God’s Word… looking upward and seeing how far we have fallen short of who God is and what He requires of us… looking upward like that can be a burden. And it was for Ezra. It was especially for Ezra because he carried that burden not only for himself, but for all the people. And because of that burden, he felt the incredible heaviness. He felt the incredible heaviness as he looked outward. He felt the incredible heaviness as he looked upward. And it drove him to the only place a person can go when he begins to feel the tremendous burden God has called us to feel as His people. It drove him inward. Now, don’t misunderstand me. When he looked inward, he didn’t look to a place of selfishness. He wasn’t trying to gin up his self-confidence. He wasn’t trying to boost his self-esteem. He wasn’t interested in pop-psychology or 21st century psychobabble. When Ezra looked inside, He fell on his knees in a position of ultimate humility. He spread his hands in a position of ultimate surrender. And he said, I can’t do it. In and of myself, I can’t change a thing. In and of ourselves, these people can’t change a thing. But the Lord my God can. When we begin to experience the heaviness of the lost world around us. When we begin to fall on our knees in humility. When we begin to spread our hands in complete surrender. When we begin to do that, we will be motivated to change the right way.
It is so easy to look around and see the things we know need to be changed. We see family and friends who are lost or have strayed from the Lord. We see neighbors who have no interest in things of the Lord. We see young people in the schools turning to paganism and witchcraft rather than Jesus. We see church attendance dropping in most places. And in the places where it’s not dropping, the emphasis is more on entertainment than the Bible. It’s easy to see the need for change—out there. But the Lord won’t change “out there” until He changes “in here”. And He won’t change “in here” until He changes your heart and my heart. How well do you remember your science classes in school? Do you remember Newton’s first law of motion? Here’s how I remember it: things at rest tend to stay at rest. What it actually says is, “Everything continues in a state of rest unless it is compelled to change by forces impressed upon it.” Many of us have been in a state of rest for too long. Are you compelled to change? Are you compelled by the severity of the situation? If not, you need to look outward. Are you compelled by the power of God’s Word? If not, you need to look upward. Are you compelled by your personal relationship with the Lord? If not, you need to look inward.
Today is the day to start to get motivated to change. The Lord will change this world around us. But He’ll only do it through us. And He’ll only do it through us when we are ready to allow Him to change us. Look outward. Look upward. Look inward. Change is needed. Will you allow Jesus to start the change in you today?
