#4 in the Nehemiah series: Nehemiah chapters 8-9
Show me the JOY!
CHCC: May 25, 2008
INTRODUCTION:
Nehemiah is not the best known book of the Bible by any means. One of the reasons we’re studying it right now is that it’s one of the parts of the Bible I never preached from in the 36 years I’ve been in ministry. I’m enjoying the chance to take a look at this interesting bit of history … and getting to know what an admirable leader Nehemiah was.
The book Nehemiah wrote may not be that well-known, but it has one famous verse in it… and it’s found in the chapters we’re going to look at this week Nehemiah 8:10 says this: The joy of the Lord is your strength.
No wonder that verse is popular. Who wouldn’t want JOY? People try to find JOY in all kinds of ways. But if you want the kind of JOY that gives you STRENGTH, you can find it in only one place. According to Nehemiah chapter 8, the Joy of the Lord comes from hearing the Word of the Lord.
1. Hear God’s Word
When we get to chapter 8, the Jewish exiles had already built a new Temple in Jerusalem. The people who came out of their captivity in Babylon had already settled in their homes and started building a new economic system in the city. Now, thanks to Nehemiah’s leadership, the walls of Jerusalem had been completely rebuilt.
But Nehemiah knew that the Holy City was not just made out of wood and bricks and stones. Jerusalem would never be the true “Holy City” until it was filled with Holy People. So Nehemiah called for Ezra the Priest, and here’s what they did:
On the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand.
Notice who came to this assembly to hear God’s word: both men and women --- all who were able to understand. In other words, anyone who was old enough to get the meaning of the words, they ALL came.
There’s something wonderful that happens when we ALL congregate to hear God’s word together. That’s one reason it’s important that everyone in our church family makes it a habit to meet together regularly. This wasn’t an easy thing for them to do. And it’s not always that easy for any of us to get to church on time. It makes me so happy to see some of our older folks who make worship a priority. We see them every Sunday, rain or shine … whether their health is good or not … they’re going to be in God’s house.
And I feel the same way when I see our young couples with kids at home. It’s not easy to get a house full of people up and ready for church every week. Sometimes I have trouble getting my SELF moving … and I’m the preacher! But have you noticed how much better you feel when you start your week with worship? When we ALL get together it increases everyone’s JOY.
Besides our Church Services, we have all kinds of opportunity to HEAR God’s word in our daily routines. Last week Susan and I rode to our Pueblo Group with George and Sandy. (They moved into our neighborhood about a year ago, so now we’re neighbors.) I noticed they had Christian music playing in the car. I was glad to know that they find it important to listen to Christian music. Perhaps they have learned, as we have, that it makes a huge difference what you expose your eyes and ears to.
Verse 3 goes on to say, He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law. Nehemiah 8:3
What do you think would happen if we changed the sign out front to say, Church services weekly: 6:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon … ? Would YOU be there? Well, all these men and women stood and listened to God’s Word from daybreak until noon.
These people did more than just HEAR God’s Word. Verse 8 says, They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read. Nehemiah 8:8
These people did more than open their ears … they opened their MINDS. They STUDIED God’s Word.
2. Study God’s Word
Ezra was reading the books of the Law in Hebrew, but for many of the people, Hebrew was their second language. Some of them spoke Aramaic … which was the language spoken on the street. Besides, most of them had not EVER heard the words of the Book of the Law in ANY language. So they broke up into small groups and different Priests and Levites helped to interpret and explain what was being read.
Here at CHCC, we STUDY God’s word in English and in Spanish. We break up into small groups --- children’s Sunday School classes, youth groups, Adult studies --- so that everyone can get instruction on their own level.
That’s why we encourage everyone to get involved in a Bible study class or Pueblo Group. I lead two of our pueblo groups, one on Monday evenings and another one on Friday Mornings at Walnut Manor. And I have to say, these groups aren’t all serious discussion … and they are never boring! I bet it’s true of all the Pueblo groups.
The discussion is always lively and entertaining. Last Monday we were wondering about the height and thickness of the wall rebuilt in Jerusalem, and … since there were 4 men in the group that night … there were at least 5 different opinions about the answer to the question.
When I think about STUDYING, I think about the students who will be GRADUATING soon.
Play CONGRATULATION video.
(Do we have some graduates here in the service? Have them stand.) Now these people KNOW what it means to study! You’ve made it through 12 years of school … and for some of you … you still have 4 or more years in college ahead of you. You have STUDIED a lot of different subjects to get where you are today.
We want to congratulate all of you for your accomplishments! But I’m most proud of you because you have STUDIED to show yourself Approved unto God. The fact that you’re here today shows you understand the importance of STUDYING God’s Word and applying it to your lives. That’s the ONE thing that is more important than all your other studies … and it is a life-long course of learning.
Whatever else you do, I want to challenge you to keep studying God’s word … especially in these important young adult years. The Word of God will give you a different worldview than you’re going to get anywhere else. But it is the only realistic worldview. God’s Word will give you WISDOM for the important decisions you’ll all be making in the next few years. And if you follow what you learn, God’s Word will give you a life that will be full of JOY and satisfaction.
We never outgrow the need to STUDY God’s Word. But if you want the JOY of the Lord, then his WORD needs to go deeper than your INTELLECT. We need to let God’s word sink into our HEARTS.
3. Love God’s Word
Nehemiah 8:9 says, Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, "This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep." For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.
What were these people doing while they stood out in the heat of the day, listening to Ezra read the books of the LAW? They were crying! They couldn’t hear the God’s LAW without realizing how many times they had broken His LAW. And when they understood that they had broken His Law, it broke their HEARTS!
Maybe you remember a time when the same thing happened to you? You were going along feeling like you were a pretty good person when suddenly you realized that what you were doing went against God’s will. I remember a young couple Susan and I met when we were first married. We didn’t know many people our age in Albuquerque … and they were neighbors … so we took some Pumpkin Bread over and visited with them.
They were about our age, so we asked how long they’d been married … and we found out they weren’t married. This was back when living together wasn’t so common as now, so we were surprised, and they were kind of embarrassed. They both had some church background, and I guess just meeting us caused them to see that what they were doing went against God’s will. At any rate, we didn’t rebuke them, but I performed my first wedding for them just a few weeks later.
I’ve met a lot of couples since then who didn’t seem to even realize that living together outside of marriage goes against God’s plan. That’s the kind of situation these people were in back in Nehemiah’s day. When Ezra read the Law, it was the first time some of them realized that the way they had been living was sinful. Notice that they didn’t try to argue with it. They didn’t try to defend themselves or rationalize why their sins were really not so bad. They responded exactly the way we should respond when confronted with our own sins. They broke down and cried.
What Nehemiah told these weeping people to do must have come as a shock to them. They probably thought it was time to put on sack cloth and ashes and anything else that would show how sorry they were for all the wrong they had done. But look in verse 10: Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
In other words, Hey, cheer up! This is a day for JOY. Let’s party! And notice, the first thing Nehemiah described was the REFRESHMENTS! enjoy choice food and sweet drinks … I like the sound of that!
We think of being holy as being quiet and solemn. And it’s true that there is a time to be reverent and quiet. There is a time for weeping and repentance. But when we come together, it is also a time for JOY … a time for music and clapping and talking and laughing.
In the Books of the LAW (Lev. 23), God commanded 7 FEASTS for his people … 4 in the spring and 3 in the fall. These were times of all-out CELEBRATION. These FEAST DAYS were time to take off from work and enjoy family and friends and food and fun.
When Ezra read God’s Word to the people, they were in the middle of the FALL Feast Days. Ezra told them to stop crying and CELEBRATE because that’s what God’s Word COMMANDED them to do. And that leads to the last thing these people did that brought them the JOY of the Lord. They OBEYED God’s Word.
4. Obey God’s Word
To understand what happened next, you need a little background. This is how it was in the time for the Fall Festivals. In the Seventh month (Tishri) from the first day to the 22 day of the month they celebrated 3 Feasts: the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the feast of Tabernacles (Which is also called the Feast of Booths). When Ezra finished reading, it was time to celebrate that last feast.
During the Feast of Booths, God had commanded the people to build temporary shelters … or booths … and live in them during the feast days. It was kind of like a National Camp-out. It wasn’t so comfortable in the booths, but it was a good reminder of the 40 years they had lived out in the wilderness before they entered the Promised Land.
Up until that time the people had been “kinda-sorta” following God’s pattern for this feast. Most of them didn’t bother to actually build booths at all. They did parts of the feast, but at night they just stayed in their homes. After all, what did it really matter?
But now, after hearing exactly what God had told them to do, they ALL wanted to OBEY completely. And guess what? Complete OBEDIENCE brought GREAT JOY. The whole company that had returned from exile built booths and lived in them. From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great. Nehemiah 8:17
I can imagine what a great time they had. With everyone sleeping outside like that it must have been a great sense of community … like the old days when everyone sat out on their front porches in the evenings and waved and shouted to each other across the yards. (It may have been kind of like FIESTA here in San Antonio when people camp out the night before the parade…)
The point is that there is GREAT JOY in obedience. But this is where a lot of Christians lose out on real JOY. A “kinda-sorta” type of Christian is never going to experience GREAT JOY. What are some of the ways we only partially OBEY?
We know God wants us to be pure, but we figure it won’t matter that much if we watch that movie or visit that website. Somehow we think that kind of entertainment will give us JOY.
We know God wants us to give generously, but if we cut back on giving just a little, we could afford that new car … or house … or vacation. And somehow we think that will give us JOY.
We know God said to love our enemies and pray for those to do us wrong, but we figure he couldn’t have meant our boss, or that neighbor, or whoever it is that is giving us trouble. We think if we could just find a way to get back at them, now THAT would be JOY.
The sad thing is, “kinda-sorta” obedience is no obedience at all. It is actually disobedience, pure and simple. And there is no JOY in the land of semi, quasi, pseudo, obedience. The person living the life of partial obedience is probably going to end up with a huge crease in his derrière from fence straddling.
CONCLUSION:
It’s time to leap down off the fence you’re straddling and take a faith step into the land of radical obedience. I challenge you to try it this week. Ask God to show you an area where you are only kinda-sorta obeying. Then try doing EXACTLY what God says in EXACTLY the way He says.
If we do that, we’ll discover the same outcome Nehemiah writes about: Our JOY will be very GREAT.
