Restored Within
Series: When It’s Time to Move FORWARD
Brad Bailey, May 30, 2021
Intro
An added welcome to each of you gathering today... as well as those who may be engaging at a future time.
Welcome as we continue our focus on how to rebuild our lives...and families...and our communal calling as a church... in this time and place. We are allowing God to speak to us through the Biblical Book of Nehemiah. This book is a testimony of how a people rebuilt their lives after everything seemed lost.
As you may recall... long ago God called out a man named Abraham to leave everything and go to a place God would lead him...and that through his descendants... God would create a great nation...through whom he would make Himself known and bless the whole world. That is what formed the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. And so as we come to this point centuries later... when they had turned away from God... and were conquered... and their city was destroyed and they were sent into exile... they were profoundly a lost people. As exiles... they lost their identity...they had no place to call home in this world.
Nehemiah leads them in rebuilding... rebuilding their city... and rebuilding their identity.
A couple weeks ago we allowed chapter 3 to speak of how they divided every section of the wall...and every gate...and assigned part to a group. We saw the power when everybody played a part.)
Then last week in chapter 4 we saw how the opposition arose against them. This arises again in chapter 6 with some final attempts by that opposition to try and trick Nehemiah... to draw him away...which leads to these words in the sixth chapter.
Nehemiah 6:15-16
So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. 16 When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.
“So the wall was completed...” This was no small statement. These walls of Jerusalem were vast and high walls and gates were enormous. It was a goal that was hard to imagine and easy to laugh at. And after months of ridicule and taunting... all those who had been in opposition... trying to deflate the people... to intimidate the people...now recognize that this wall was rebuilt with the help of God... and it SILENCES them. It’s a powerful testimony. [1a]
The city of Jerusalem...that had been in ruins and rubble for decades... had been restored.
And this would seem like the natural point for Nehemiah to end this account. To say, "It’s done!..Nehemiah...signing off...” But it’s not the end. Why? Because...
Restoration involves outer and inner change.
It doesn’t help to just restore the outward structure if there isn’t any change to what’s inside. The city was restored...but the people weren’t.
And it’s true for all our lives. We can all enjoy getting some new clothes...to help us feel different... and while they may help us enjoy a new look....we’re still the same person inside them.
Or if our body suffers an injury...it’s vital to restore the outer wound... but there is also a need restore any inner infection.
Well, Nehemiah knew they if you want to restore your life... your family...your mission... it will involve restoring the structure that supports that life...and the inner health that maintains that life. He knew that in the past Jerusalem had a wall... it’s original wall....and yet the people had failed at the life within those walls.
So he knew that a new wall, like a set of new clothes, would not be the answer for the Israelites for the long term. It may help in the short term for them to see that things can be different, but something else needed to be going on as well. They needed some internal reconstruction.
And that is now what they embrace. Let’s see what God has for us as we engage their restoration in chapter 8.... starting with the first three verses.
Nehemiah 8:1-3
All the people assembled as one man in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel. 2 So 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. 3 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.
What Nehemiah is capturing is how the spiritual restoration of the people began. They came together as a people. Why? Because they knew that they had lost a connection to the source of who they were...to God... to the one voice that had called them into existence as a people.
And in various ways... we can all lose the power of that vice... that connection... it may have become a mere cultural part of our lives... it may be we have learned to tune out that voice... it may be we hear words rather than a voice.
Well here we see a process of restoration that begins as they gather as a community.... and they call on Ezra, the priest, to bring out the Word of God... and to have it read to them. There is more to come...but this is the start and foundation. [1b]
Some of you may have caught one line that sounds daunting... where it says that “He read it aloud from daybreak till noon...”. I feel your fear. Those of us with ADD are losing it right now. Don’t worry... I won’t try to copy this moment...and try to stretch us like that. But I do want us to grasp what that tells us about the significance they had for being able to hear these words.
The people wanted God... because they knew that they needed God.
And that’s the first truth that we all need. If we want restoration... to revitalize our lives on a spiritual level ...the first thing we need is to...
1. Realize our need.
When the people showed up that day... they recognized that they had a need. The idea of recognizing our need may seem obvious ...but I think it’s easy to lose a grasp of. I think we have a version of what we call life...that we think we can do pretty well on our own. We can begin to think of God as just part of a religious dimension of life. We may begin to think that .... one we feel we “should” honor... that we simply owe God... and that God needs us...and deserves our help.
The truth is that God is the source of all life.
God doesn’t need us... we need Him. This is what the Apostle Paul declared to the great philosophers of Athens. which we find in the Biblical Book of Acts.
Acts 17:24-28 (NIV)
"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'
God is the source of all life. He is the One in whom we live and move and have our being. We exist in Him. He does not exist in us. He does not need us. We need Him. [2]
We cannot properly define ourselves without being in a relationship with Him.
And that is precisely what God revealed to be at the root of our problem. In the very start of the Bible...in the beginning of the Book of Genesis... we read the story of how human life tried to become like God. We decide to exist apart from God...and discover we are naked... and then try to cover ourselves in vain...with what cannot truly cloth us.
In a sense we are doing this with every hope to cloth ourselves in some external means ... to find our hope in some mere outward change. It’s not that the things of this world are bad... far from it...they were created by God...but they are not our source...they cannot define us...or name us. We cannot cloth ourselves with them. And the more that we use them to serve our own vain sense of acting like little gods... the more lost we can become.
That is the problem with thinking that changing some external things will fix everything. We can tend to think...
If I had more money, my life would be good.
If I get married I would become a different person.
If I was married to someone else, I could be a different person.
If I had a better body, I would become a different person.
If we had a wall up we wouldn’t be in disgrace.
The reality is that it is only putting on a new shirt. And while that new shirt or new wall can be a catalyst for change, we are still the same person until we realize the need to change the nature of who we really are..
Jesus spoke strongly to the religious leaders about this... saying...
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. - Matthew 23:25-26
Jesus speaks of “greed and self-indulgence” within them...not of enjoying what is good... but of the self-consumption that is rooted in trying to satisfy what only God can satisfy.
Whatever we build of our lives... or rebuild in this season ahead... will depend on realizing our need for God. If we show up on Sunday more conscious about how God may need us... than about how much we need God... we won’t take hold of the power that can change us. If we show up to this next season of life... just hoping to rebuild or change the outside of our lives... we won’t grasp all that God has for us. So I challenge each of us to pause in this season...and realize that we are lost without God... He alone is our source of knowing who we are...and knowing what life really is.
And as we continue in Nehemiah...we read...
Nehemiah 8:5-6
5 Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. 6 Ezra praised the LORD, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, "Amen! Amen!" Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
We do well to hear these words not merely with our ears and minds...but with our spirits. They speak of what it means to recognize who God is...and what it means to bring ourselves before Him. Here we see the people coming with a dynamic sense of what it means to come before God.
As Ezra opens the book... they stand. They recognize who is speaking. Like when there is a national assembly and the chairman announces: “Ladies and gentlemen... the President of the United States”...and all stand. Here far far more. They are about to hear the words of the creator of the universe. So they stand...and they raise their hands in honor... then they bow down and bring their faces to the ground.
Such expressions may seem a little strange to some... depending on various traditions... the charismatics like the standing and raising of hands... the Catholics like the bowing...and there’s even a shouting out “Amen” to appeal to the Baptists. But the point isn’t conformity but freedom of genuine expression. As I have often shared in our new members gatherings... when describing the freedom we seek in our worship...a freedom to raise hands and kneel down... I describe that it is the value of allowing outward expression that extend our inner posture. It’s not about trying to conform to some external religious behavior... it’s about enjoying the freedom to be fully human... to express the most common postures that reflect honor and humility.
What we see is a call to...
2. Enter into awareness of God’s holy presence.
They were grasping the presence of God...and who God is.
The truth is that we can be in the presence of someone...and not realize it. Maybe we are too occupied... maybe we aren’t expecting it so we aren’t able to grasp it.
What we see here is the people coming as those who are aware.
And I am struck by the fact that they don’t come demanding anything. They seem to value the presence of God through His Words in itself.
We need to recognize that God is not an object to be used...He is not simply a means to another end. His presence is the end we should seek.
God wants to bless us... but we will gain little if we don’t realize that the greatest blessing is God Himself...the One from whom all things come.
A child who runs to their father and asks for money to get something...and runs off before looking into their eyes... may have the money... but they didn’t realize that the greater blessing was there in the father’s heart.
I am often reminded that the Vineyard was birthed not by those who gathered to experience God...as many may think...but by those who just gathered in hunger and humility. They came with hunger and humility... desire without demands. And those lives often remind us...that they just wanted to know God...to be in His presence. They would remind us... to seek His presence more than His power… to seek His face more than His hand. [3]
If we want to be restored ... we need to enter into awareness of God’s holy presence... with an understanding that comes with a healthy respect... that rises in awe... that elicits our affections. We need to value an awareness of our minds, bodies, hearts and soul. If we’ve ever had a moment when you suddenly came into the presence of a vast ocean... or stood beneath a massive mountain...we have a hint of what is actually at hand every time we come before God.
Now continuing in verses 7 and 8...we read...
Nehemiah 8:7-8
7 The Levites--Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah--instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. 8 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.
What we see here is the need to...
3. Let God’s Word speak into our life.
What stands out in this gathering around God’s Word...along with how extended a time it was...is the emphasis on understanding. Several times in the wider description of this gathering... the value of understanding is mentioned. Initially we are told that all who gathered were those who were old enough to understand. And here we are told how the Levites... who are essentially like the associate priest or pastors... helped unpack the meaning of the Scriptures so that all could understand.
This reference to understanding helps us to understand some valuable things about God’s Word.
First off... it speaks to the NATURE of God’s Word...which is that it CAN be understood. We need to grasp that the Bible is neither a magical book that has powers in the pages or print or even in reading or hearing... apart from understanding. The power of God’s Word is that it is God’s Word... it is that which the creator of the universe is revealing to us... in actual understanding of what is true and good. It has actual meaning which we were meant to understand. It’s not magical...but it’s also not so mysterious that it can’t be understood. The work of helping them understand was not a matter of some special scholars having to expound on what few could understand. What we are hearing described was likely a matter of helping them by translating the language and also understanding the context of the past. [4]
Even now... it still takes some basic knowledge and appreciation of the context. I know that some may have found it hard to read parts of the Bible. You may think you tried and just can’t understand it. But the truth is that you can understand it. You may need some help, especially if you have never known the overall context and history, but it is not beyond your understanding. It’s often more a matter of being beyond our pursuit. If we want to know our story... we just need a little help with the backstory...and then some desire and discipline.
Now... the emphasis on understanding also speaks to the PURPOSE of God’s Word. The purpose of God’s Word is to change us... to restore us. The significance of helping them with understanding...was because God’s Word has the power to change us... it sets our lives in their true story... it shapes our understanding of who we are and who God is...and it guides our grasp of what is true and good.
God’s Word must be understood before it can enter the heart and change us.
I have found it a challenge to never let the Scriptures become merely something to engage on a merely in an academic fashion... as some set of ideas that I can simply engage as separated from myself. outside myself.
It’s not that the Bible cannot be engaged with academic questions... but it’s ultimately the living word of God. While there is a process of study involved with understanding... when I hear God’s Word...I need to realize that...
I am never hearing God’s Word until I am hearing a voice. I need to hear God’s voice... explaining the story...instructing my life. I need to let God’s Word speak into my life... by understanding what it means to me.
Because as we discover... this understanding reveals the VALUE of God’s Word... which is lifegiving.
Many believe that the generation of those who gathered here in Nehemiah...had not been gathering regularly...and that these people may have been hearing from God’s Word for the first time. This was long before the invention of printing...so no one had their own means to the Scriptures. This truly may have been the very first hearing for many.
Imagine that. Imagine you are a people who have known that you exist because God called out and formed you as a people... but you may have never heard what He did... or never even heard His words.
Imagine when you hear. Imagine that you realize that the Creator of everything is telling the story of your existence ...about his intentions... his plans.. his patience. It’s like someone who has lost all knowledge of their past...of who they are...suddenly coming before the Patriarch of their family and hearing for the first time...as they tell about your family story... only this story is far greater than any story that is bound on earth.
When we can appreciate how disorienting it can be to have lived in silence... we can begin to appreciate the gift of God speaking... of God’s Word.
And this helps us to appreciate that they weren’t seeking for a new word from God. What God had already revealed was timeless. The unchanging truth speaks afresh into every moment of human life.
And this leads to the final portion for today... in verses 9-12.
Nehemiah 8:9-12
9 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. 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.” 11 The Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve.” 12 Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.
This may seem like one of those strange moments when it’s unclear what the right way to respond is. They begin to mourn with conviction... which may seem like a proper response...but then they are told to go enjoy celebrating instead. The point is this...
4. Receive God’s Word as our joy amidst sorrow...our light amidst darkness.
When the people heard God’s Word... the Old Testament Scriptures... it told of their history of turning away from God....and they began to weep. And the leaders come and tell them to arise in celebration. Their reaction wasn’t wrong... but they needed to understand that facing such truth provides a source of light amidst darkness...and joy amidst sorrow. [5]
The very moment we realize what is wrong is the very moment we know what is right and good.
I recall so distinctly the first time I had to face the real consequences of sin in my life. I recall sitting by myself... feeling such naked shame before God...and grasping the reality of God’s truth.... a sense of agreement with God about the nature of such sin that was more real than it had ever been before. There wasn’t any vagueness... God was truly right...and I had truly been wrong. And in that moment in which I faced the despair...I found this surprising sense of being closer to God than I had ever felt before. It was a moment that looking back...I experienced the relationship between sin and grace.
This is what we see in the people as they are gathered in God’s presence... in hearing God’s Word. In their response we see the relationship between sin and grace. They exist in relationship to one another. Only when we grasp the nature of our sin...will we realize the significance of God’s grace.
The problem with facing our sin... is that we tend to consider only the shallow nature of our behavior. We don’t tend to identify with the great idolatry of Israel... who turned to worship other gods. We don’t tend to identify with having committed murder... been caught in an overt lie... or committed a criminal theft... lately. But the truth... is that the very nature we joined in this world...is that which declares a state of independence from God... and sought to go live our own lives. And if we really look...we will find forms of worshipping idols... of contempt for others... of deception...and of envy for what others have.
This is what Jesus revealed. When he told the parable of the Prodigal son... he told of a younger son who demanded his inheritance...wished the Father to be dead...ran off and squandered all the Father had given...and then one day ...coming to his senses ...and coming home saying Father I have sinned against heaven and against you....and the father wrapping his arms around him...and throwing a party. It was a celebration of grace... of returning...much like the people in Nehemiah we told to join. But Jesus also told of an older son who claimed he was always faithful...and that older son refused to come into the party.
Only when we grasp the realization of our sin...will we realize the significance of God’s grace.
For some...you may realize...it’s time to come home....to come home to God.
I want you to know... that Jesus is the face of God’s grace. And I want to invite us to come before the face of grace.
For all of us...I want to say come... decide how you are going to rebuild your life...what you are going to build in the life that lies ahead. Decide to restore the life within you. Let’s realize that God doesn’t need us...we need Him... to even know who we are..and what life is.
Let’s stop...and pray.
PRAYER
Notes:
1a. It had been just 9 months since Nehemiah had first gotten news of the city’s condition...and began to pray...in fact he prayed for 4 months before he was able to travel to the city.
1b. Regarding the request...” The subject of ??????????? is the assembled people. These requested, through their rulers, that Ezra should fetch the book of the law of Moses, and publicly read it. This reading, then, was desired by the assembly.” – From Keil, C. F., & Delitzsch, F. (1996). Commentary on the Old Testament (Vol. 4, p. 144).
Regarding the role of Ezra, “Ezra had come to Jerusalem twelve or thirteen years previous to Nehemiah. He either remained there or had returned to Babylon in obedience to the royal order, and for the discharge of important duties. He had returned along with Nehemiah, but in a subordinate capacity. Ezra had retired into private life. Although cordially and zealously co-operating with the former patriot in his important measures of reform, the pious priest had devoted his time and attention principally toward producing a complete edition of the canonical Scriptures. The public reading of the Scriptures was required by the law to be made every seventh year; but during the long period of the captivity this excellent practice, with many others, had fallen into neglect, till revived, on this occasion. That there was a strong and general desire among the returned exiles in Jerusalem to hear the word of God read to them indicates a greatly improved tone of religious feeling.” – From Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 298).
“Scribes would have been trained in reading of the various languages in use at the time, in the production of texts (whether copying, receiving dictation or composing), in the knowledge of traditional literature (canonical and noncanonical), in the range of international literature (particularly wisdom literature) and in the interpretation of literature (perhaps including legal literature or ritual literature). Scribes in Israel were, therefore, experts in the Law of Moses. ... They became paramount in Jewish life in the postexilic period. ... Many scribes were also priests and/or community leaders, as Ezra was. They were guardians of culture and tradition. – From Matthews, V. H., Chavalas, M. W., & Walton, J. H. (2000). The IVP Bible background commentary: Old Testament (electronic ed., Ne 8:1)
2. Regarding our need for God, we could also consider...
Job 22:2 “Can a person do anything to help God? Can even a wise person be helpful to him?”
John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who abides in me while I abide in him produces much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
PSALM 73:26
Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
2 Corinthians 12:10 ESV
For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Psalm 1:1-6 ESV
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
3. I am reminded by how this is beautifully expressed in the lyrics and heart of the song Breathing by Lifehouse
“I am hanging on every word you're saying
Even if you don't wanna speak tonight
That's alright, alright with me
'Cause I want nothing more than to sit outside of your door
And listen to you breathing
It's where I wanna be”
4. Regarding the statement “caused the people to understand the law”— It is noted, “Commentators are divided in opinion as to the import of this statement. Some think that Ezra read the law in pure Hebrew, while the Levites, who assisted him, translated it sentence by sentence into Chaldee, the vernacular dialect which the exiles spoke in Babylon. Others maintain that the duty of these Levites consisted in explaining to the people, many of whom had become very ignorant, what Ezra had read.” – From Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 298).
“The thirteen people mentioned in verse 7 were Levites who were responsible for the interpretation of the Law (2 Chron 17:7–9). They also translated the text, presumably from preexilic Hebrew into Aramaic, the common language of Palestine by the fifth century B.C. It also is possible that the word “translate” means that the Levites “broke down” the text, or in other words translated or interpreted the text paragraph by paragraph.” – From Matthews, V. H., Chavalas, M. W., & Walton, J. H. (2000). The IVP Bible background commentary: Old Testament (electronic ed., Ne 8:7–8).
5. As we can also hear...
Jeremiah 15:16: “When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight…”
Psalm 19:8: “The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart…”
In Psalm 16:11, David says, “You will show me the path of life: in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11)
When will the Lord show us the path of life He has for us? When we are in His presence! The Bible says David was a man after God’s own heart, so he understood how important it was to spend time with the Lord. David says there is “joy to its fullness” in the presence of God.
