You’ve seen, felt, shared, and met a need. You’ve found some brokenness in your family, in the marketplace, in the church and you’ve been busy rebuilding. You formed a dream team to help you and you’ve made it through attacks from without, division from
within. You’ve even survived personal assaults. And the broken wall has been rebuilt.
Now what? I’ve helped a few people, but is that really all there is?
After you’ve rebuilt a broken wall
Series: Here’s hope: Rebuilding a broken world
Text: Nehemiah 8: 1-12, pp. 357-358
Kate Smith.
Attention must go away from the work of your hands to the work of God’s hands. Nehemiah’s dream was not just to see some walls rebuilt, but to see some lives renewed. It’s the people, not the walls, that make a city!
Nehemiah has led the people to rebuild the walls. They are done! What we see in Nehemiah 8 is what happens after the brokenness is gone.
The walls are rebuilt, but there was as spiritual vacuum in the city. Chapter 7 is a detailed chapter on organizational structure, so the people were now well ordered, well defended, and well governed. But they weren’t in touch with God.
The ultimate end of rebuilding something that’s broken is worship.
Betsy Stretar with YoungLives! Christine Cooper. Jeremiah 29:11. The end result is not mentoring a young mother, helping her find a godly spouse, establishing a stable home. The end result is worship!
Jesus talked about how important worship is. He defined it in terms of loving God.
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.
Mark 12:30
As I prayed about how to teach the passage that we are facing today, I felt God’s tug in my heart that Nehemiah 8 is an OT illustration of what Jesus says in Mark 12.
Once the wall was finished, some of the workers had returned to their homes in the surrounding towns and villages. They were ready for things to return to normal. The past 52 days of rebuilding had turned their lives upside-down. But as they attempted to return to business as usual, the significance of what had happened began to sink in.
Prior to the rebuilding of its walls, Jerusalem had been an open city, broken-down, economically depressed, low in morale, under-populated (7:4), and in no way glorious for God.
You have to think that Nehemiah would have been praying and planning for what was next. What’s it going to take for Jerusalem to be a holy city? What actually happened five days after the walls were rebuilt was a spiritual leader’s dream. God showed up!
You know you’ve rebuilt…
… the right way and for the right reason…
… when you end up with…
1. … hearts that hunger. vv. 1-3
Jesus said…
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…
Mark 12:30
That’s what you see happening here. Look at verse 1.
1 And all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the LORD had given to Israel.
2 Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women and all who could listen with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month.
Did you notice that we are meeting a new leader here? Ezra. He was a priest, a scholar, and a teacher of God’s word. The king of Persia had sent him to Jerusalem before Nehemiah came. Ezra was sent to make sure that worship in the rebuilt temple was taking place. Nehemiah led in rebuilding the walls of God’s city. Now, Ezra led in renewing the lives of God’s people.
It’s seems that spontaneously the people left their homes in the surrounding towns and villages and began to gather on the square in Jerusalem. The wall was finished six days before the beginning of the Jewish New Year. This was the time for the Jews to celebrate a festival called the Feast of the Trumpets. On this New Year’s Day, the conscience of the nation needed some attention. Verse 3…
3 He read from it before the square which was in front of the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of men and women, those who could understand…
This is a 6:00 am service to a 12:00 pm service! Six hours! How do you think that would work today? I’ve noticed that in today’s world, people are increasingly indifferent to God’s word. Not these people. They had hungry hearts. Do you? Notice two tell-tale signs of hungry hearts.
Hungry hearts produce…
… unity. v. 1a
1 And all the people gathered as one man…
Whatever their likes and dislikes, they had something in common. Rich. Poor. People who lived in Jerusalem. People who lived close by. They wanted to hear what God had to say. This hunger took precedence over everything else.
This past week, I was so proud of us as a church. On Friday morning, we hosted Christian leaders from all over Cleveland of all different denominations, all different races, all different doctrinal positions, all different economic conditions to explore whether we ought to have a Luis Palau festival in 2004.
Lots of different kinds of Christians. We could focus on what divides us. But I didn’t hear anyone talking about ordination, baptism, healing, spiritual gifts, the second coming… Focusing on what divides us ignores what unites us. And what ought to unite us? A hunger to know what God is saying through His word!
This is what every Christian leader dreams about. People who’s hearts are so hungry for hearing from God that they lay aside their differences and are on the edge of their seats to hear God’s word being taught. Hungry hearts produce unity…
… focus. v. 3b
… and all the people were attentive to the book of the law.
No mention of the wall. It’s almost as if the wall had been forgotten. Their attention had shifted – from wall to the word.
Expectation, excitement, and impatience. The crowd was eager to learn. They had a sense that this was going to be a great day. You can almost image a chant: “The-Word-of-God! The-Word-of-God! The-Word-of-God!” over and over, louder and louder. That can give you some idea of the hunger being expressed. But it wasn’t entertainment. They were serious. They meant business. They looked forward to hearing from God.
They craved God’s Word as hungry people long for food.
Is that how you come to services week after week? Let’s ask God to take His sovereign initiative to give us a longing for spiritual things. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to work on us, to give us a deeper interest in God, a concern for truth, and a desire to obey.
My dream is to be in a church where people don’t stroll in late. They fight to sit up close so as not to be distracted by everything else going on in the room. They come early and put a Bible or a coat on a seat to save it for themselves if they have to run an errand in the building or go to the restroom.
You know you’ve rebuilt the right way and for the right reason
when you end up with hearts that hunger.
2. … strength on display.
Jesus said…
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your… strength.
Mark 12:30
That’s what I see happening here. I see these people using their strength – their bodies – in at least seven different ways to worship God. See if this any of these are true for you.
The “body language” of worship includes…
… building. v. 4a
4 Ezra the scribe stood at a wooden podium which they had made for the purpose…
This had to have been a well-planned service. A high wooden platform had been built for Ezra’s reading. Evidently, Nehemiah or someone had said, “Now remember, be back here on the first of the month for the day when we will all learn the Law of our God together.” Ezra was captain of this teaching team and was flanked by a group of thirteen spiritual leaders. They spent money to build the platform and worked hard to set it up. Preparation. Perspiration. They used their bodies to build to get ready for worship.
That’s good for us, too. To build and then pay for a building like this costs – time, talent, treasure. Thank you for helping to build this place. But you know we are still paying for this place. So keep investing. The body language of worship includes building.
… seeing. v. 5a
5 Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people;
Pay attention to what’s going on! Stay focused! The body language of worship includes seeing.
… standing. v. 5b
… and when he opened it, all the people stood up.
Out of respect for the reading of the word of God, the people stood. The body language of worship includes standing.
… blessing. v. 6a
6 Then Ezra blessed the LORD the great God.
The body language of worship includes blessing.
… agreeing. v. 6b
And all the people answered, "Amen, Amen!"
“Amen” means “Yes, may it be so.” A leader can lead in worship. But a leader’s words and actions are just a solitary expression of personal devotion unless the people identify themselves with what is being said or sung.
All morning long, you can be saying “Yes, Lord!” The body language of worship includes seeing. The body language of worship includes agreeing.
… lifting. v. 6c
… while lifting up their hands…
The body language of worship includes lifting.
… bowing. v. 6d
… then they bowed low and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
Seeking God’s face sometimes means covering your own. The body language of worship includes bowing.
You know you’ve rebuilt the right way and for the right reason
when you end up with strength on display.
3. … minds that learn. vv. 7-8
Jesus said:
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your … mind…
Mark 12:30
That’s what these people did, too. They devoted their minds to learn the word of God.
7 Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, explained the law to the people while the people remained in their place.
8 They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.
First, the Bible had to be translated from Hebrew into Aramaic, the dialect that had become the spoken language of Palestine. These people were Jews by birth but not by tongue or culture. These Jews, who had come from Babylon to Jerusalem, had brought with them a Chaldean mentality and lifestyle. There was a language barrier that had to be solved. So these trained scribes took the Hebrew text and made it meaningful to the ears of the listeners.
After they had translated it, the verse says “they gave the sense.” They unlocked the door leading to understanding—the ability to see something beneath the surface. They taught the people the in-depth meaning of the words so that understanding would result.
Then they had to spell out the application, so that their listeners would see what law-keeping to the Lord would mean for them in practice.
Listen. This is the desire of everyone who stands here week after week. It’s the desire of every small group leader and Sunday School teacher in this church. We passionately want to help people understand and live out God’s word.
We need this so much in our world. Parents don’t teach their children the Bible at home. Preaching in so many churches is topical and superficial rather than taking books of the Bible and just teaching through them. Public education, the media, and the press all treat the Bible as an archaic curiosity or an intolerant nuisance.
Notice something. Worship includes listening to and understanding God’s word. Most church people I talk to think of only the singing as worship. Singing is part of worship. But listening intently to God’s word being taught is worship, too.
What if Maryanne and I wanted to tell our sons a short story to teach them a little about our past and they just acted bored and disinterested? Would that honor us? But when our sons want to know about Maryanne and me – how we met, why we moved to Ohio, where we grew up – then we are honored! In the same way, when we listen to God’s Word being taught, we are learning about Him and His ways. He is honored in our listening.
You know you’ve rebuilt the right way and for the right reason
when you end up with minds that learn.
4. … souls that respond. vv. 9-12
Jesus said:
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your … soul…
Mark 12:30
These people proved that they loved God from the depths of their souls.
Real worship…
… afflicts the comfortable. v. 9
9 Then Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, "This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep." For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law.
Why were they crying? They knew they were guilty. They were thinking back to those years they had lived with no spiritual input. They were uncomfortable with the fact that they had sinned. God’s word exposes sin. Everybody was guilty. In one way or another, they had all “fallen short of the glory of God.”
When was the last time you cried because of your sin?
Weeping under the teaching of the Word of God has never been a common thing. Being serious about the spiritual life isn’t normal. Pastors and people aren’t really begging the Spirit to break our hearts. Our hearts are hard. We’re self-absorbed. We’re casual about God. We’re unconcerned as to whether or not we please Him.
1. Am I willing to do anything God wants me to do?
2. Is there anything in my life that I would be unwilling to give up for Christ?
3. Have I broken any promise made to God or His church?
4. Is the worship of God a priority for me so that I don’t miss services?
5. Do I have a clear conscience in my relationship with my parents?
6. Is all resentment out of my heart?
7. Am I sexually pure in deed and in thought?
8. Do I have anything in my possession that does not rightfully belong to me?
9. Is the reputation of others safe in my hands?
10. Do I seek after material blessings more then spiritual ones?
Real worship afflicts the comfortable.
… comforts the afflicted. vv. 10-12
10 Then he said to them, "Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
11 So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be still, for the day is holy; do not be grieved."
12 All the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions and to celebrate a great festival, because they understood the words which had been made known to them.
Quit crying. Yes. You have sinned. You’re guilty. But God is not only the Lord of justice. But He’s the Lord of a forgiveness that leads to joy! So, throw a party! And make sure that the poor have enough to throw a party, too!
People were weeping out of grief and gladness together: grief that they had lived so long in a way that displeased God; and gladness that instead of rejecting them, God had mercifully sent Nehemiah to restore their city and Ezra to teach them His word. Now, they had learned how to love and serve him for the future. The grief looked back, the gladness looked ahead…
Joy in life is not found in circumstances or prosperity, but in the Lord. Our joy comes from the knowledge of who God is, what He does, what He says and what He gives.
This joy is the source of constantly renewed strength. It’s the dynamic for daily living. That word ‘strength’ was used by the Hebrew people to describe a fortress or well-protected stronghold. True worship gives a joy that gives a strength for meeting life’s demands. Energized!
None was so afflicted as He, “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” yet He says, “These things have I spoken to you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full! (John 15:11).
You know you’ve rebuilt the right way and for the right reason
when you end up with souls that respond.
Nehemiah had been chosen to do essentially a short-term job, a means-to-the-end project rather than comprehensive, end job. His leadership was to prevail over the building of the protective wall—a vital task but definitely not the end assignment.
To him the wall gave the people a helpful environment for an experience with God that would have eternal consequences. God is at the end of the vision He authored. Your vision – your rebuilding – is for His glory. He is the end of the line.
I can think of one word that describes how these people approached God. Passionate! Question. Is that the way you approach God?
Do you and the people around you have …
1.… hearts that hunger?
2.… strength on display?
3.… minds that learn?
4.… souls that respond?
God wants to take you to the place he took the nation of Israel. A place where worship is sincere and spontaneous. A place where obedience is an overflow of a grateful heart.
