Our Reaction to God's Word
The Work of Revitalization • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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The Work of Revitalization
The Work of Revitalization
Good morning everyone and welcome to Burr Oak. For those who do not know me I am Pastor Ben and it is my humble joy to be able to bring you God’s word today.
The last two weeks we have been looking at how to overcome discouragement. We ended last week by highlighting 6 things the Christian needs to do to overcome discouragement. As a reminder those 6 points are.
Do not entertain temptation of any kind.
Lean into your relationship with Yahweh so that you may grow in discernment.
Seek out what in your heart that you are wanting, desiring, or worshiping other than Yahweh.
Remember what Yahweh has done previously.
Press on in the work that Yahweh has called you to do.
Continue to establish the community of believers.
One of the themes that connects all 6 of these points is God’s word. God’s word commands us to not entertain temptation. We grow in our relationship with God and in discernment through God’s word by the power of his Spirit. We realign our hearts with God’s word. God’s word shows us what Yahweh has done previously. God’s word shows us what we are to continue to be doing. And finally God’s word governs this community that we are to establish.
This morning we are going to spend our time looking at our response to God’s word. But before we get to our passage, let us first have our hearts and minds brought to attention with our focus verse.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Please pray with me.
PRAYER
Father you have again allowed us to come together today. Lord as we prepare to receive your word open our hearts and minds to understand it. Father may you present yourself to us today. For those that are sorrowful bring them comfort. For those that are fearful bring the courage. For those that harboring sin, bring them conviction that they might be able to walk in the freedom of the light of Christ. Father we ask your blessing on our message for today. In Christ’s name we pray, amen.
Well the title of our passage for today is Our Reaction to God’s Word: Conviction & Celebration. We will be looking to the eighth chapter of Nehemiah. If you brought your own Bible or want to follow along on your device please turn there now. If you are using the blue pew Bible it is on page 444, or you can follow along on the screen.
PASSAGE
Let us hear the word of the Lord.
1 And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel.
2 So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month.
3 And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.
4 And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand, and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand.
5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood.
6 And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
7 Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places.
8 They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.
9 And 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 wept as they heard the words of the Law.
10 Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
11 So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.”
12 And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.
13 On the second day the heads of fathers’ houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the Law.
14 And they found it written in the Law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month,
15 and that they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns and in Jerusalem, “Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.”
16 So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim.
17 And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing.
18 And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.
May the Lord bless the reading of his word.
This morning as we consider our passage and our reaction to Yahweh’s word, we are going to do so by looking at the three points from our logo. As a reminder a little over a year ago we put these out as a church family and said that yes, this is where we stand. This is who we are and what we are about. Since that time we have had several people join our church family and it would be a good point to revisit these.
Real Life
Real Life
Last week we looked at how Nehemiah has now completed the walls and sees that the city is rather empty of people and that no houses had been rebuilt.
4 The city was wide and large, but the people within it were few, and no houses had been rebuilt.
We discussed how part of this work that Nehemiah was to do was to go and establish the community. After looking at the genealogies last week and discussing what the genealogies meant at this point in Nehemiah, it is important for us to look where Nehemiah heads next. We cannot separate this chapter from the previous one so it is important for us to understand why we have Nehemiah eight after Nehemiah seven. Nehemiah seeing the city is not full of people and the houses are not rebuilt, we do not see him run to a plan to establish these things. Rather he turns to the only thing that can truly give life, Yahweh’s word.
1 And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel.
3 And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.
8 They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.
What is happening here in Nehemiah is a principle we see throughout all of Scripture.
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Within the first few lines of our Bibles we read of a scenario that depicts no form, no life. The direct translation from the Hebrew would be something along the lines of an empty wasteland or an empty desert. The change to this empty wasteland was the spoken word of God.
Picking up on this in his gospel, John attributes this word of God to Jesus.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
This word that became flesh, was the light of men. In describing himself being the life Jesus said,
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
He came so that man may have life abundantly and find their way back tot he father through him. We need to understand that this is the work of the word, whether the living or the written. It is to testify about what God has done so that man may find true life. But this doesn’t happen in ignoring life and treating the Bible as just a list of commands to follow. It comes from seeing how the Bible is sufficient to address the issues we face in life.
This is what we see with Nehemiah. We have seen to this point several internal issues with the Jews. They were buying each other as slaves, they were charging interest to one another, they were intermarrying with the enemy. They were boasting about the deeds of the enemy. Internally they are reeked full of sin. What we see today is that in light of these issues, to begin to establish this community, they turn towards God’s word and growing in their understanding of it.
This too, is what we have determined we are about here at Burr Oak. The first real that we are about is Real Life. Pulling right from our website this states,
At Burr Oak we do not shy away from the fact that there are times when this life is hard. We believe that in these moments our family and our faith is what can carry us through, and yes, help us to even find joy in it. That is why we seek to cultivate a real family atmosphere here at Burr Oak, where we can grow together in our faith in Jesus Christ. When life’s trials come our way, with the support of our family we rest in the fact that with confidence we can approach the throne of God to find grace and mercy in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16).
Along with this we recognize that God’s word addresses real life. We do not hold that these stories that we read are fairy tales, or stories only for moral character training. Rather we hold that these are stories about real people and the real experiences that they faced and how, the almighty creator Yahweh worked within their lives, and situations.
This means that we also hold that Yahweh’s word is sufficient to help us in our time of need. That part of the grace and mercy we find, is guidance in how to navigate the situations we find ourselves in.
Yet one of the things that we wrestle with is understanding God’s word. Fortunately, Yahweh has not left us alone to figure it out. Looking back to our passage for today we see this principle.
Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.
Last week I mentioned how I have been putting a preaching team together. I stated that this is how I can edify the saints by teaching others how to teach God’s word. I also mentioned that it would be poor shepherding on my part if I did not equip others to teach if something ever happened to me. The other aspect to this is because of what we see here in Nehemiah.
While Ezra did the teaching, there were other men who help the people in attendance to understand what was being taught. See it is most beneficial to a congregation when there are multiple men who can teach, as each one listening will relate differently to what is said. This will help the congregation grow the most spiritually. Most studies are showing that the Senior Pastor or the primary teaching pastor should only preach between 60-75% of the time through out the course of the year.
When it comes to real life that means that as we struggle with different aspects of the human experience, none of us need to be fully equipped to handle it all, but rather as the collective we should be able to.
This is where Biblical Counseling comes in. I recently was part of a meeting with Biblical Counselors from all around the country looking at how to create a support group for counselors within their area. In the meet and greet time, I mentioned that I am looking at how biblical counseling and church revitalization go hand in hand. When it came back around to our host, he mentioned that he had walked a very similar path to what I am and has found that with this younger generation, biblical counseling ties directly to church revitalization.
The reason for this is because the Millennials and the Gen Zs are not sold on flashy lights and a big production, rather we want transparency. We want practicality. We want to know what God’s word says about my life and how does it impact it. We want really life. We don’t want a flashy catch phrase. With honesty and sincerity we want to work through the hardest parts of life, to see that God’s word really is true!
Real Family
Real Family
Yet, how is this done? That brings us to our second point, real family. Skipping around in our passage for today we are going to see where real family begins.
On the second day the heads of fathers’ houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the Law.
And they found it written in the Law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month,
and that they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns and in Jerusalem, “Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.”
After having God’s word read to them, we see the next thing take place. The men came together to study the word, and they see in it that they are to honor Yahweh, through a specific means of worship. In this context specifically, it is through the keeping of the festival of tents. Now I want to remind you that they currently have very few house to live in.
Men let me ask you something. If your family was without a house to live and you had all the materials to build one. Or the house you have is heavily damaged but you have all the material to repair it, would you get right after building it, or would you put it off for eight days to live in a tent. And not one of our newer tents but a makeshift shelter made of branches and broad leaves? And during that eights days you are going to feast and fellowship and read the Bible each day. Which would you lean towards?
See our natural inclination is to lean towards rebuilding or repairing our house. Let, me bring this to a more modern type example. Men, if you have a home repair project that needs to be done and Sunday is the only of the week that you see yourself having available to complete this project. Are you going to be content with just sending your wife and kids to church while you stay home, or are you going to lead them in going to corporately worship Yahweh together? Are you going to put off that natural inclination of self-provision and go and intentionally worship your God?
Men at some point we need to own what we have allowed ourselves to become in regards to the life of the church.
“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.
They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.
They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.
Picking up on this Paul Washer in his message on the sufficiency of Scripture at the G3 2017 conference in which they celebrated the 500 anniversary of the Reformation had this to say to the crowd while discussing whether we still stand for what the Reformers did.
“Are our homes reformed? Are we discipling? Are we washing our wives in the world. Are we discipling our children? Maybe catechizing them at least family devotions consistently purposefully. Are we doing that? The reformers did Matthew Henry did, Phillip Henry did. Understand that John Calvin and Luther were not only hated because of their doctrine of soteriology, they were hated because of their doctrine of marriage and family.”
He goes on to present a very practical situation.
“Let me give you an example if I walked into a church and I said this how many, if all your men were there, and I said how many of you man are purposefully consistently, intentionally discipling your wives and your children would it not be true in the typical evangelical church or even the Reformed church, that we would have men look at each other and go, it wouldn't even really brush up against them.”
“But then if I said this as well since we're not doing that, then, starting now, I'm canceling all the women's groups, all the children's groups, children, church, youth groups, college group. I'm canceling it all. What would they do?
They would rise up and start screaming. ‘Crucify him, crucify him,’ and you know what? I would tell them, ‘You hypocrites you annul the commandments of God for the sake of your traditions.’”
He closes saying,
“I'm all in favor of it don't get me wrong. But let me tell you something in most churches what it is, is that the church is doing something in order to give all the men in the church the excuse for not obeying God.” - Paul Washer
The men of Nehemiah’s day came to see the importance to led their communities in worship even in the face of practical needs that needed to be met. Does this mean that God does not care about our practical needs? No, it means that he wants our hearts looking to him first, and that he wants the men of any given community leading this. So what this does this mean for us given our second real, Real Family?
At Burr Oak we believe that it is God who has allowed us to be a family, and that through His love that He has lavished on us we can identify as His children (1 John 3:1), and therefore love each other in real and practical ways. As His children He has given us His Word (the Scriptures) as instruction for how to live in His family. We believe that there is always an open spot at the table and that our Heavenly Father has instructed us to go and grow the family (Matt 28:19-20).
We believe that God’s family is located all around the world. And as such we pray for these fellow brothers and sisters regardless of their distance from our physical location. We rejoice for them in times of celebration, and weep alongside them in times of persecution.
Men are you content with your wife and kids taking part in the ministry opportunities here at Burr Oak, or are you getting involved as well. Are you finding practical ways to love those around you and to demonstrate for your wife and kids what real ministry looks like? Are you leading them in prayer? Are you leading them in growing in your understanding and ability to teach God’s word even at home? How, men are you specifically contributing to real family?
Now I will not deny that at times this can feel like to tall of an order to set up to. Many men feel unequipped to lead in these types of fashions. Or when they have tried they have been met with push back, and so they retreat to where they most feel comfortable. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t. Look what happened when the men of Nehemiah’s day stepped up and did what they should.
And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing.
When we operate in accordance to Yahweh’s will and order then end result should be a great rejoicing. This is where our last point for today comes in.
Real Faith
Real Faith
As we get to this next point we are going to see here from Nehemiah the first two markers from the paths of revitalization, peoples’ heart’s soften and desiring to grow in godly wisdom, and the repentance of sins.
They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.
And 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 wept as they heard the words of the Law.
The people heard and understood and were convicted. Their hearts were broken over their waywardness and Yahweh’s faithfulness. We have talked about seeing, tasting, and experiencing the beauty of God as presented in the gospel. This is where that comes about. When we finally recognize how prone to waywardness we are in thought and deed, yet, Yahweh is still faithful to us.
Matt Boswell and Matt Papa have a song they wrote about 5 years ago titled “His Mercy is More” the first couple verse and course go like this.
What love could remember no wrongs we have done? Omniscient, all knowing, He counts not their sum. Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore. Our sins they are many, His mercy is more!
What patience would wait as we constantly roam? What Father, so tender, is calling us home? He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor. Our sins they are many, His mercy is more!
Praise the Lord, His mercy is more! Stronger than darkness, new every morn! Our sins they are many, His mercy is more!
His mercy is more, it is a treasure in value that knows no end! Nehemiah shows us that. When the people mourned over this realization, they were instructed to stop mourning, to stop their grieving and to celebrate because the Lord and his day is holy! This is were real faith comes in. The type of faith that tells us that regardless of the situations that we find ourselves in, Yahweh will not go back on what he has promised. In essence this is what the Jews of Nehemiah’s day were being reminded of of.
When it comes to real faith here at Burr Oak this is what we believe.
At Burr Oak it is our faith in Jesus Christ that carries us on. While our faith is a deeply personal part of each of us, we believe that our faith calls us to action by sharing our faith through the many real ways we live in community. We seek to demonstrate our faith in both truth and action (1 John 3:18) by how we love God and how we love those around us. We believe by keeping our focus on Jesus our minds can become transformed, which in turn transforms our homes, our communities, and so on.
Without faith we are left with being fearful. Fearful of the future, fearful of the hear and now, fearful of how we will make it through, fearful of if we are loved, fearful that we are not forgiven, fearful that we are not enough, fearful of our own thoughts, and so on. Regarding this D. A. Carson states,
What is clear is that both Mark and Matthew set faith over against fear. Faith chases out fear, or fear chases out faith.
D. A. Carson
Do you have faith that through the accomplished work of Jesus on the cross that you no longer need to live as you once did? Do you have faith that Yahweh has really spelled out within his word how you can find peace and blessing within this life of trouble and chaos? Do you have faith that the weeping and mourning you have from conviction of your sin can will only last the night for joy will come in the morning? This is what we are to see from this part of Nehemiah. When we are confronted with our waywardness, our proneness to wandering, Yahweh’s mercy is more!
Next week we are celebrating communion. As we have been doing the elders will remain up front after service for anyone wanting prayer. We will ask you two questions, what you would like prayer for, and do you have anything to repent of? The Scriptures tell us that before we partake in communion, if we have anything against a brother or sister in Christ that we should seek to rectify it beforehand. I want you to understand that our reason for doing this isn’t because as the elders of this church we seek to know every little detail of your life, nor is this mandated confession.
This is an opportunity for you to have rejoicing in the Lord because of your faith in him. If the Spirit is laying a conviction on your heart of something to deal with, do not ignore it. The Spirit wants to turn your mourning into rejoicing. And that means that often times as we work through this life and we seek to find what has captured our hearts more than Yahweh, we have to have conviction before celebration. Do not treat the communion meal as just another act next, take the Scriptures serious and strive for holiness and reconciliation within your own lives.
Closing
Closing
In closing here at Burr Oak we are about Real Life, Real Family, and Real Faith. But for these to be true, it means that we Real-ly need to stand on Yahweh’s word. Do we take his instructions to us seriously? Do we have faith that how Yahweh has called us to live is really for our benefit? Do we find our hope in the accomplished work of Jesus and his promise to one day return for us? Do we rest in Yahweh’s love for us, and seek to grow in our love for him and those around us?
As we grow in these areas, as we grow in realness of faith, the angst that we feel. The struggle that we constantly wrestle with can subside and we can experience what Nehemiah instructed the Jews.
Nehemiah 8:9–10 (ESV)
“This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” ... “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Do not mourn or be grieved today, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!
END IN PRAYER