Joyful Servitude

Benjamin Sexton

The Work of Revitalization • Sermon • Submitted 7 months ago • Presented 7 months ago

Nehemiah 12:27–47

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The Work of Revitalization

Good morning everyone and welcome to Burr Oak. If this is your first time with us either in person or online, I am Pastor Ben and it is a joy to be with you today. We are nearly done with our series, The Work of Revitalization. Including today’s message we have three left int his series. Through this series we have been striving to the particular work Yahweh does when he revitalizes his church. We broke from the series last week to celebrate our 5th Sunday worship. What glorious work our Lord is doing in the live of those here at Burr Oak. We added 6 more to membership and heard the encouraging testimony of Greg Campbell. It is so important for us to take that time to stop and see what our God has done and continues to do.

Two weeks ago we looked at what revitalization of the individual Christian looks like. When a person has come to see, taste, and experience the beauty of God, there are certain indicators that mark this experience. First, they demonstrate a Christlikeness. To be Christ like means that a person is willing to leave their comforts, their family, their success, and their survival for a greater cause, a greater purpose, for the glory of Yahweh alone.

The next element of the revitalized life is that they are a person of valor. Again to be valiant, means that you can handle yourself, mentally, physically, and emotionally. Finally, the revitalized life is marked by right and orderly worship of Yahweh alone. This doesn’t mean that it is emotionless or lacks expression, but rather that it is done with an intentionality of exalting our God rather than ourselves.

Much of that message dealt with what individual revitalization looks like. We need this for corporate revitalization to take place, because all of this plays into how we operate as the collective. Our message for today is going to deal more with that collective element. But before we get to that, let us get to the fundamental aspect of revitalization, the transformation of the human heart.

Psalm 51:10–12 NKJV

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.

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.

The title of our message for today is “Joyful Servitude: Dedicated to Living a Godly life.” And we will be looking to the last half of Nehemiah chapter 12. If you brought your own Bible or want to follow along on your device please turn there now starting in verse 27. If you are using the blur pew Bible it is on page 449 towards the bottom of the left column. Or you can follow along on the screen.

PASSAGE

Let us hear the word of the Lord.

Nehemiah 12:27–47 ESV

27 And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres. 28 And the sons of the singers gathered together from the district surrounding Jerusalem and from the villages of the Netophathites; 29 also from Beth-gilgal and from the region of Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built for themselves villages around Jerusalem. 30 And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people and the gates and the wall. 31 Then I brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks. One went to the south on the wall to the Dung Gate. 32 And after them went Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah, 33 and Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, 34 Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah, 35 and certain of the priests’ sons with trumpets: Zechariah the son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph; 36 and his relatives, Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God. And Ezra the scribe went before them. 37 At the Fountain Gate they went up straight before them by the stairs of the city of David, at the ascent of the wall, above the house of David, to the Water Gate on the east. 38 The other choir of those who gave thanks went to the north, and I followed them with half of the people, on the wall, above the Tower of the Ovens, to the Broad Wall, 39 and above the Gate of Ephraim, and by the Gate of Yeshanah, and by the Fish Gate and the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, to the Sheep Gate; and they came to a halt at the Gate of the Guard. 40 So both choirs of those who gave thanks stood in the house of God, and I and half of the officials with me; 41 and the priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets; 42 and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang with Jezrahiah as their leader. 43 And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away. 44 On that day men were appointed over the storerooms, the contributions, the firstfruits, and the tithes, to gather into them the portions required by the Law for the priests and for the Levites according to the fields of the towns, for Judah rejoiced over the priests and the Levites who ministered. 45 And they performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did the singers and the gatekeepers, according to the command of David and his son Solomon. 46 For long ago in the days of David and Asaph there were directors of the singers, and there were songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. 47 And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah gave the daily portions for the singers and the gatekeepers; and they set apart that which was for the Levites; and the Levites set apart that which was for the sons of Aaron.

May the Lord bless the reading of his word.

As we consider the topic of Joyful Servitude this morning we are going to look at Lives of Dedication, Lives of Holiness, and Lives of Joy.

Lives of Dedication

As we are nearing the end of Nehemiah we are seeing the completion of the project that Nehemiah believe God had placed in his heart. The restoration of the Holy City Jerusalem as signified by the rebuilding of the wall. The Israelites have worked hard physically. They have fought off enemies, they have purged wicked acts from themselves, they have given of themselves for the betterment of others. And now it is time to celebrate. Our passage opens today describing this time of celebration.

Nehemiah 12:27 ESV

The question that we need to dive down into is what are they celebrating? Is it simply the completion of this grand project? Or of the work well done? When we were back in Ezra and we looked at Zerubbabel and his crew celebrating the foundation of the temple being built, we discussed how this was a different attitude from the building of the first temple where the celebration came entirely at the end. We looked at the cause of this difference being the fact that the Israelites had been humbled into seeing all that Yahweh had done.

As they have now after many years, from that foundation of the temple to the rebuilding of the city walls, they have not lost that all along it was Yahweh that made it possible. It is for this reason that they celebrate. And this celebration served two purposes. The primary purpose was to exalt Yahweh, to thank him for being the keeper of his promises, for seeing his people through. And secondly, it stated a claim to all the surrounding people that Yahweh was in that place. This is a proclamation similar to what we would read in psalm forty-eight in the middle portion.

Psalm 48:4–8 ESV

4 For behold, the kings assembled; they came on together. 5 As soon as they saw it, they were astounded; they were in panic; they took to flight. 6 Trembling took hold of them there, anguish as of a woman in labor. 7 By the east wind you shattered the ships of Tarshish. 8 As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God, which God will establish forever. Selah

Part of how we can see this is through the taunting that Tobiah and his gang had done.

Nehemiah 4:3 ESV

3 Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!”

Yet what do we see in our passage for today?

Nehemiah 12:31–32 ESV

Then I brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks. One went to the south on the wall to the Dung Gate. And after them went Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah,

Nehemiah 12:38 ESV

The other choir of those who gave thanks went to the north, and I followed them with half of the people, on the wall, above the Tower of the Ovens, to the Broad Wall,

While the enemies tainted them claiming their structure was to weak to hold the weight of a fox, they demonstrated that it would hold a great number of people. This sight would have proclaimed to all those around that Yahweh was in fact with them. As Akin states,

Exalting Jesus in Ezra-Nehemiah The Dedication of the Wall (Nehemiah 12:27–43)

This elaborate and beautiful celebration dedicates the wall of Jerusalem to the Lord, which is significant because this is God’s city. The celebration is a declaration that this city is where the name of Yahweh is made known. This city is where Yahweh’s law is followed. This city is for the worship of God.

This is the same thing the church is to be about. And when I say church I do not mean a specific building, I mean The Church, God’s Holy People, The Bride of Christ. We are to be making Yahweh known, we are to be following his law, we are to worship him. Like a wife that cannot boast enough about her husband and all that he does for their family, the Church is to be boasting about Jesus Christ and the work that he has done.

This boasting can take place in a couple forms. It can come through specifically talking about Jesus to others or very literally boasting about Jesus. But it also comes in how we live. Where does our time, energy, and money go? Do they boast that Jesus is the Lord of our life? Do they show that we are dedicated to his ways or do they show that we simply give lip service? Do our lives show that Yahweh is in us and doing a mighty work through us? Or are we feeble, a wall easily crumbled by a fox?

We have talked about how the Church is a spiritual wall that is supposed to demonstrate the power and might of Yahweh. Are we doing this? Does this show forth from our lives? Are we living lives of holiness?

Lives of Holiness

Striving for holiness is a topic that we have covered quite a bit within this series. Holiness is necessary for revitalization to happen. As our hearts are transformed we emerge desiring to honor Yahweh more with how we live our lives. In our passage today we see this element of consecration or holiness bring attention to a new degree.

Nehemiah 12:30 ESV

And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people and the gates and the wall.

To this point when we have talked about holiness it has been at the individual level. The things that we personally do that are sins against God and others that we need Christ’s help in working through. What we see today is that as the Levites purify or consecrate themselves, and others they do not stop their. They go on to consecrate the physical aspects of the gates and the walls. Not only do they want the people to be a holy people, they want the city to be a holy city.

When we relate to the church, we may wonder, “Does this mean that we need to put oil on the doors and walls of our building?” While that does not hurt, that is not the primary point. This is where a confusion comes in about how God is now interacting with his people. In Nehemiah’s day it was through the Jewish people int eh physical city of Jerusalem. Under the new Covenant in Jesus Christ it is through the Spirit across all time and locations. Therefore when we talk about the consecration of an entity, we are not talking about the physical building that a group of people meet in but rather the collective heart that that people have. Or rather, the things that a group of people decided to make most important, what do they collectively invest their time, money, and energy in.

Often times we best recognize this as the term “sacred cows.” At our annual board retreat I expressed to the men that I want us to begin to work at this level. We have spent much of the past year dealing with individual idols that impact how we operate with each other. Now we need to deal with corporate idols that impact how we interact with our local community and other surrounding churches.

To begin to understand what a church really worships we needed to understand the purpose of the church. Which what are they: exalt God, edify the saints, evangelize the lost. Once we know what we are to be doing, we need to assess how we are doing in each one. This is part of the reason we have our annual survey to, see if it is in fact clear that we are striving after our purposes. Our survey showed that overall when it comes to exalting and edifying, we are doing a pretty good job. Evangelizing needed work. I want to remind you what happens when we do not put an equal focus on all three purposes. Wayne Grudem states,

Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Second Edition) 4. Keeping These Purposes in Balance

A church that emphasizes only worship will end up with inadequate Bible teaching of believers and its members will remain shallow in their understanding of Scripture and immature in their Christian lives. If it also begins to neglect evangelism, the church will cease to grow and influence others; it will become ingrown and eventually begin to wither.

A church that places the edification of believers as a purpose that takes precedence over the other two will tend to produce Christians who know much Bible doctrine but have spiritual dryness in their lives because they know little of the joy of worshiping God or telling others about Christ.

But a church that makes evangelism such a priority that it causes the other two purposes to be neglected will also end up with immature Christians who emphasize growth in numbers but have less and less genuine love for God expressed in their worship and less and less doctrinal maturity and personal holiness in their lives. All three purposes must be emphasized continually in a healthy church.

As the board has begun to look at this corporate idols of the heart, one area that has been identified is that of outreach. There are indicators that we as an organization have been content with outreach consisting of us simply giving money to others organizations, rather than putting in the work ourselves. A good indicator of this is several things we have had come our way lately for aspects of outreach. I will remind you that on the survey that was the number one thing that the congregation wanted to see take place over this next year is an increase in outreach to our local community.

Over the last several months we have had several opportunities to put a focus on local outreach. We had Kiley from Gateway Woods in to visit looking for mentors for teen boys and girls from our area for follow up once they are completed with their program. I recently received a message from him that they are still looking. We have the head of CN Lifewise program that attends our church. Lifewise is an opportunity to fulfill the great commission in our own backyard. Any most recently our own outreach program. I can tell you right now that if the number of people who put outreach as a focus on the survey put their name on the list for volunteers, we would already have that up and running.

What are our priorities, what is it that we are focused on? What is it that we are truly worshipping collectively? Part of the revitalization process is coming to understand this and put the focus back where it belongs. That is what lives of holiness looks like. Whether it is is as an individual or us collectively as a church, our focus needs to be on Jesus Christ and living in the manner to which he has called us to. And when we do, we can learn to have this deep seated joy.

Lives of Joy

As we near the end of our passage for today we see this example of joy.

Nehemiah 12:43 ESV

And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.

If you remember back to Ezra this verse here sounds very similar to what was experienced in the days of Zerubbabel.

Ezra 3:13 ESV

so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

This shout was for the completion of the foundation of the temple. If you remember as this verse indicates there was a loud weeping along with the shouts of joy. The weeping came from those that had seen the first temple and believed that this second one did not compare. They were longing for the things of old and missing what Yahweh was doing at that point. The point that Nehemiah is at is 70 years after Zerubbabel and 140 years after the destruction of the first temple. Those who remembered the first temple and all that went along with it are no more. There is no weeping this time. This time there is only joy that is heard far away as the Israelites celebrate Yahweh fulfilling his promises to them.

As we think about this joy that they are both experiencing and expressing I want us to consider a few things about the Israelite people. First, at this time they are still not a free nation. They are still under the rule of the Persian king. Second, they are still surround by their enemies. Tobiah, Sandballat, Gesham, they are still out there watching them. Finally, the population of Israel at this time was no more that 50,000 people. They were a relatively small nation surrounded by enemies. If we were to look at the practical aspects of their situation, we would question why they were rejoicing.

Their city was mostly empty, meaning they were less likely to be able to defend themselves. They were not a free and sovereign nation. They were hated for who they were. There was much about the Israelites situation that would cause us to question why they were celebrating. Yet, they still had joy and rejoiced. Their rejoicing came from seeing what God was doing. They were seeing, tasting, and experiencing the beauty of God. And their lives were marked by an overflow of joy.

Regardless of their situation, they celebrated what Yahweh had done and was doing. They had joy in their lives and sought to honor our God with their lives. While to those on the outside it may have seemed foolish, or whether they had personally experienced better times, they still rejoiced.

This is so important for the church to understand today. Regardless of our situations, regardless of the troubles that we face day in and day out, our lives should be marked by joy, and joy that comes from seeing what Yahweh has done and is now doing. J. I. Packer reminds us,

Joy is not an accident of temperament or an unpredictable providence; joy is a matter of choice.

J. I. Packer

Joy is a choice. But is not something that we have to produce from within ourselves and from our own strength. The Israelites had already learned that this joy they get to express comes from a strength they received from the Lord’s joy.

Nehemiah 8:10 ESV

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.”

But this leaves us asking what is the joy of the Lord? In short the joy of the Lord is the extension of his blessing to his people when they have dedicated themselves to holiness. In the beginning of this series we looked at the reason the Israelites were exiled. This happened because of their disobedience that led to God turning his face from them. That turning of his face was the removal of his blessing. Yet the Scriptures tells us that

2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV

if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

This promise made to Israel indicated that every time they turned away and God brought judgement on them for it, it they repent of their wickedness blessing would come bringing healing. The key is the turning and repenting of their sins. This principle applies to the church. When the church operates as the church is designed by God to operate, there is blessing that comes. And that blessing provides strength to continue on and should result in lives of joy. Peter Adam exhorts us saying,

Ezra & Nehemiah: Walking in God’s Words The Joyful Dedication of the Wall of Jerusalem

We too are strengthened by our joy in God. If our prayers and our obedience seem weak, it is often because they are not mixed with joy in God. And even if our circumstances bring no joy to us, we can still rejoice in God. As Paul wrote to the church at Philippi, joy in God is the great antidote to worry, and brings God’s unimagined peace

Joy is not based on our circumstances, it is based on our position with Yahweh. If you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your life should be marked by dedication, holiness, and joy.

Closing

In closing today I want to be very careful about how I explain these three elements of the Christian life and how they pertain to both individual believers and the collective church. When we begin to talk about how we live this Christian life, it can become far to easy for us to look at rules or mandates we need to follow and we begin to attempt to live this way out of our own strength. The issue is, that even if we can succeed for a short period of time, the change will not be long lasting. As we obey God and trust him, he blesses us by giving us the strength to be able to obey him even more. Attempting to do it in our own strength is impossible.

This is what Christian Apologist David Wood learned. I realize that this name may not be one that you are familiar with. Until about 2 years ago I was not familiar with him either and learn of him through a book about another man that I was reading at the time. David Wood described himself in his young age as an atheist. He believe in no God and therefore believed in no higher authority. Staying true to his beliefs his teen years were filled with many run ins with the law believing that morality was nothing more than societal rules and constructs. This culminated one night when he was 18 when he nearly beat his father to death with a hammer simply because he could. For this he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

While in prison he was bunked with a man named Randy who was a devout Christian. Randy challenged many of David’s beliefs. Randy would often practice fasting and David wanting to show him it was foolishness started fasting with him to show him there was no special power in. David would attempt to out fast Randy to prove to Randy that any person could do that. In the midst of one of these fasts, the prison ended up putting David in solitary confinement. The reason for this was we had grown so sickly and lost so much weight from these fasts that the prison believed he was trying to commit suicide through starvation.

Fasting is a spiritual discipline. Just as with every aspect of the Christian life, we do not have the strength to accomplish on our own. When we attempt to be dedicated, or holy, or joyous, out of our own strength rather than that of Jesus’ we become malnourished just as David did while in prison. This is why the fundamental part of revitalization is not overhaul of a building, rejuvenation of a bank account, or more volunteer hours served by the people. Could all these things happen, yes, but they are the by-product of revitalization. The primary focus is heart change. Have you seen, tasted, and experienced, the beauty of God. Do you remember your first love? Do you remember how far you had fallen and what it was he saved you from? Do you remember what he has called you to go and do? If you can answer yes to those questions, then your life ought to show signs of dedication, holiness, and joy. Jesus has called us to a fine and noble task and this is the only life that we get to do it. No work is greater than the work that our Lord has called us too. May we rest in his strength alone.

END IN PRAYER