Sermon Tone Analysis
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Committed to the Task
Nehemiah 7-8
Open with Prayer.
Pray!
Open your Bible to Nehemiah chapter7.
How many of you have read through Nehemiah chapter 7? Be honest, did you read every word or just sort of skim through it?
I’m going to be honest; I was originally just going to skip over chapter 7 entirely but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
I couldn’t just bring myself to basically say that there was an entire chapter of the Bible that wasn’t useful and didn’t need to be taught.
So, I’m going to actually pick out a few points from chapter 7 and from chapter 8.
There is a lot of material that we’re going to cover today so we’re just going to go ahead and jump into the Word this morning.
As we come to Nehemiah 7-8 the emphasis shifts from reconstruction to reinstruction.
The walls were finished in 52 days, but the people inside sure weren’t – they still had some significant sin problems!
We move from restoring the wall to restoring the people; from building walls to building worshippers.
We see this in verse 1:
The rebuilt walls of Jerusalem enabled God’s people to rejoice in worship with the singers leading in praise and the Levites handling the preaching.
Let’s dive in and discover at least four things that matter to God.
God wants us to guard what’s important
Nehemiah was looking for two key qualities in his leaders – faithfulness and the fear of God.
It was customary to open city gates at sunrise but he wanted them closed until later in the day to prevent attacks.
It reminds us that we must always be on guard because 1 Peter 5:8 says, “…Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
God wants His people to be together
A large chunk of this chapter, from verse 5 through verse 69, reads like a Hebrew phone book!
While these names don’t mean anything to us, they mean a lot to the Lord because God’s people are not nameless or unknown to Him.
God wants to make sure they are not forgotten so He lists their names twice – here and in Ezra 2.
The truth is that you can’t be a Christian in isolation.
We are meant to be together.
We aren’t meant to live without each other.
God desires for His people to be together.
The next time you think you might sleep in or not come back for Sunday evening or Wednesday night, remember what the author of Hebrews wrote:
We all need encouragement.
We all need each other.
God wants His people to be givers
We see in verses 70-72 how God uses the giving of His people to accomplish His purposes:
One estimate is that all the gold and silver given totaled about $15 million in today’s dollars.
We know from the census there were 42,360 people, which would come to an average gift of $350.
This might not seem like much but remember money went a lot further then.
Another commentator estimates the value in today’s dollars at $100 million!
Whatever the exact amount, the people gave over and above what was expected of them.
When you think about it, they had plenty of reasons not to give…
· They had just returned from Babylon and still needed to get settled
· They didn’t have stable jobs and the economy was uncertain
· There was no guarantee the walls were even going to work
· Many of them didn’t live in Jerusalem and could have thought, “This won’t help us.”
· Some may have thought since they had worked on the wall they didn’t need to give any
But instead of giving excuses, they gave what they could with what they had.
Everyone gave something because it is natural for God’s people to give.
They gave generously.
They gave sacrificially.
And no one gave out of guilt.
There is great joy in generous giving.
God’s goal is to get His Word into people
Let’s move now to Nehemiah 8 where we will see how God’s people responded to God’s Word.
We’ll spend the rest of our time on this idea because it’s so important.
This chapter addresses three misconceptions about the Bible.
The first is:
The Bible is too confusing to read
They came together as “one man,” eager to understand God’s Word.
A sense of unity and renewed purpose replaced the disunity and disagreements from the “great outcry” of chapter 5.
Ezra was the perfect man to lead this outdoor Bible conference.
He had come to Jerusalem 14 years before Nehemiah and was a scribe, priest, scholar, and teacher of the Law.
Ezra 7:10 gives us an idea of what kind of man he was:
He was committed to personal study of the Word, he looked for ways to apply the Bible to his own life, and only after that, did he teach it to others.
This verse is a personal challenge because I want to do the same thing.
It seems to be a spontaneous gathering.
No invitations were sent out.
No public notice was given.
They came together as “one man,” eager to understand God’s Word.
And the people didn’t wait to hear what Ezra had chosen to preach on, they wanted him to bring the book of the law, the Torah, the first five books of Moses.
The Bible is not some kind of magic book that changes us just because we read it.
God’s Word must be understood before it can enter the heart and release its life-changing power.
We’re told that the people could understand five times in this chapter which shows us that the Bible is not meant to be confusing but to be understood.
Ezra started reading at dawn and read until lunch.
The people listened to the Word of God for over six hours!
We know from verse 18 that this continued for a week.
And, they didn’t just sit in their pews but “the ears of all the people were attentive.”
They didn’t sleep or get distracted.
They paid attention!
There’s no greater thrill to a preacher then when people listen attentively to the Word of God.
In an effort to follow Ezra’s example, we’re going to have six-hour sermons beginning next Sunday…
Ezra stood on a platform so they could see and hear him better.
When Ezra opened the Book in verse 5, the people honored God by standing up.
They knew this was not just a man speaking; they were about to hear the very Word of God.
They didn’t have their own copy of the Scriptures and Bible apps hadn’t been developed yet.
The people went from sitting to standing.
They raised their hands, shouted their agreement by saying “Amen” and then bowed down and worshipped by putting their faces to the ground.
The anticipation of hearing the Bible in a way that they could understand totally gripped them.
They were locked in, focused, and ready to hear from their great God.
They probably mingled with the people, answered questions and told them how to apply the Law.
There was both a public proclamation of the Word in a large assembly as well as face-to-face interaction.
The first misconception is that the Bible is too confusing to read.
What we learn from verses 1-8 is the Bible is designed to be understood.
Here are some ways to better understand the Word of God:
Find a readable translation
Read a chapter a day.
Grab a notebook and write down one verse that impacts you.
Use a study Bible.
There are lots of them out there.
Pay attention
Bring your Bible and follow along.
Take notes.
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