ReTurn, ReBuild, ReNew - Rebuilding begins

Today we continue our series of messages from Ezra. Last week we looked at chapter 1 and how God was preparing and calling his people to return from Exile in Babylon. A key verse from last week was Ezra 1:5

Ezra 1:5 NIV

5 Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.

First God moved their hearts and prompted a calling and then they prepared to go up and build the temple in Jerusalem.

We are going to skip over chapter 2 in Ezra. This chapter lists out name by name the families that returned from exile and how many in each there were. This list is repeated in a similar fashion in Nehemiah 7. These names represent people, God’s people and they are important, but we are going to look ahead to what happened when they returned to the city and what happened.

Turn with me to Ezra 3 and we’ll read verse 1:

Ezra 3:1 NIV

1 When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled together as one in Jerusalem.

Before we keep reading, there are are a couple of facts to tease out of this verse.

The seventh month in the Jewish calendar is the most important month of their year. It is a month of several feasts and celebrations. It isn’t clear if this is the month they arrived, but it is the month that they’ve decided to get things moving.

From this text, we see that they are already settled in the towns around Jerusalem having taken care of their families prior to the start of the seventh month.

From this I see an intentionality by God’s people to start the rebuilding off at the right time, but also in the way…together as one.

God is a God of unity. Not unity for unity’s sake, but unity in pursuit of Him and His purposes. I think there are times where we, Crossroads, will have differing opinions about this or that, but God wants us to come together in unity, as one, following God, talking about Jesus and pursuing His will along the way.

Before we keep reading, I want to fill in some context of what happened just before verse 1. Turn with me to the end of Nehemiah 7, verse 73:

Nehemiah 7:73–8:18 NIV

73 The priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the musicians and the temple servants, along with certain of the people and the rest of the Israelites, settled in their own towns. When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, 1 all the people came together as one in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the teacher of the Law 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. 4 Ezra the teacher of the Law stood on a high wooden platform built for the occasion. Beside him on his right stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah; and on his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam. 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. 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 understood what was being read. 9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy 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 holy 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 holy 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. 13 On the second day of the month, the heads of all the families, along with the priests and the Levites, gathered around Ezra the teacher to give attention to the words of the Law. 14 They found written in the Law, which the Lord had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in temporary shelters during the festival of the seventh month 15 and that they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem: “Go out into the hill country and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from myrtles, palms and shade trees, to make temporary shelters”—as it is written. 16 So the people went out and brought back branches and built themselves temporary shelters on their own roofs, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God and in the square by the Water Gate and the one by the Gate of Ephraim. 17 The whole company that had returned from exile built temporary shelters and lived in them. From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great. 18 Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. They celebrated the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day, in accordance with the regulation, there was an assembly.

An assembly. The assembly as one that we read about in Ezra 3 just a few minutes ago. This assembly did not come about because they had a good idea, it came about because they were following God’s Word. Not only were they returning to Jerusalem, to the promise land, but they were also returning God’s word. Every day it was read until the time came to assemble.

Let’s jump back to Ezra 3...

Ezra 3:2–6 NIV

2 Then Joshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with what is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. 3 Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices. 4 Then in accordance with what is written, they celebrated the Festival of Tabernacles with the required number of burnt offerings prescribed for each day. 5 After that, they presented the regular burnt offerings, the New Moon sacrifices and the sacrifices for all the appointed sacred festivals of the Lord, as well as those brought as freewill offerings to the Lord. 6 On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, though the foundation of the Lord’s temple had not yet been laid.

First they followed instructions as they rebuilt the altar. The altar was a place for atonement, for sacrifices to take the place of their sin. The building wasn’t there, the walls around the city were not there, yet they began with reconstructing the altar.

At times we mention coming to the altar, either in song or in a time of invitation. In the history of the church, the place just at the front of the platform or stage is often set aside as the altar.

The altar is a place of doing business with the Lord. It is a place where we bring both our offerings and our sacrifices. It is a place where we kneel and ask forgiveness…A place for consecration or setting aside. A place for remembering what God has done.

Fortunately, an altar can be anywhere. It can be the seat you are sitting in. It can be a special boulder or rock you sit at by the lake. It can be this little strip of wood at the end of the platform. The place is not as important as the condition of your heart as you approach the altar.

Sometime we need that special set aside physical place that helps remind us and other times the altar is inside of us.

At this time in history, God commanded the use of a specific altar in order that they would bring certain sacrifices and offerings a certain times. The altar was to be constructed a certain way. It would have been located in a specific part of the temple, but at this time the temple is still not there.

They started with what they could. They sacrificed, they offered, they consecrated themselves to the Lord as the Lord instructed. The returned to the city and now they were rebuilding their relationship with the Lord as they started by rebuilding the altar.

Let’s go back to verse 3...

Ezra 3:3 NIV

3 Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices.

Notice we have mention of the fear they had of the people around them. Fear is a very real thing. Especially a physical fear of harm. The people around the city had celebrated the destruction of the city and the scattering of God’s people.

Now that God’s people were back, they did not like that very much. If you’ve read in Nehemiah as they rebuilt the walls around the city, they had to have one hand on the sword and the other on the trowel because of the danger.

This was not an imagined fear, their lives were being threatened, yet they still went forward in serving the Lord and doing what it is that he had for them.

Let me ask a question…when was the last time you stepped out in serving the Lord where there was a measure of fear in that step? Fear of failure, fear of what others might think…fear of physical harm…

In the US, we have a pretty cushy Christian life compared to what I have read in scripture and what I have read of other believers around the world. It’s not very often that we are faced with a decision about our faith that might require some level of discomfort or overcoming fear.

It not wrong that we don’t have that, but I wonder if that has caused us to be a bit comfortable and complacent at times. I wonder what it would look like if we chose to push the boundaries of our faith to the point of where we began to do things that caused us to have some level of fear to overcome, some level of discomfort to overcome.

I was talking to someone recently about the analogy of the church as a ship. After a while of being on the ship, if we are not careful and intentional, we can begin to like the ship to look a certain way, have a certain types of entertainment, be heading in a certain direction. We might even start to try to control who is on the ship because we don’t want so and so on the ship with us. The ship ends up becoming a cruise ship where everyone is a passenger eating from the buffet provided by the hired hands.

I think a better model ship for the church to have is a military hospital ship. The only passengers on the ship are the wounded. They are the only ones without a job. They are there to heal and recover. Once the healing begins and they are able they begin to have a role or a job. They might do some cleaning, some cooking, then they might be a nurse for a season speaking hope and love into the lives of the fellow wounded. The ultimate goal though is not to gather passengers, but to heal so that they are able to head back out onto the battle field to gather up the wounded. From time to time they’ll need rest again because the battlefield is a tough place, but the season of rest is temporary so they can get back out there again.

Are you at Crossroads to part of a military hospital ship or to be a passenger on a cruise ship? The world around us needs spiritual nurses who are ready to care for the spiritual wounds. Medics who are willing to fearlessly go out and get the wounded and bring them in.

In WW2, Desmond Doss refused to carry a weapon, but wanted instead to help heal others. If you’ve seen the movie Hacksaw Ridge, Doss does just that. From the top of a ridge, he runs onto the battlefield and drags wounded men from certain death to safety. Each time Doss gets one man lowered to safety, he prays a quick prayer before heading back out. Please Lord. Help me get one more. Just one more.

In the days and months ahead, I believe we are going to begin to see the wounded need a place to come for healing. We will need medics to go get them. Nurses and doctors to care for them. Others to assist the nurses and doctors. People to help with the children of those who are hurting. People to cook the meals both actual food and spiritual food. It we need to be all hands on deck.

Related Media

Related Sermons