Nehemiah: Rediscovering God’s Word for Spiritual Renewal
Ministry Associate Calvin Chu continues our sermon series with Nehemiah 8:1–12. Discussion points: God cares about everyone being able to access his word, God’s word is like a clear mirror to help us see ourselves clearly, God’s faithfulness in the past can help us have joy and hope in the present.
-
Scripture reader: [Nehemiah 8:1–12] 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. 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, and he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from the 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.
And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for this 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. 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. 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.
Also, 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. 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 word of the law.
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." So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be quiet, for this day is holy. Do not be grieved." 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.
This is the word of the Lord.
Preacher: Glad, I'm really excited to be here and, and share God's word with us this morning. I think because, what we're gonna look at today, I think many of us can sort of relate to, and I don't know where you all are at. There's obviously a lot of people here, many familiar faces, perhaps some new ones that I have met before. But I, I, regardless of where we're at, I, I, I imagine that some of us either are currently, or have recently, or will in the future feel tired or overwhelmed.
And very often when we feel this sort of like misalignment where we feel like we're carrying too much or or or whatever. We often seek renewal, right? We, we, we, we just need to relax, some sort of relax, relaxing experience. And many of us do this in different ways, right? Some of us will be like, you know what, Like it's, it's like the middle of the workday and you're just like, ah, I need a, I need a coffee. That would really renew that really restore my soul, right? Some of us, like, you know, I really wanna go outside. I just need, I've been in, I'm cooped up in my office all day and I can see the outdoors, but I cannot be there and experience it. and sometimes people are, some of us are like, there's been so much talking and loud noises, I just need to go and be quiet, so it can be renewed.
Some of us, we do the retail therapy thing, we scroll, and we go to the mall, or we go to the store, or whatever, and we go buy something. Some of us spend time playing games or hanging out with friends, and, and while I'm not saying that any of these are inherently bad. I just think that they're kind of poor substitutes for a deeper renewal. Sure, maybe you didn't get as much sleep, you get a little bit of a caffeine boost, and, and that gets you through. OK. But when we experience a heaviness in life, or a burden in life, You know, you'll need to buy a lot of things, spend a lot of time outdoors to to fill in that gap or or lighten that that load on our shoulders.
And then honestly, I think this bleeds into the experience of many of us as a sort of a modern American church, right? We, we too are not immune from having similar experiences. There's no shortage of books to buy, programs to sign up for, opportunities to do something, to deepen our understanding of something that promises us spiritual renewal. And again, same exact idea. That's not bad, but like committing to the Daniel diet for 60 days, so you'll grow in your faith, you know, in Jesus. Is that really what's going to give us a deeper renewal when things get really, really heavy? Will the promise of wearing a pair of Jesus sandals with leather built in the Middle East, is that going to lighten the load that we feel?
I just feel like, OK, maybe the book, maybe the Daniel diet, or whatever, those can be helpful, but you know were those things central to God's people before such products existed? And when we read in this passage, when we see and hear how God's people were renewed. Did it result, or was it the result of some sort of doing or buying? Or or program. And as you can sort of imagine, and see where maybe where even I'm leading. No, it really wasn't that. Again, not saying those things are bad, but let's really get to what is the core of experiencing spiritual renewal, and how do we get there? And we see this through Nehemiah chapter 8. So let me quickly pray for us one more time, and then we're gonna dive into the word.
Father God, I, I pray for spiritual renewal. Some of us may be really, really close to you, and really feel an immense amount of, recognition of you in our lives, God, and we praise you for that. But God, I pray for those of us who aren't there, or maybe haven't been there in a long time. And God, we pray that as we look at this passage, that your spirit would open up our eyes, so that we can see these ways that we can actually get this true, deeper spiritual renewal. Which is from you, and God. We, we, we pray that you would help us see and pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
OK, so starting off here, it's really interesting because in verses 1 to 5, what we see is there's actually a lot of emphasis on like the location and like the people who are present in this moment, right? Where, where Ezra's gathering all the people, right? He's gathering all the people as one man in the square before the Water Gate. Again, this is, these are really specific details that the person who's capturing this wants us to understand. And then they told Ezra, the scribe to bring the law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. And Ezra brings it before everybody.
And I wanna put verse two here is really specific. It says, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard on the first day of the seventh month. And he read it facing the square before the Water Gate. Again, Water Gate, early morning til midday, in the presence of men and women and those who could understand, and all the ears of the people were attentive to the book of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood on the wooden platform that they had made for the purpose, and beside him were all these people, I'll spare the rereading of all these names that I'm sure they're gonna mess up.
And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and he opened it, and I opened it, and as he opened it, all the people stood. There's all this conversation about all the people, men, women, all who could understand the specific places. Why is that? What we see here is a glimpse of God's heart. Because he cares about accessibility of people to his revelation. He wants people, men, women, all who can understand, which surely probably included children, like older children who can understand his revelation, his word, him revealing himself to his people. He wants people to know him. Right? The reading could have been in the temple courts, but it wasn't. It was in this large gathering, this public square, right? And the people, if they, if it had been in the Temple Square, maybe not, it would have restricted how many people could have heard, but in God's infinite wisdom, he said, no, it's gonna happen here in public with all of these people here to hear it.
But not, not just the, the, the, the physical space, but also the population, right? He says that, again, men, women, all who could understand. Right? Again, if you think about broad stroke, but think about how society was certainly in that time. Certainly, you know, men would have been counted and they them hearing would have been a high priority for the people at that time. Perhaps slightly lesser. Or maybe significantly lesser depending on the situation, would have been the women. Because again, that's, that was the society at the time. And that alone, if it were just men and women alone, it would've been like, wow, God actually really wants people, not just the men, but the women, all people to understand.
But God, not to be outdone, not to fit in the box that we wanna put him in, he says, and all who could understand. Which again, it's not specifically clear who, but I don't know who else is left. Men, women, and aliens, I know, it's probably men and women and children who could understand, those who could understand. And so the idea is that God wants people to have access to his word. He, we see that God's word is not something that is to be restricted. And held only for the elite, only for those who have advanced enough degrees, and they're the only ones that can really grasp it and understand it. What we see in these first 5 verses is that God says, it doesn't matter. Who you are I want you to hear my word. I want you to experience my revelation. And he goes to great lengths to to show this, right?
And so, yes, there are those who can understand scripture to a deeper level because of their study, and, and, you know, we, we should be thankful. I'm very grateful for Patrick Fletcher. Pastor Fletcher, when he comes up here and preaches, and anyone that opens God's word and treats it with the respect it deserves. Very, very grateful. But throughout all of scripture we see God reaching towards those whom society overlooks. and excludes and rejects. And God acted so that people from every nation, every tribe, every tongue can know Him. And really I think that that that's so important because God gives opportunities for people to hear and experience him through his word.
And is this not the embodiment of the incarnation of Christ? Right, God Out of his deep, deep grace and mercy and love. And desire to make himself known to his creation. Sent his one and only son. Coming from heaven, taking on human flesh. So that through Jesus, people could hear his words, see his works, encounter his compassion, witness his life. And the apostles who heard him and saw him, you know, were able to capture it, record it, proclaim it, and then it was captured, written down, and passed on for generations. God has made Himself known through Christ, and, and the good news of Christ is proclaimed to the to the world through His word.
And so if there's any doubt that God wants to make Himself known. Yes, look at the scriptures, yes, look at passages like this, but ultimately look at Christ. The word incarnate. And so, like, this probably isn't a surprise at a church like ours to hear that God reveals Himself through His word, right? I mean, much of our, our worship services are centered around His word. Much of our church programming is centered around His word. even when we, you know, do like fun things, I, I, I feel like somebody's praying somewhere in Jesus' name, which is, which is, which is fine, which is great. So we're probably not surprised there.
But the question is from this passage. What can we understand as to the why? The Bible, like the the accessibility to his word is so important. Like, like what are we supposed to get out of it, right? And, and, and, cause I think it's easy for us to fill in the blank, especially if we grew up in the church, and we go, oh well yeah, of course, like the Bible, it's important. And then the, the, the guilt triggers and it's, oh I, I haven't, my quiet times haven't been very, very good, and, and we kind of beat ourselves up as if just the, the, the having a Bible on our nightstand itself or cracking it open periodically is, is, is sufficient enough.
But I think really why is there such an emphasis on God's word here? And I want to notice a couple of things in verses 5 and 6. Let me read them. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and he opened it, and as he opened it, all the people stood. 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. See, these, these actions listed here are physical manifestations of their worship. And, and these are sort of like the expected responses when somebody is coming before them. They said, hey, look, Ezra, come read the word for us, and they, they were ready. Their, their ears were attentive, they were ready to listen. They were ready to, you know, again, worship may not have been worshiped as we experience it, but they were ready to engage with the word, engage with God through his revelation, and they physically were, were ready to do so. Right?
But, but see what happens next, verses 7 and 8, where it tells us that 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 the people understood the reading. So again, it's not just the one part. Right? These, these acts of worship, these physical manifestations of it were good. They were great. But paired with it was the, the ensured understanding of what they had read and what they were supposed to get out of it, right? And so what happens after that? We see here In verse, let me pull it up here. Verse 9, Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all 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.
Did you catch that? There's the worship, there's the hearing of the blessing of the Lord, the preparation, the attentive ears, the ready to listen, and then the understanding came. The explanation, the exposition. And then what happens after that, the people began to mourn, they began to weep, they were cut to the heart, they were heartbroken. What happened there? Is, is that the prescription for how worship is supposed to be, that every Sunday we're supposed to be leaving here puffy eye all over the place, crying, is that the prescription? No. It just so happens that the lives of God's people in, in this congregation, they were in direct conflict with his teaching. And the reading the law finally made them aware of the ways that their life was falling short, of God's standard, of what God wanted for his people. And perhaps they didn't know what the law had said, or perhaps it was a good reminder, or maybe they just had ignored it. They knew it, and they ignored it, but in the gathering, seeing the rebuilt wall. And, and God had moved and they, he just, they all saw. As Ezra was reading from his scroll scroll, they were like, I hadn't heard this, or I haven't heard it in such a long time, or now I finally understand.
What does this, what does this mean for us? What this means for us is that God's word is revelatory. It reveals things to us. Yes, it is God's revelation. It is God telling us who He is, what He is about, what He desires, what His will is. But it also reveals us. To us when we understand God's word, yes, we understand God better. But yes, we should also understand ourselves better. It's like looking in a mirror.
So one of the challenges that I face. Is that I can't really grow a good beard. Like, the, these parts don't ever fill in. This is, I'm getting there. I'm in my, I'm in 40, and like it's, I'm almost there. These sideburns are never gonna reach this is just not gonna happen, OK? And so because of that, because of you're some of you like where this is like left field sort of illustration. If, if you're new, hi, I'm Calvin,. And so for that reason, like I, I'm not, there are some people that are like I gotta people need to shave every single day. That's just not me. It's just, there's just not enough here. And so it's infrequent enough where I sometimes I'm just like, oh, I should really shave now cause I kinda look kinda scraggly. And so then, you know, after a shave, I, I choose to shave. I'm like, I take a shower and like my face is ready for the shave. But after the shower, the mirror is kind of like foggy, right? And so, rather than getting like a, a, a towel or whatever and like wiping it clear, I'm just like whatever, I'll just shave. And inevitably. I mean, I, I, I, I shaved yesterday, to make sure that I try to look as clean as possible, but inevitably, if I'm not doing a normal routine, I'm missing a spot, and the worst is I'm driving into work, and I see there's like a like a spare hair hair here, and I'm just like, oh, and no one else cares, no one looks at my face like that, so, but it's like, it's in my own head. But I miss it, right?
And what God's word does. Is it wipes that mirror totally clear. Turns on the, the, the vents, and just really sucks up all the steam, so it's crystal clear, so that I can see myself. God's word doesn't put the, the, the flaws there. It just helps me see myself clearer. When I really understand what he's telling me about himself, and what he's telling me about myself. It's revelatory, it reveals who I am, my flaws, my faults. But also my growth. Where he's been faithful, where he's been pushing me forward. And so, God's word is not there to make us feel bad about ourselves. That's not its point, but it's to give us a clearer view of ourselves, revealing our sin, so that we can turn from it, turn to Him, repenting, and learning to live in the ways that He has set before us. And so we can, as we see more clearly, then we can respond more faithfully.
But there's another thing here. The other thing here is that there's a version of this passage, like if there was like a multiverse of Nehemiah 8, where the congregation gathers and there's this reverent worship full of amens, and lifting of hands, and bowing of heads, and worship of faces to the ground, and all that. That doesn't follow, that isn't followed with a deeper understanding of his word. And in that version, what happens? Well, there's no conviction of sin. Thus there's no repentance. And this lack or partial understanding can lead some to believe that there is a genuine connection to God. Again, they were ready to listen. They had the right pictures. If they, if you took a picture of that and posted it on Instagram, they would've looked like an amazing congregation. But apart from the deeper understanding of his word, It's, it would have just been empty action. But it would've been, it would've felt like to the people that they were connecting with God.
And I don't know why, if they hadn't connected with God's word for a long time, they knew what to do, so maybe it was like a historical, cultural, behavioral pattern. Right? In other words, it may have just been performative Christianity. Gathering all the people, saying a blessing. Singing a song or whatever they did. But apart from a deeper understanding of the word, it was just performative. And so the gathered people listening to Ezra. And their need to be confronted by the law tells us. That like reverence. And like acts of worship, like like physical manifestations of worship, are insufficient. I'm not saying that they were fake. I'm not saying that they were performing. I'm saying apart from a deeper understanding and a commitment to the word, there is a real possibility that it can become performative.
So what's that mean to us? We can sing worship songs. I love singing worship songs. We can raise our hands and clap our hands, we can say mhm and amen. I grew up in a Chinese Heritage Church, so we didn't really have a lot of outward expressions of faith, so we could just, I don't know, take sermon notes more seriously or something like that. And so it, it, this is not an attack on outward expression. This is not an attack on, you know, singing or, or, or, you know, physical manifestations of worship. It's saying the thing that you do at church is not enough. The thing you do at CG is not enough. The performative Christianity that we can all fall into is not enough. What we really need to commit to as the body of Christ is a deeper understanding of God's revelation. And so yes, do those things. Sing, belt the songs in your car as loud as you can. Raise your hand as high as possible, get your platform shoes so you can reach higher up. That's great. But do not let that be disconnected from a commitment to understand him better through his revelation.
And so as we move to our last point here. Why is it that they end up going from ready to worship, ready to engage, hearing the word, being cut to the heart. And then they move to rejoicing. And they move to rejoicing here, and so I'm gonna quickly read some, some selected passages here from, from the rest of the passage.
Verse 13. On the second day, the heads of the 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 they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns 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. So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof and on their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, in the square at the Water Gate, in the square at the gate of Ephraim, and all the assembly of those who returned from captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Yeshua, the son of Nun, to the day that the people of Israel had not done so. And there was great rejoicing, 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 kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly according to the rule. What does that part tell us about what happened between the mourning and the rejoicing? And it's really easy for us to kind of fill in the blanks here, especially if you grew up in the church. We go, someone is mourning, someone is struggling, and inevitably someone can come up to you and quote verse 10 to you. Do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength, right? I, I can see that on a poster, next to a, a, a, a, a, a placard of a footprints poem, next to a, a live life love, you know, sign. Right? Like we can just sort of imagine it, oh yes, oh of course, I should not be grieved, because the joy of the Lord is my strength. Mm, mhm, mhm, amen, amen.
And it's sort of like, it can feel like, oh of course, yeah, I, I, I, I shouldn't, I shouldn't mourn, because how ungrateful of me. I mean I have a, I have a Lord and Savior who's done all these things for me, how ungrateful. Like, oh, of course, you know, death in the family, of course I can't grieve. Lost my job, of course I can't grieve. Like relationships on the rocks, like of course, like I can't, I can't, I can't be sad. I'm a Christian, I have to be joyous, right? I have to be, I have to be joyous. The joy of the Lord is my strength.
But is that not that performative Christianity that I'm talking about, that this passage sort of highlights for us to see? Right? So what's the difference? What is opening up the word so that we understand it deeper? What, why does that turn mourning into dancing? Why does it turn mourning and sadness into joy? How does that become the joy of the Lord, so that it's, it's in, in our heart, fully understood. What happens? Well, as we saw in this passage here. Verse 12, and all the people went their way to eat and drink and send portions of and to make great rejoicing because they had understood the words that were declared to them.
Verse 13. On the second day, the heads of the fathers of the houses of all the people, with the priests and Levites came together to Ezra and the scribe 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 on the seventh month. Why did they rejoice? Not because the, the, the, the Levites and the priests told them not to. It was The understanding that in the law, God's expectations of His people were is set in the context of fully understanding what God has done for them throughout all of history. To the festival of trumpets, which was the, the, the day in which they said, in, in the first part of the passage, was that they do not grieve because this day is set, this day is holy. There was this day that was set specifically for rejoicing. No, no grieving. Remembering, again, what God has done. Same with the festival of booths, which we honestly, the Jewish population recently just celebrated, just a couple, couple of weeks ago. This was a remembering of when God pulled them out and they had to live in booths, these, these, these buildings as a commemoration of a remembrance of God's faithfulness and deliverance.
And so without the core concept of of God's redemptive work and faithfulness. We, God's people, are left to assume that our relationship with God is based on what we do. Hence the mourning. I have not done enough, I am not good enough. I do not deserve your grace, your mercy. And that's why mourning stays there, but mourning turns into joy when we go, but my God is faithful. My God has delivered me. My God has not only delivered me, he's delivered generations of people before me. And so personally this is why, I honestly, I, I, I don't come from a very liturgical background at all, but I love when we read the Lord's Prayer. I love when we read the Apostles' Creed, because it's a reminder that I put myself in the grand picture of his story, history, his story that generations of Christ follows before me have recited the same exact creed, the same exact prayer, and it reminds me that I am just a small part of it. And God, the bigger part, deserves all the credit, deserves all the recognition.
And that's what I put my joy in. Not in my circumstance, not in my struggles, and and the fingers crossed, hopefully it'll be better, because who knows, it might not be. So I'm, I'm gonna conclude with, with, with kind of an application thought here, and I'm gonna pray for us. Here's the thought. If our joy comes from our, our, if our struggle goes to joy from understanding his word better, specifically understanding God's faithfulness throughout history. Then the thing that you can take home right now, on the drive home or the commute home, or the walk home. On the Monday morning commute. Is Look at your prayer life. Look at your journaling. Look at your reflections. Where do they lean? If you're like me, they usually lean in the future. God, would you change this? God, there's a situation, it's causing me stress. I hope that it becomes better. God, I pray for the future.
But what we see in this passage here perhaps suggests a different approach that in our prayer lives, we should be spending time in the past. God, you have been faithful. God, thank you for taking this that away from me. God, thank you for delivering me from that. God, thank you for protecting me from that. God, thank you for protecting me from myself. God, thank you that my decision did not ruin me. Thank you for the history. Thank you that you saved my parents, you saved my grandparents. And if we front loaded, built a foundation in our prayer lives that was looking backwards more at God's faithfulness. What will that change about our present? How will we approach God differently? How will we understand him better? So that when we look at all the collection of God's hand throughout all of our lives and all the lives of those who came before us, when we go. Yeah, this round of layoffs is nothing. I'm not worried about that. I, I'm, I, I'm, I'm concerned, but I'm not stressed because my God is bigger than that. I'm not worried about the spinal. Because yes, it, it, it's, it's the culmination of the entirety of my studies, yes, so don't, don't wave it off, give it its proper due. But don't be overwhelmed by it because my God's got this.
And so I, I want us to be clear. You know, remembering God's faithfulness does not make these things easier. It does not erase pain and sorrow. But does help us face our current circumstances. Without forgetting who God has been, who God is and what he has done. And the joy of the Lord is our strength because Our hope rests not on our circumstances, or our performance, but on the Lord Himself. And I, and I pray that you will base your renewal. Not on prime day. But on looking and seeking to find his faithful hand in our past. Let's pray.
Father God, I just thank you. God, I, I feel like I need this. I need to be reminded of your faithfulness, cause it is easy for me to look forward, to look at my present, to be worried, to be nervous. But God, would you change me? Would you change all of us, all of us who are ready to really embody this thought and, and move forward, trusting in your history, your hand in our lives. And God, I pray for many, many people to have a different approach starting today. Ready to thank you, ready to praise you and step forward in faith, because you have been so faithful. I pray all this in Jesus' name, Amen.