Nehemiah 12-Unbridled Worship
Notes
Transcript
Handout
This morning we will be moving forward into Nehemiah chapter 12. Please go ahead and turn there in your copies of God’s Word. If you are using the pew Bibles, you will find this chapter on page 515.
So many exciting things have taken place leading up to Nehemiah chapter 12. The magnificent wall has now been rebuilt, which marked an incredible victory for those that had returned to Jerusalem. Shortly after the completion of the wall, Nehemiah and Ezra then sought to tear down the spiritual walls that the people themselves has built over the years between themselves and God. These walls began to tumble as the people listened intently to the proclamation of God’s Word, which we saw Ezra do in the chapters we just looked at together. The Word of God was read to the people and was also explained to them, and as this took place they began to understand how far they had strayed from the things God had commanded them to obey. Their hearts were broken at their disobedience, which brought about in them repentant hearts and a desire to restore a right relationship between them and God. In last weeks message we saw how they were now beginning to really trust in God like never before, which for many meant they would be packing up all of their belongings, moving out of their homes, moving away from friends and families, out of their neighborhoods, many times completely changing what they had been doing for a living, to move into Jerusalem, which at the time was virtually uninhabited and minus any homes as they had all been destroyed probably more than a hundred years earlier. But they were willing to take this step of faith because God had proven Himself over and over again to be worthy of their trust.
We will be starting this mornings message in verse 27 of chapter 12. Now, in our copies of God’s Word, verse 27 follows verse 26 of chapter 12, but thematically, 12:27 follows chapter 11:2. What we see from 11:3-12:26 could easily been put in parentheses. With that thought in mind, I want to start my reading this morning in 11:2 and then jump to 12:27.
Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
“11:2 And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem....12:27 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,[a] 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.”
Please be seated.
As I mentioned earlier, this was a time of great excitement for those gathered in Jerusalem this day. The walls had been rebuilt and their relationship with God had been restored. Today marked a day of great celebration for the people.
Nehemiah and Ezra were gathered there with the people that day and they knew the time was right for a great celebration. But they also understood that this celebration needed to be done right, and in order to do this right, there were some important things that needed to tale place. The first thing that needed to take place was the: Next Slides
Gathering The Right Leaders. Neh. 12:27-47
We see this in verse 27 where we read: “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”. The “they” mentioned here is Ezra and Nehemiah. To really appreciate what is taking place here leading up to this celebration, I want you tool look back to 11:18. In 11:18, how many Levites do we see living in Jerusalem (284)? Ezra and Nehemiah understood they needed reinforcements, so they sought more Levites to join in the celebration, 284 Levites was not enough, so they sent out a crew to all of the surrounding villages and communities to bring in more Levites. Now, perhaps you may be wondering why the Levites? What was so special about these individuals? Well the Levites were people throughout the history of the Nation of Israel who had devoted themselves full time to the work of God in the temple. Their lives revolved around the worship of God.
1998 was a big year for Village Missions, it was the 50th Anniversary. But it was also the point in time where Village Missions was the largest it has ever been. I don’t remember exactly but I believe there were somewhere between 296-299 Village Missionaries throughout the United States and Canada. As is the case now, Village Missions is broken up into several Districts and each district held their own individual conference. With this being the 50th Anniversary, the board decided they wanted to have one big conference, so, that summer all of the Village Missionaries, the US and Canadian Board Members, and almost everyone associated with Village Missions gathered in The YMCA of The Rockies in Estes Park, CO for one big conference. At the time Pam and I were leading the youth ministry at one of the largest VM churches which was located on the coast of OR (Gary and Judy visited the church this past summer). Also at that time my dad was the CEO of Village Missions. Pam and I were one of the couples chosen to work with the youth at the conference that year. Alan and Diane and much of the family were also there, in fact, chances are some of their girls we teens we worked with that week. One of the things we did each evening was to gather together for one magnificent worship service. I still remember the very first night we gathered together. There was a team of individuals who took the stage to lead us all in worship. Here we were, in the midst of close to a thousand men and women who had dedicated their lives to the work of God, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of this great mission and one of the first song we sang was together was “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”. It was one of the most powerful moments of celebration I have ever been a part of, a time I will never forget.
So, to answer the question of, why the Levites, my mind goes back to that night in 1998. You see, no one knows how to celebrate the greatness of our God like those who have devoted their lives to serving Him.
With the greatness of this celebration in mind, Ezra and Nehemiah sought out the Levites from all of the districts surrounding Jerusalem.
Notice the next thing we see, look at verse 27, why did they bring them to Jerusalem? (to celebrate the dedication with gladness). Then moving on we see that they were to sing with “thanksgiving” and they were to incorporate all sorts of instruments. Then, on top of the Levites, they brought gifted musicians and singers from the surrounding areas.
All this in preparation for the great celebration.
This brings us to the next important act they did to prepare for the celebration, we see it in verse 30; “And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people and the gates and the wall.”
What we are seeing here is an understanding that in order for us to fully worship God we must: Next Slides
Clean Up Our Act. Neh. 12:30
It must not be overlooked that before there was one moment invested in celebration there was time given to purification.
By the way, look again at verse 30, who all was a part of the purification? (the priests, Levites, the people)
Now Scripture does not make clear to us what exactly this included, but my guess is that there was some sort of a sin offering that took place here. You see, in order to carry on the celebration of the wall, their hearts had to be pure.
So, what does this mean for us today? I mean, aren’t we wasting our time here on Sunday mornings if we can’t apply these truths to our life?
I believe what this means for us this morning, is that if you have placed your faith and trust in the Lord, and are coming here on a Sunday morning for a time of worship, you need to spend some time before coming, preparing your heart for your time here. If we all start to make this a habit before we come, our time here on Sunday mornings will be incredible times and they will set the groundwork for our entire week.
By the way, this shouldn’t just take place on Sunday morning, if your a part of a small group Bible study, you should be preparing your hearts for that time. If you are working with the children in AWANA, you need to prepare your heart ahead of time. If you are working with children in Children’s Church, or teaching Sunday School, or working in VBS.... the truth is, the more we prepare our hearts ahead off time, the more we will be eternally impacted by what takes place when we assemble together.
Our greatest times of worship, of studying God’s Word, of celebration, of teaching, take place when we devote ourselves to making our heart right before God in preparation of those times.
You see God seems to prefer to use clean vessels.
Perhaps our failure to do this explains why so much of the time our moments here together have so little impact on our life’s the rest of the week, and why we as a church body do not have the impact we should be having on our families and our communities.
With that in mind, let’s now move to the procedure for the celebration:Next Slides
Everybody On The Wall. Neh. 12:31; 38; 43
To begin with in verse 31 we see 2 great choirs assembled. From 31-37 we see one of the choirs, led by Ezra the Scribe heading south. Then, starting in verse 38-39 we see the second choir, led by Nehemiah heading to the north. All of these upon the walls, singing and dancing and celebrating before the Lord. We do not know the exact number of people here, but if you take into consideration that the number of Levites in Jerusalem was 284 and that Ezra and Nehemiah wanted more, then add the Levites from the surrounding area, the other leaders, the musicians, the singers, and the rest of the people, there are likely thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of people on the wall that day.
Do you remember what Tobiah the Ammonite said to them back in Nehemiah 4:3 Next Slide
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!”
I guess it was a good thing there wasn’t a fox up with them that day or they would have been in trouble!
Now I want you to notice the temperament of those participating that day, we see it in verse 43. Looking at verse 43, what do you see as the emotional temperament of the people? (great joy and rejoicing). We see here it was filled with: Next Slides
Needed-Smiling, Singing Saints. Neh, 12:43; Pr. 17:22; Pr. 15:13
There was an atmosphere of joy and happiness that day because:
An Atmosphere of Happiness Should Surround God’s People Every Time We Are Together.
This should be the case every time we meet together for a worship service.
Let me ask you something. Are you a contributing force to the atmosphere of this church, or a draw back? What does our worship team see in your face when we participate in corporate worship here on Sunday mornings? Do those sitting around you know from what they hear as you sing that you love the Lord and love to worship Him? And this doesn’t mean you have a great voice, it simply means that the joy of the Lord just flows from you.
Happiness is a heart matter.
And your joy has the ability to impact others. You see: Next Slides
Music is one of the most expressive ways of communicating happiness.
The right music can literally change the heart. Are you struggling with worry and fear or anxiety? How about issues with anger? Then when you’re driving down the road, move your radio from your favorite secular station and find one that plays Christian music. As you start to get accustomed to this new station and start to know the songs, start to sing along and the joy of the Lord will change your heart. One of our cars has AppleCar Play. Much of the time when I drive that car, I play song’s I have downloaded from iTunes. My iTunes play list is loaded with my favorite Christian music, and I sing along as I drive. It changes my spirit. It will yours as well.
If you have an Amazon Echo, or Google home or any of those devices at home that you use for shopping lists and other things, when you get up in the morning, tell it to play praise and worship music and sing along with the music. Music has a powerful ability to change our hearts.
But there is something else I want you to notice in this mornings passage:
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A joyful spirit will have a far reaching affect. Vs. 43
We see at the end of verse 43 that “the joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar”.
People hear the joy of our hearts when we praise God. By the way, most of those who were hearing this were the enemies of the Nation, because most of the Nation of Judah was present there the day of the celebration. Their joyful spirit was having an impact on those around them. Ours will as well.
If you asked virtually anyone in the church today to name the greatest evangelist in American history, pretty much everyone would quickly give you the name Billy Graham. Historians believe that an estimated 3.2 million world wide came to Christ through his ministry. But there was another evangelist, who close to 50 years before Billy Graham, traveled around this country sharing about the love of Christ. His name was also Billy. Billy Sunday.
Billy Sunday had a troubled background. Born during the Civil Way, his dad died in the Civil War within a month of his birth. His mom married again, but she married a bad man who soon abandoned them. When he was about 10 years old he and one of his brothers were left at an orphanage, it was the only way their mother could know they would get a healthy meal each day. Billy ended up being quite a baseball player and ended up getting signed to play for the Chicago Whitestockings, which of course later became the Whitesox. He was an incredible base stealer. He learned to drink while playing baseball. One day in 1886, he and some of the other players had just left a bar where they had been drinking and partying. As they were walking the streets of Chicago, Billy heard some singing, some joyful singing. He was drawn to the music so he left his friends to see what was going on. The Pacific Garden Mission had just started a week of outdoor services and within a few days Billy placed his faith and trust in Jesus. He only played baseball for another few years before he gave it up because he wanted to work in ministry. He gave up a lot of money from baseball for the ministry. The rest of his life was devoted to telling others about Jesus. He went on to preach for huge crowds throughout the Untied States. In the end it is estimated that he preached to over 100 million people and some believe close to 1 million trusted Christ at his Crusades.
All of this started because some people from the Pacific Garden Mission were singing with joyful hearts before the Lord.
Because a joyful spirit will have far reaching effects.
Now I want you to notice one more thing this morning from our story in Nehemiah. It is not necessarily in our passage, but based on what we have looked at the past few weeks we can see it. And that is, nothing has changed in their circumstances. They were still living in a city filled with rubble. There were no houses, no businesses, everywhere they looked there was rubble. Their enemies were still surrounding them, in fact we will see so in the next chapter. Despite this truth they were still joyful because they now understood that: Next Slides
Happiness is not to be dependent on outward circumstances, but upon inward focus.
Their focus was not on the enemies that surrounded them, it wasn’t on the fact that there were no homes yet in the city, not on the piles of rubble everywhere. It was on their God and His work in their lives. It was on the God Who strengthened them, Who protected them, Who sustained them. They were filled with joy not because of their outward circumstances but because of their inward focus on the God of the universe.
