1. The first setback is satisfaction with religious activities
2. The second setback is satisfaction with raw materials
3. The third setback is satisfaction with royal grants
Let me tell you a story about a 33-year old California man named Larry Walters. Several years ago, Larry had an idea. He wanted to get a birds-eye view of his neighborhood. So Larry went to the nearest Army surplus store and bought 45 used weather balloons. Somehow he and his buddies got hold of enough helium to fill them after they tied them to his favorite lawn chair. You had to give him credit—Larry was a planner. He took a six-pack of pop, a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich and a BB gun with him. He knew he would have to come down sometime, so the BB gun was to shoot the balloons one at a time when he was ready to land. Well, apparently aeronautical engineering wasn’t offered at his school. Because instead of the balloons lifting him 100 feet in the air like he assumed—they lifted him to more than 11,000 feet. By the way, 11,000 feet is right in the air traffic pattern of Los Angeles International Airport. Needless to say, he was too scared to shoot any of his balloons. So he just stayed up there. They had to shut down the LA Airport for more than two hours which caused nationwide air traffic delays. When officials finally got him down, a reporter on the scene asked him three questions. “Were you scared?” “Yes!” “Would you do it again?” “No!” “Why did you do it?” “Because it beats just sitting there.” I think there are other alternatives to just sitting there, don’t you? But you have to admire him for one thing. He had some gumption. He did something. Even though it was the wrong thing, he got up out of his comfy chair and he did something. And he didn’t just stop with gathering the materials. He didn’t just stop with building his contraption. He didn’t just stop with packing supplies. As crazy as it was, Larry Walters got in the thing and took off. Even though his was a very poor plan—you’ve got to give him credit for following through and doing it. This morning, we talked about patience. Make no mistake about it, as Christians we are called to have patience. We are called to patiently wait on the Lord. But patience doesn’t mean the same thing as inactivity. Listen to how G. Campbell Morgan put it. G. Campbell Morgan was one of the greatest expository preachers of the early 20th century. This is what he said about patiently waiting on the Lord, “Waiting for God is not laziness. Waiting for God is not going to sleep. Waiting for God is not the abandonment of effort. Waiting for God means, first, activity under command. Second, readiness for any new command that may come. Third, the ability to do nothing until the command is given.” In our passage tonight, the remnant is caught in a period of waiting. God has faithfully restored everything required for them to start building the temple foundations. He has restored His resources. He has restored His remnant. He has restored the people’s responsibility. And He has restored His worship. Now, the only thing left for the people to do was start building. But there was a delay. Once they built the altar and started worship in the seventh month of the first year, they were satisfied. They were satisfied, so they delayed. They had completed all the preparations, but didn’t start the work. I don’t want us to be satisfied with preparations. We must not be content with the Lord’s preparation. After all, preparation is just that—it is getting ready to do something. I want us to start the work when we’re supposed to. Once the Lord finishes preparing us, I want us to get busy. In order to do that, we’re going to look at three setbacks of satisfaction. The first setback is satisfaction with religious activities. Look with me at verse 6:
EZRA 3:6
Remember where the people are at this point. They had been in Jerusalem for a while before God restored them to the point where they could worship. It was that busy seventh month, the month of the Jewish New Year when they finally got the altar built. And from that point on, they did all the worship ceremonies that they were supposed to according to the Law. They had their worship services down. They were fairly few in number and didn’t really have all the people it took to do all the stuff the right way. But they did it all the right way anyway. What an accomplishment. If that isn’t enough to make you want to sit back and rest in your accomplishments, I don’t know what is. And that’s exactly what they did. In a relatively short period of time, they became satisfied with what they were doing. They lost the vision of what God had called them to do. Remember what He had called them to do. He had called them to rebuild the temple. That was the kind of worship He had called them to. Yes, He wanted them to do all the sacrifices and ceremonies and festivals. But He wanted them to do it in the context of temple worship. So why was the temple so important? Surely God didn’t need it for a place to dwell in. Why wasn’t He just as satisfied as the people were with their worship, there in the rubbles? Why was His focus on His people building a building rather than just practicing religion? Because His temple was to be His witness to other nations. Do you remember back to when King Solomon built the first temple? Remember that God didn’t allow David to build it, but He allowed David’s son Solomon to build it. And that temple was magnificent. It was one of the most beautiful structures ever built by human hands. 2 Chronicles 6 recalls Solomon’s prayer of dedication for the completed temple. He starts by recognizing God for who He is and for the promises He makes and keeps. And then he goes on to pray that God will hear the prayers that are lifted up toward His temple. So many times we think this just applied to the Jews. But in verses 32-33, Solomon points out the effect of the temple on the other nations. He said, “Moreover concerning the stranger, which is not of thy people Israel, but is come from a far country for thy great name’s sake, and thy mighty hand, and thy stretched out arm; if they come and pray in this house; Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; that all people of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as doth thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.” Of course, God pointed out to Solomon the reverse witness His temple would have if Israel was unfaithful to Him. In 2 Chronicles 7:19-22 God says to Solomon, “But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations. And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and unto this house? And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them.” And that’s why it was God’s will for them to rebuild His house. The worship and the offerings and sacrifices were for them. The house was for the nations. It was as a witness to the watching world of the God who has kept His promises to the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So, when the remnant sat back and were satisfied with only the worship, what did that mean? It meant they weren’t being a witness. Does that ever happen to us? Do we ever get so caught up in all the work and worship in the church and fail to take it outside? Yes, we are called to be faithful and active in church work. We are called to teach and learn and serve and give. But, like the remnant that was huddled around the open-air altar there in Jerusalem—all that stuff is just preparation. It’s preparation for the work outside these walls that will exalt the name of Jesus to the watching world. Are you setback in your satisfaction with religious activities? Or are you ready to start building? The first setback is satisfaction with religious activities. The second setback is satisfaction with raw materials. Look at all the stuff listed in verse 7:
EZRA 3:7
It looks like they hired a bunch of independent contractors, doesn’t it? Actually, it looks very similar to what Solomon did when he built the first temple. Back in 2 Chronicles 2, Solomon worked out a deal with the King of Tyre. Solomon would send him wheat, barley, wine and olive oil as payment for his raw materials. He bought cedar, fir, and algum logs from them as well as hired them for labor. The arrangements made by the remnant look strikingly similar. They wanted to do things the right way. They wanted everything to be perfect, so they got everything lined up perfectly. And here came the materials. Here came the logs. Here came all the stuff they needed to get started. And they were satisfied. The indication in the text is that these arrangements were made with the help of Cyrus back before they ever left Babylon. And here they were months later and haven’t even touched the stuff. You can almost picture the cedar logs sitting in storage at the dock in Joppa waiting for someone to claim them and use them. They had the raw materials. They had what they needed. All it they needed to do was to put them to use. See, that’s the thing about raw materials. They’re raw. They need to be put to use before they are truly useful. A story is told from the civil war. Stonewall Jackson’s army found itself on one side of a river and desperately needed to be on the other side. First, he met with his engineers. He told them the importance of the mission and ordered them to design and build a bridge for the army to cross the river. Next, he called in his wagon master. Once again, he told him the importance of the mission and told him to prepare the wagon train to cross the river as soon as possible. Long before daybreak the next morning, General Jackson got a report that the wagon train was safely across the river. He asked, “How did it happen so fast?” It turns out that when the wagon master left his meeting with the General, he started gathering all the materials he could find and proceeded to build a bridge. He got the bridge built and now everybody was safely across the river. Well, almost everybody. The engineers were left behind in their tents, still drawing up plans for a bridge. See, the wagon master and the engineers both had the same mission. They both had the same amount of time—none. They both had the same commander and the same orders. They had vastly different training and expertise. But they both had the same raw materials. But the wagon master accomplished his mission while the engineers were just sitting around talking about it. He safely brought the people with him to the other side, while the engineers just pictured it. What was the difference? One of them did something while the others were satisfied to just sit around talking. One of them used every bit of raw materials he had to accomplish his mission. The other overlooked what he had and made elaborate plans that never got started. What kind of raw materials has the Lord entrusted us with? Just look around. He’s given us a wonderful building. Look in this sanctuary. There is room to comfortably seat well over 250 people in here. That is a raw material. Look around the rest of the building. There are 7 rooms in the basement that are suitable for Sunday School classes. Do you know how many are being used right now? Two. And that doesn’t include all the rooms not being used in the parsonage and all the space in the activities building. All of that is raw material. Property, facilities, people, money. Those are all resources. And I’m just listing the raw materials that are stacked up here. I’m not even talking about the ones that are still on the dock at Joppa or Zidon or Tyre or Lebanon. The ones that people have yet to bring to church for the Lord’s use. Are you setback in your satisfaction raw materials? Are you satisfied with all these raw materials the Lord has given us just sitting around unused? Or are you ready to start building? The second setback is satisfaction with raw materials. The third setback is satisfaction with royal grants. Look again at verse 7—especially the last part.
EZRA 3:7
Satisfaction with royal grants. The remnant acquired all those raw materials because of the grant made by King Cyrus back before they left Babylon. In King James English, a grant is the same as an authorization. When I was in the Air Force, before I could purchase anything for the government, I had to have written authorization. That was basically what the remnant had from Cyrus. But it was really even more than that. Flip back to the first chapter. Let’s look at Cyrus original decree back in verses 2-4:
EZRA 1:2-4
I want you to notice something about this decree. It wasn’t optional. It wasn’t like a permission slip. He wasn’t saying, “Y’all can go back and rebuild your temple if you want to.” He didn’t say that if they felt like it they could go and rebuild. No, it was really more like a commission. He commissioned the Jews to rebuild the temple. And he commanded those around them to help out. Apparently that included Zidon, Tyre and Lebannon. The bottom line is that it wasn’t optional. And it was a powerful took for the remnant. I imagine they were able to take a copy of that commission with them as they were getting ready to leave Babylon. It opened the doors to people showering them with provisions and treasure for the temple. It opened the doors to safe travel from Babylon to Jerusalem. I imagine it opened the door to them being able to find housing in the villages surrounding Jerusalem. That commission was a powerful statement. It even got them all of those raw materials we’ve been talking about. But after they used it for all those advantages, what did they do with it? After they got all the benefit out of it, did they do what it said for them to do? They received the blessing, but did that lead them to obey the command? Or were they satisfied with the benefits of the royal grant without considering the commission? Each one of us here tonight who has been saved has been given a royal grant. Jesus has granted us freedom from the bondage of sin. He has granted us new life in Him. He has granted us membership in His body, the church. He has granted us raw materials. The raw materials of gifts to serve His church with. He has granted us time and health and financial and physical ability to serve His church with. That is all part of the royal grant that Jesus gave us when He graciously provided His salvation for us. Just like Cyrus gave his royal decree to the Jews in the form of a letter, Paul recorded Jesus’ royal decree in a letter too. Ephesians 2:4-10 says, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Now, I want you to notice that last verse that I read—“We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” Just like Cyrus’ royal decree, Jesus’ royal decree not only frees us. But it also frees us to commission us. Cyrus granted the Jews freedom to go to Jerusalem in order to commission them. He commissioned them to rebuild the temple. Jesus frees us from sin in order to commission us. What is that commission? “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” The remnant—the remnant knew their commission before they ever left Babylon. They knew their commission as soon as they received the royal decree that they were free. And what happened? As soon as they got a taste of the freedom in Jerusalem, they forgot their commission. They were satisfied with the decree and forgot the commission. We sing a hymn that says, “I am satisfied, I am satisfied. I am satisfied with Jesus.” Is that the only part you sing in your heart? If it is, you need to keep singing. Because the song goes on to say, “But the question comes to me, as I think of Calvary—Is my Master satisfied with me?” Are you satisfied with the decree of your salvation? Are you satisfied and have forgotten your commission? See, in a very important way, salvation is just part of the Lord’s preparation. Just like the remnant’s religious activities, raw materials and royal grants were just preparation for what the Lord wanted them to do. The Lord wanted them to build the temple. Just like with them, your salvation is preparation. This building and all of the wonderful things we have here—those are just preparation. The worship and teaching and preaching and fellowship we experience in here—those are just preparation. They’re preparation for the work the Lord has commissioned us to do. They’re preparation for going outside these walls and doing the work of the Great Commission. What about you? Are you satisfied? Or is Jesus satisfied with you?
