1. Obedience was immediate
2. Obedience was inspired
3. Obedience was inclusive
4. Obedience was investigated
Imagine if you will, not having access to a Bible. Throughout history, that’s the way it’s been for most people. In the early church, the Bible consisted of the Greek translation of the Old Testament. It also included copies of all the letters that we now call the New Testament. As an apostle or a direct eye-witness of Jesus would write an inspired letter, the Spirit-led churches immediately recognized it. They immediately recognized it and included it in what would later be called the canon of Scripture. That continued to happen throughout the first century until around 90AD when the Apostle John wrote and distributed the Revelation. With that writing, Scripture was complete. It was complete, but it was also in demand. It was so much in demand that believers in the local churches would spend hours and hours writing their own copies by hand. We get bogged down by reading and memorizing Scripture. But these early believers copied Scripture word-for-word. There were thousands of these copies making their way through the churches. And then came the persecution. Not so much the Jewish persecution. They were content with just beating and killing Christians like James and Stephen. But the Roman persecution. The Romans saw how much the Christians valued their Scriptures. So not only did they kill the Christians. They confiscated and burned their scrolls and later on their books. But no amount of persecution could stop the spread of the written Word of God in the people’s language. That is, until Christianity became legal in 313AD. And then when it became the official religion of the Roman Empire in 323AD, things got much worse. Gradually, over the years, the Word of God was taken away from the people. The Catholic Church declared that the only legal Bible was a Latin translation called Jerome’s Vulgate. Well, that might be OK if anybody spoke Latin. But nobody did except the priests. Things got so bad that if anybody had a copy of the Bible in their own language, they were killed. Can you imagine living in that time? Living in a time where you knew that God had spoken to mankind and recorded His words in a Book. But you weren’t allowed to look at it. And even if you could sneak a peek at it—you wouldn’t understand it. Can you imagine how you would long to see God’s Word in your own language? How you would long to see His words yourself? To read them yourself. To understand them yourself. Then why don’t we have that same feeling now? We have free access to God’s Word. Most people are literate and for those who aren’t, the Bible is even available on tape. Why don’t we hunger for it? Why don’t we obey it? The remnant had gone for a long period of time without hearing the Word of the Lord. With the exception of Daniel in Babylon, the prophets had been silent since the exile. The remnant had quit the work on the temple. They had fallen for the lies of the opposition. They had given up. And God was silent. They had no purpose. They had no direction. And they had no temple. Once again, they were disobedient and God left them alone. They were without God’s Word and without God’s presence in His temple for 16 years. But then God broke the silence. He spoke. Just like always, God is the initiator. He always takes the first step. Just like He did with the remnant. He spoke through the mouths of two prophets—Haggai and Zechariah. By the way, those are the same Haggai and Zechariah whose prophesies are included as books of Scripture. God spoke through those two men. And He basically told the remnant one thing. He basically told them to get busy. Get busy doing the work that He called them to do. He told them to get the temple built. Now at that point, the remnant was no longer like the people of the Middle Ages who had no access to Scripture. At that point, the remnant was like us. They had free access to God’s Word. God had just spoken to them clearly and plainly through Haggai and Zechariah. There was no mistaking the fact that God’s Word was available to them. The question was, what were they going to do with it? What were they going to do with the Word of God? Isn’t that the same question we’re faced with? We are blessed to live in a country where the Word of God is freely available to anyone who wants it. I would say that most of us here have more than one copy. The question is, what do we do with it? Do we leave it on a shelf? Do we only bring it out as a showpiece on Sundays? Or do we do what the remnant did when they heard God’s Word? See, when the remnant heard God’s Word, they did what He said. They were finally obedient. That’s what I want for us tonight. I want us to take the Word of God that we have such free access to. I want us to take that Word and be obedient to it. In order to do that, we’re going to look at four aspects of obedience. The first aspect of obedience to God’s Word is that obedience is immediate. Look at verses 1-2:
EZRA 5:1-2
Obedience is immediate. That sounds kind of funny doesn’t it? I mean when you think of who we’re talking about here. These people had already delayed finishing the temple twice. They delayed for a few months after they got the altar built, before they laid the foundation. And then, once they got the foundation laid, they just quit. They quit for 16 years. So it seems like the word “immediate” wasn’t even in their vocabulary. But once they heard the Word of God from the mouths of His prophets, they learned it in a hurry. They learned as Haggai and Zechariah rebuked them for giving in to the opposition. As they exhorted them to continue in the work God had called them to do. As they encouraged them and assured them that God was in control and that it was His work to begin with. Zechariah was a lofty, visionary, emotional prophet. He spoke to the people’s heart. Haggai was totally different. He was a plain-spoken, down-to-earth fussing preacher. He preached four messages that got right after the remnant. He got on them for using the opposition as an excuse. He said they used the opposition as an excuse and turned their attention to working on their own houses. They turned from the work of God to their own interests. And he was right. And the people were convicted. How often do we get convicted by the Word of God? If we’re paying attention, it happens a lot. At least a lot more than we’d like it to. But here’s the thing. How do you respond when it happens? Do you respond immediately? Or do you tell God, “You’re right God—I’ll take care of that…later.” In Luke 9:57-62, Luke records Jesus speaking to a series of people who were convicted to follow Him. “And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” See, Jesus isn’t interested in obedience…later. He wants our obedience without delay. Through His prophets, God demanded immediate obedience from the remnant. And that’s what they gave Him. Immediately after hearing the Word of God from the prophets, verse 2 says that Zerubbabel and Jeshua “then rose up.” That phrase carries the idea of immediacy. They didn’t hesitate. They got up off their backsides and got busy. Immediately. How easy it would have been to delay. It’s been 16 years, what’s one more day? Why don’t we wait to make sure it’s OK with the king first? Why don’t we wait till more people show up? Why don’t we wait for… tomorrow. That great theologian Garth Brooks used to have a song called, “If tomorrow never comes.” See, that’s the problem with tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes. That’s why Jesus calls us to do His work today. That’s why Hebrews says that today is the day to hear His voice. Today is the day to not harden your heart. That’s why 2 Corinthians says that today is the day of salvation. Obedience is immediate. The Word of God informs and instructs. The Spirit of God calls and convicts. Are you listening? Are you obeying? The first aspect of obedience to God’s Word is that obedience is immediate. The second is that obedience is inspired. Stay with me there in verse 2.
Obedience is inspired. When the Word of God was presented by the prophets, who were the first ones to respond? The leaders. Remember that Zerubbabel was the chief prince. He was a descendent of King David, so he had every legal right to assume the throne of Israel. But God wouldn’t allow it, because they were still under the political rule of Babylon. But even though he couldn’t assume the throne, he was the political leader of the remnant. He was their leader. He was the one who was supposed to keep all the political red tape to a minimum so they could effectively do what God called them to do. He was supposed to keep the administration going so they could accomplish God’s work. He was supposed to keep the wolves at bay so the sheep could feed in peace. But he ended up letting the wolves in. He let the opposition discourage the people to the point that the work was brought to a halt. But Zerubbabel wasn’t the only leader. Jeshua was a leader too. Except whereas Zerubbabel was their chief prince, Jeshua was their chief priest. He was their spiritual leader. It was his job to keep the remnant focused on God. Apparently he hadn’t been doing his job too well, because they had lost focus for 16 years. There is every indication that during that time of delay, the sacrifices and the ceremonies went on just like usual. There on that foundation slab and that exposed altar, they still were religious. But where did that empty religion get them? Nowhere. It had become routine. It had moved from being the path of their life to the rut they lived in. It had moved from worship to religion. But then they heard the Word of God. And the first ones affected by the Word of God were the leaders. The first ones affected were Zerubbabel and Jeshua. And God’s Word convicted them. And when they were convicted, they responded. And they responded by doing what they were supposed to have been doing all along. How easy it would have been for them to waste time trying to justify the delay. How easy it would have been for them to throw up their hands and tell God that He needed new leaders. How easy it would have been for them to cite 100 reasons why it wouldn’t work. But they didn’t. What did they do instead? They did what leaders are supposed to do. They led. They got to work inspiring the remnant to build. They rose up. They inspired. They began to build. And the people followed. Why did the people follow? Was it because of their charismatic personalities? Was it because they had been through John Maxwell’s 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership course? Was it because they were becoming a Purpose-Driven remnant? No. The people were following because they were inspired. They were inspired by leadership that was fully committed to and submitted to the Word of God. Not to a program. Not to a method or a model. But wholly dependent on the sufficiency of God’s Word. That’s the kind of leadership that inspires rather than persuades. The kind of leadership that inspires rather than manipulates. The kind of leadership that inspires rather than cajoles or drives or pushes. Obedience is inspired. Not by personality. Not by human means or methods or models. But by exactly what Zechariah said in Zechariah 4:6 “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” Obedience is inspired. It is inspired by leadership that is filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit. It is inspired by leadership that is fueled by and obedient to the Word of God. Are you that kind of leader? Every person in this church is a leader of some kind. Are you inspiring those who are watching you? Obedience is inspired. The second aspect of obedience to God’s Word is that obedience is inspired. The third aspect is that obedience is inclusive. Stay with me again in verse 2.
Obedience is inclusive. Not only did Zerubbabel and Jeshua get involved, look who else did. Verse 2 says that “with them were the prophets of God helping them.” Everybody was involved. Even Haggai and Zechariah. I remember when I was first trained to become a team chief. I had come up through the ranks installing telephone cable. And I never quite understood why you very rarely saw the team chief down in the manhole. You almost never saw one up on a telephone pole. You hardly ever saw one in the trenchline. Of course the rumor was that it was because they thought they were too good. But when I became a team chief, I understood. Of course like most lessons, I learned the hard way. I learned that if I was in the manhole, I couldn’t see what was going on with all the other parts of the job. And my job wasn’t to splice cable any more. My job was the whole installation. My job was the big picture. My job was to make sure that everybody was involved and doing their specific jobs. And that was what Zerubbabel and Jeshua were doing. And that was what Haggai and Zechariah were doing. Throughout the (at least) 4 years that it took to complete the temple, those four men got everybody involved. The text isn’t specific, but I’m sure that Zerubbabel used his gifts of organizing and planning and managing and delegating to get people involved. I’m sure that Jeshua used his chief priestly office and position to get people involved. And I’m sure that Haggai and Zechariah preached up a storm to get people involved. It took each person in the remnant to get the job done. It took leadership, and motivation, and inspiration, and exhortation, and encouragement, and compassion, and skill, and talent, and ability. It took the gifts and abilities and talents of everyone. That’s why obedience to God’s Word is inclusive. It includes not only the leaders and the prophets. It includes everybody. It includes the whole body. Are you included in the work of this church? You should be. If you’re not, why aren’t you? What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for someone to ask you? Well, I just did. You know what your gifts are. You know what your talents are. Obedience is inclusive. That means it includes you. In order for this church to do the work that God has called us to do, every one of us have to be involved. All the body parts have to function. Are you obediently functioning? The third aspect of obedience to God’s Word is that obedience is inclusive. But like everything in life, even obedience will encounter roadblocks. So, the fourth aspect of obedience to God’s Word is that obedience is investigated. Look with me at verses 3-4.
EZRA 5:3-4
Obedience is investigated. Wouldn’t you know it? As soon as they got back to doing what they were supposed to do, here comes the opposition. Now, this opposition sounds a lot worse than it is. It’s really more about questions than it is about opposition. During the time when the work on the temple had stopped, there was a regime change. The Medes and the Persians had taken over the empire from the Babylonians. That meant that Cyrus was no longer in charge. Darius had taken over a couple of years ago and was now the king. History tells us that during the first couple of years of Darius’ rule, there was a lot of turmoil. So the king’s people were naturally suspicious of any building program going on that they didn’t approve. And they didn’t approve of the temple. So they came to ask some questions. And they were direct questions. They wanted to know who told them they could build. And they were personal questions. They wanted names of all the people who were involved. That could be scary. A whole lot more scary than when we get asked questions. But when people see something different going on, it makes them curious. And curious people ask questions. Do people ever ask you about your faith? If not, do you suppose that it’s because they don’t see anything different in you? When we are obedient to God’s Word, it sparks curiosity. People will ask questions. People will want to investigate. In the remnant’s case, it was people who wanted to take some information back to the king. In our case, it will be people who are looking for what we have. Are we ready to show them? Are we ready to invite them in and answer their questions? Not just from the pulpit. But are you ready to answer their questions? Are you strong enough in the Word that you can tell them “who commanded you to build this house.” “Who makes up this building.” When we are obedient to God’s Word, we will be investigated. What will be the verdict of those who are investigating us?
Just like with the remnant, God has given you His Word. Except He’s given you the whole thing. He’s given you His written Word—the Bible. And He’s given you His living Word—Jesus Christ. The question is—what are you doing with it? Are you sticking it in the back window of your car, never to be seen except on Sundays? Are you sticking it on your coffee table at home, only to be dusted off once a week? Or are you living by it. Are you obeying it? God’s Word calls for immediate, inspired, inclusive obedience. And you can tell when you’re obeying that way, because you will be investigated. Are you being investigated? And if you are being investigated, is there enough evidence of your obedience to convict you? Obedience isn’t real complicated. It doesn’t take much. But it does take that first step. If you haven’t been obedient to God’s Word—take that first step of obedience tonight.
