1. Intro (6:16)
2. The first way we can be dedicated to striving for joy is with joyful sacrifice. (6:17)
3. The second way we can be dedicated to striving for joy is with joyful service. (6:18-20)
4. The third way we can be dedicated to striving for joy is with joyful separation. (6:21-22a)
5. The fourth way we can be dedicated to striving for joy is with joyful strength. (6:22b)
EZRA 6:16
Several years ago, when we lived in Mississippi, we were members of a small church called Bel Aire Baptist Church. That little church was a blessing to our family. That’s where I was ordained as a deacon. And that’s where our oldest daughter was baptized. Well, several years after we’d moved away, we got word that they’d called a new pastor in 2003. God blessed his ministry tremendously. The church grew to the point where they had to go to two services and were starting a huge building program. Well, just about a month ago, toward the end of February, we got word that the pastor was diagnosed with cancer. Around three weeks later on March 14th, he was in the presence of Jesus. When I saw that, the first thing I thought was, why God? After all the years of struggling that church went through. After spending years without a pastor. After Katrina. After all the years of praying for growth. And then when it finally started to happen—You take their pastor? Why? Oh me of little faith. His wife writes a weekly column for the local newspaper. Listen to what she wrote when they found out about his cancer. She wrote about the big C. “The big C is not cancer, but rather: Christ, Calvary, the Cross, Crucified, Curses broken. Spirits of infirmity—Cast out, Captives freed, Covenant, Commandments. Commitment, Church, Confession, Clean. Communion, Conqueror, and Crown.” The big C isn’t cancer. The big C is Christ. Kandi Anderson is a person who is dedicated to joy. That’s real, true, unquenchable joy. That’s not a kind of joy that is ginned up with fun entertainment. That’s not the kind of joy that passes with the changing of seasons or the swinging of moods. That’s the kind of joy that only comes from Jesus. A supernatural, never ending, unquenchable, unspeakable joy that only comes as a gift from God. And our remnant found that joy. After all the time they spent in exile. After all the time they spent in preparation. After all the time they spend delaying. And after all the time they spent building. After all that time, they finally found joy. How is your joy tonight? Is your joy tied to your mood swings? Is your joy tied to your circumstances? Is your joy tied to the things and people around you? Or is your joy tied to the Spirit that lives within you? I want us to be dedicated to joy tonight. I want us to be dedicated to striving for the joy that only comes from God. And there are four ways we can do that. The first way we can be dedicated to striving for joy is with joyful sacrifice. Look with me at verse 17:
EZRA 6:17
Strive for joy with joyful sacrifice. The temple was finished. It had taken everybody they had and all the resources they had, but it was done. Each member of the remnant worked their tails off for four solid years. They had refused to give in to the opposition when it came. They refused to give in to fatigue when it came. They refused to give in to discouragement when it came. They pressed on. And now they were able to stand back and see their completed work. So what did they do? They recognized the fact that it wasn’t because of their strength and power that the temple got finished. They recognized that, by dedicating the house of God. And the first thing they did was to offer sacrifices. The first thing they did was to worship God by offering sacrifices. Do you remember back to when Solomon dedicated the original temple? Back in 1 Kings 8, the Bible tells of all the sacrifices Solomon offered up at that time. 22,000 cattle were sacrificed. 120,000 sheep and goats were sacrificed. Tremendous amounts of animals were offered and sacrificed. Now compare that to what was offered in verse 17. Instead of 22,000 cattle, now they offered only 100. Instead of 120,000 sheep and goats, now they only offered 612. But, do you know what? God was just as pleased with the remnant’s sacrifice as He was with Solomon’s. God was pleased because their sacrifice was certainly sacrificial. They were a small group of people and they certainly didn’t have much. As a matter of fact, for the past four years they had poured most of what they had into the building of the temple. Their sacrifice was sacrificial. But even more than that, their sacrifice was joyful. Paul passed on this kind of attitude to the church at Corinth in his last letter to them. In 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 he wrote, “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” The word that’s translated “cheerful” is the Greek word “hilaros”. What does that sound like in English? Hilarious. I’ve been in church all my life and have never heard anyone hilariously laughing as they place their offering in the plate. Of course, most of the time our giving is neither joyful, nor sacrificial. That’s probably because we don’t believe what Paul went on to say just a verse later in 2 Corinthians 9:8: “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” The more we joyfully sacrifice, the more it shows the Lord that we trust Him. And the more we trust Him, the more He shows us that He is all-sufficient. And the more we see that He is all-sufficient, the more pressure and worry it takes off of us. And less pressure and worry means a whole lot more joy. It’s really simple. If you sow sparingly, you’ll reap sparingly. If you sow bountifully, you’ll reap bountifully. That doesn’t mean that God will give you and Creflo Dollar a Mercedes and a mansion. It does mean that the Lord will take away your material worries and frets and fill you with His joy. That’s what you’re striving for when you joyfully sacrifice. You’re striving for joy. Just like the remnant, you’re striving for joy with joyful sacrifice. Strive for joy with joyful sacrifice and with joyful service. Look in verse 18-20:
EZRA 6:18-20
Strive for joy with joyful service. OK, our remnant has just finished this massive building program. They didn’t have enough people to do the work to begin with, so what did that mean? It meant that the people they did have, had to work two or three times as hard. And they didn’t have enough resources to get the job done right, so what did that mean? It meant that they had to dig deep to have all they needed. But now they’re done. Time to kick back and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Time to let somebody else take over the reins. I did my job—let somebody else work for a change. But that’s not what they did, is it? Even though they had done more work than seemed to be humanly possible… even though they had every right to claim exhaustion and quit… even though they had finished the project and were tired… what did they do? They continued to strive for joy. And they did it by continuing to serve. It was in a different capacity, but it was every bit as challenging. They moved from a building program to an ongoing operation. As soon as they laid their hammers down, they picked up the things that were needed to make the day-to-day ministries happen. Jerry Falwell built a tremendous church and school and college and seminary in Lynchburg. Do you know what his philosophy of ministry was? Build. Always be building. Before Thomas Road ever finished a building project, he was planning the next project. You can relax—on so many levels, I’m no Jerry Falwell. I don’t think that we’re called to continually build. But we are called to continually serve. Do you know who the people are that get most dissatisfied with the church? It’s the ones who look to the church as a place to serve them. I’ve got news for you. The church isn’t here to serve you. The church is the body of Christ. And each one of us is here to serve Him. Not out of duty. Not out of obligation. But out of love for Jesus. The remnant laid down their hammers and saws. Verse 18 says they completely reorganized for the service of God. And they joyfully served and celebrated the Passover. Not an easy task. As a matter of fact, it was a very challenging task. But it was a matter of service to God. And they did it. They did it with joy. Is that kind of joy easy? Is it easy to work 40 hours at work and then put in more time working at church? Is it easy to spend all your waking hours with kids and then come in and teach AWANAS or Sunday school or VBS? No, it’s not easy. But the Lord never called us to easy. But here’s the wonderful thing. The more you actively serve, the more satisfied you become with church. The more you serve Jesus, the more He will fill you with joy. Notice the last time that anybody in our remnant was weeping was when they quit working. Do you want to be full of joy? Then you’ve got to strive for it just like the remnant did. Strive for joy with joyful service. Strive for joy with sacrifice and with service. Also strive for joy with joyful separation. Look at verse 21 and the first part of verse 22:
EZRA 6:21-22a
Strive for joy with joyful separation. What a blessing it was for the remnant to be a people again. Nebuchadnezzar had a purpose in how he treated Judah when he conquered them. Years before, you remember that he conquered them in three stages. First, he stole away their best and brightest. People like Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He stole them away and took them completely away from their culture. He gave them Babylonian food. He gave them Babylonian names. He gave them a Babylonian education. He wanted to completely indoctrinate them in the Babylonian way of life. In the second and third stages, he did similar things to the remaining Jews. That was the whole reason for exiling them. The whole reason was to take away all the things that made them unique as a people. Everything was designed to melt their Jewish-ness away into Babylonian culture. But, as He always does, God preserved a remnant. But even though He preserved them, they were still intermingled with pagans. Until now. Now that they were back in Jerusalem. Now that they had completed the temple. Now, they could separate themselves from the pagan influences of Babylon. They were out of captivity and could now separate themselves from the filthiness of the heathen of the land. As Christians, we live in a world that is not our own. Jesus acknowledged that as He was praying for His disciples in John 17:16. He said, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” But even though we’re not of the world, we are in the world. Jesus doesn’t call us to be monks and nuns. He doesn’t call us to eliminate all contact with the society we live in. What does He call us to do instead? He doesn’t call us to run from the world, He calls us to spread the Gospel to the world. But we can’t spread the Gospel to the world if they can’t tell any difference in us. That’s why just a verse earlier in that very same prayer, Jesus said this, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” God, don’t take them out of the world—keep them in it. Keep them in it, but make them qualitatively different than the world. Keep them from being tainted by the world. That’s the way we’re called to be separate. All too often, we thing of being separate from the world by the way we dress or the haircut we have. But that’s not what it’s about. Separation is about what our heart looks like. Yes, we should look different. We should not wear things that are offensive or provocative. Yes, we should act different. People should not be able to look at the things we’re doing and question our Lord. But when we get hung up on the outward stuff, we miss the point. I can be the most clean-cut outwardly perfect person you could meet. And if that’s what I’m trusting in, I’m right smack in the middle of being “of the world.” Because that’s what the world trusts in. The world trusts in its own righteousness. We trust in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And when we separate ourselves from righteousness that the world trusts in… when we separate ourselves to the righteousness of Christ… that’s when we have joy. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and HIS righteousness. That’s striving for joy with separation. Not coming up with a list of do’s and don’ts. Because all that a list of do’s and don’ts does is create a way for me to judge you. I mark off all the things that I have no problem doing. And then I look around for someone who has a problem doing those things. And then I get to be better than them. All the while I have the log of pride stuck in my own eye. Separation from the world is separation unto Jesus. That’s what we’re to be striving for. That’s what brings joy. Strive for joy with joyful sacrifice, joyful service and joyful separation. Finally, strive for joy with joyful strength. Look at the last part of verse 22:
EZRA 6:22b
Strive for joy with joyful strength. Did you notice that? Who was it that made them joyful? The Lord did. That’s a running theme here. The desire and the courage to joyfully sacrifice came from the Lord. The strength and perseverance to joyfully serve came from the Lord. The determination and willpower to joyfully separate from the world came from the Lord. And because of that, the joy came from the Lord. Trust me—it doesn’t work any other way. If you sacrificially gave every dime of your money to the church because I said so… it would be a burden. You would not only be broke, you’d be burdened instead of blessed. You’d be burdened, you’d resent me, and before long, you’d be gone. Your joy would be gone and before long you would be too. It’s the same thing with service. It’s the same thing with separation. If you do those things because I told you to, there’s no joy in that. The joy comes from the Lord. Separation comes from the Lord. Service comes from the Lord. And sacrifice comes from the Lord. That’s the sad thing about our remnant. Their joy soon began to fade. God had given it to them—He had made them joyful. But they let their joy fade. Before long, they quit joyful sacrifice. They were satisfied with the daily rituals and routines. They quit joyful service. Once they finished the temple, they left the rest of Jerusalem in ruins and unprotected. They quit being joyfully separate. They forgot their history and married the women from the pagan nations around them. And when they did, they lost their joy. They got so involved in the day-to-day that they forgot the God who gave them their joy. So He took it away. When Jesus saves you, He lives in you. His Spirit lives in you. He gives you all you need to live a life of joy. So, if that’s the case, why do we live a life that is so un-joyous? Is it because of our circumstances? Well, we like to use our circumstances as an excuse to lose our joy—but they’re not a reason. I can’t think of a worse personal circumstance than when Jesus endured the suffering and shame of the cross. But do you remember what Hebrews 12:2 says? “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith—who for the JOY that was set before Him endured the cross.” The cross was joy to Jesus because He had His eyes on His Father. So can we honestly say that our circumstances cause us to lose our joy? No—we lose our joy because we quench the Spirit of joy Jesus gives us when He saves us. We take our eyes off the One who gives us joy and put them on all of our “obligations” and circumstances. So, how can you keep from doing that? How can you experience joy no matter what circumstance you’re going through? Quit looking at the things God has called you to do as obligations. See them as what they are. See them as the joy that is set before you. Sacrifice joyfully. Serve joyfully. Separate from sin joyfully. And when you do those things, the Lord will give you joyful strength to endure whatever is in store for you.
