10) 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."
(11) So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved."
(12) 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.
Robert Louis Stevenson once entered in his diary what he considered to be an extraordinary thing. He said, "I have been to Church today, and (surprisingly) I am not depressed."
EOLS:
Joy comes from the satisfaction of hearing God’s Word, understanding and applying it to our lives in the community of fellowship.
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, They have to take you in. - Robert Frost
I find myself completely wired up for Homecoming!
This is my fourth one with you, and I wouldn’t miss it for the world. There’s something special about Homecoming.
I’ve gotten to know many of you who attend Prospect's Homecoming on this Sunday each year. Many of you I haven’t seen since last year. It’s so good to see you!
A pastor friend was invited to preach at a Church’s homecoming. He saw a little old lady who said, "Preacher, since I last saw you, I had all my teeth pulled and a new refrigerator put in."
A lot has happened since last year and the Lord has been good indeed! New teeth, new appliances, all manner of blessings! We’ve seen some joy, we’ve seen laughter. We’ve also experienced some sickness, heartache and tears. Some of us have lost loved ones. But through it all…
God is so good! Today we celebrate! Through all the seasons of our lives, the Lord takes care of His children.
I believe Homecomings fill a great need in our lives. It’s a time and an occasion to consider the past, our heritage, to go back to those wonderful memories and to be grateful for the blessings of God on our lives! I honestly believe it’s a God-given gift to be able to remember and long for those “good days”, and it’s also His gift to help us forget those days that weren’t so great!
It’s a quality that is distinctly human, to be able to consider our days in light of eternity, and to celebrate the goodness of God.
This idea of homecoming is nothing new; it goes way back to the Old Testament, at least twenty- seven hundred years ago to the days when the children of Israel were restored to their land from having been exiled in Babylon for seventy years.
It’s a long story and it covers several years. The short version is that by God’s provision, the King Artaxerxes of the Medes and Persians has released the captive people of Israel and allowed them to return to their homeland with his blessing and sponsorship. He did it in several phases, and the first round he sent about fifty thousand people back equipped and with his blessing to rebuild Jerusalem, which lay in ruins.
There were several key players. Nehemiah was the governor, great architect and leader who implemented the rebuilding of the great wall surrounding the city. Ezra was a scribe and priest who was the theologian and very much a pastor to Israel during this time. There was the high priest Zechariah who was used by God to lead His people back to the worship that He desired, and there was a governor named Zerubabbel who God had placed as the head of the newly re-formed state. The prophet Haggai preached and prophesied during this era as well.
Today in Nehemiah Chapter Eight, we find the Great Homecoming.
After months of hard work the wall had been rebuilt around the ruins of Jerusalem and a platform had been erected ; it was the first step in re-building God’s Temple. It was a far cry from the glory days of Old Jerusalem, but it was a start and the returning exiles had worked very hard to bring it about.
Many of the older ones were very young in the “old days.” They remembered the glory of the Lord shining brightly as the sacrifices were made in the former Temple. They had worked feverishly to prepare for the Feast of Trumpets this day, and it was a Homecoming. It was a whole new generation who had taken charge of God’s House, to re-construct it and to bring back worship as God had directed His people. They couldn’t wait to revisit their roots. Many of them had only heard their parents and grandparents talk about the old days, some of the older ones remembered the former days and glory.
Interestingly, it was Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Trumpets that they were celebrating this day. Rosh Hashana was observed all over the world by Orthodox and Messianic Jewish Christians just this past week. You’ll find it on your wall calendar; it was a very magnificent and significant day for God’s people.
The Feast of Trumpets was the preparation time for the highest and holiest day in all of Judaism, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement which would be celebrated in one week. Our calendar observes Yom Kippur next Shabbat, which will be this Saturday September 8, 2011.
I feel a real connection with these people who lived and died almost three thousand years ago. A lot has changed, but God never changes. He loves His people and He desires relationship with them on an intimate level.
God loves celebrations and invites us to celebrate His goodness, love and provision; celebrations of tradition and points along the journey were His idea!
I join with them this day and I invite you to make the mental journey with me in your mind’s eye.
I see first of all that it was the holy call of God for the people to assemble and it was to be
I. A Day of Unity and One Accord
…And all the people gathered as one man
God has called us to live the Christian Life in comm-unity (Common Unity). The Christian life that God has ordained us to cannot be lived successfully in isolation. We need fellowship and we are called to “gather” together on a regular basis.
They had gathered with purpose, it wasn’t random or simply a tradition. From the days of the Old Testament through the time of Christ and beyond the Lord calls us, the Scriptures admonish us to gather; God calls His people to sacred assembly.
Hebrews 10:25
25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
And sorry, it doesn’t occur in a deer hunting camp, on a golf course, on a fishing boat or laying in bed! It happens when the saints of God declare God’s assembly to be not just an option, but THE priority in their lives.
Romans 15: 5
5 Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6 that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God’s design is for His people to gather together in one accord, in one mind set squarely on Him and immersed in His Word. Today is a celebration of the larger community, people from many different local congregations join us today, many with roots in this wonderful little country church. You are the fruit, the larger work that God has done through this generation of people.
That day was also-
II. A Day of Preaching and Understanding The Scriptures
…and they understood the sense of it
The Word of God must be the center, the apex of the community of faith.
When the people of God gathered, Ezra read the “Law of the Lord” which was the Scriptures to the ancient Jewish people. They took God’s law to heart, and would allow it to penetrate their heart. It would show them where they were falling short. It would comfort them where they were grieved. It would spur them on to greater works and greater living for a higher purpose.
Ezra is the model that has carried forward to the church today, Biblical preaching takes its roots here. He stood on a wooden platform and preached the law of God to the people. He didn’t just read it, he “gave the sense of it.” Looks familiar today doesn’t it?
It’s no wonder that when the New Testament was completed that the Holy Spirit spoke to us:
Heb 4:12
(12) For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
2Ti 3:16-17
(16) All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
(17) that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
God’s Word must be held central in His Church!
The Holy Spirit Our Teacher is our Teacher, the Word of God is a prime vehicle that He uses to pierce and comfort our hearts and our weary minds.
Dear Christian friend, if you are not a student of God’s Word, hearing the preached Word on a regular basis, then you are not growing in the plan and design that God has for your life. The Word of God will grow you in every facet of your being. You and I both need Godly instruction. As a pastor my opportunities are limited, I mostly hear myself preach! But I have to intentionally seek out instruction from the Word of God in the form of the preached word in order to keep myself alive and growing spiritually.
Today, let’s celebrate the reading and the preaching of God’s Word. Since that day so long ago when our spiritual forbears met here on this lot, the Word of God has been (and ever shall be) our center!
This was also
III. A Day of Worship and Celebration
Worship is the appropriate response to the presence of God
Our depth of worship will determine the level to which God can touch our lives.
The passage tells us that the people responded to the preached Word of God by lifting their hands, shouting “Amen, Amen” and by falling to the ground on their faces in worship of God.
It’s a scenario that would scare most of us to death in our churches. What if the Holy Spirit showed up and took us out of our comfort zone?
I don’t advocate that we should all lay on the ground this morning! I don’t think we’d have room. Our response is often cultural, and different people respond in different ways. Some are very demonstrative while others are very quiet.
What I do know is that when the Holy Spirit moves, people respond in worship. I look at the altar in this old-fashioned sanctuary and I think of all the people who bowed here before the Lord, to receive Christ as Savior, to repent of their sins, to pray for their loved ones, and simply to kneel before Him in worship!
I do advocate that we respond to God’s Holy presence, without fail. The Holy Spirit is like the wind, and is sovereign. He blows in whichever direction He chooses, and we dear friends are desperate for His move and His touch. We don’t determine when He comes, what He does or how long he stays.
All we control is how we will respond! Church, when we worship and bow down in His presence, He will fill us to overflow with His power and love.
Today, we celebrate WORSHIP of God in His House, His people bowing before Him in humble adoration crying “How great Thou Art!”
IV. A Day to Put Away Mourning and Tears
…For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law.
Tears and mourning are a part of life, but God has given us the gift of going through the dark shadows, not to linger there.
Many of us have had changes in our life in the year since we have seen each other. Some of us have lost dear ones, some of us have lost relationships that we treasured. Some have lost jobs and have spent a year or more in dire circumstances.
Tears my dear friend are a language that God understands. Grieving is a part of the healing process that He has given us to help our hearts to heal. But dear friend although we may be called to the valley of the shadow of Death, He will not leave us there!
There is another side, keep on the path, the Lord will deliver you! He never forgets his own.
Psa 30:5
(5) For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
When Ezra preached to the people of Israel on that day, many in the crowd began to weep and travail. Many of the older ones were stuck in the past and could not give up the image of the former glory of the Temple. They wept for the past and for what they had lost. The Word of God broke their hearts as they became profoundly aware of their sin.
Grieving is a good thing, repentance and sorrow for sin is a good thing. Tears are a language that God understands. But I’m so thankful to announce to you today that He has called us not to live in the past, not to live in sorrow or grief…
He has called us to joy and celebration-
He calls us to:
V. A Day to Put on the Joy of the Lord
Neh 8:10
"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."
The Joy of the Lord is your strength- your ready defense and fortress. It’s what will empower you and make you strong in the midst of battles and trials.
It’s what will make His Church the strong, ready for battle Bride of Christ going forth to overcome great evil with overwhelming good!
God has given us the gift of being able to stir ourselves up, yet it’s His best plan for us to stir each other.
1Peter 1:6-8
(6) In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
(7) so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
(8) Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,
The Practical Challenges from Nehemiah 8:
Live every day with the understanding that your life is a journey, this world is not your home. You are different, you are a child of God.
Understand that fellowship in God’s House is an essential part of your Christian life. Something very important is sown in your life when you assemble with your family and loved ones as God has commanded.
They Joy of the Lord is your inheritance as a Christian. It is a choice you can make in your life and it will be your defense in the time of warfare and storms.
Check your sowing- are you sowing joy or sorrow by your thoughts, your words or your actions?
Guard your heart-are you protecting yourself from those who prey upon joy and peace? Do you subject yourself to sinful influences?
It takes a positive choice from deep within. It doesn’t just happen. Make the choice to rejoice!
Conclusion: Many of you I won’t see again till next year at this time. We don’t know what the year holds, but this one thing I do know: God is faithful, and He has great things for His children!
I also want to remind you that this gathering today is only a foreshadow of the greatest Homecoming of all time, which will happen in just a few more days. Sooner than we can imagine or tell, we will all be gathered home to meet our Lord face to face. We’ll see our loved ones again according to God’s word…
And so shall we ever be with the Lord! It will be the Homecoming to end all Homecomings! It’s what we’re longing for today.
Celebrate today: It’s homecoming for God’s people.
