Ezra: Building Up What Was Broken Down”
Ezra 3:1-13
Read Ezra 3:1-13
Last Monday morning, a young man named Sgt. Sean Peterson was in our home. Sgt. Peterson is a recruiter for the Army here in Merced and was telling Laurie and I about the arrangements for Kevina going up to Stockton to take the ASVAB test. ASVAB stands for Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. It’s a test that determines what jobs in the armed services recruits entering are qualified to train for. Eventually the conversation got around to a discussion about what it’s like to go through basic training. Sgt. Peterson explained that basic training is difficult because the purpose of it is to transform a person from what he or she is at the beginning, to what the army wants them to be by the end. He said that a drill instructor’s intention is to break a person down, so that they can build them back up. They break them down physically, pushing them to their limits and beyond in their strength and endurance. It involves physical training, discipline and emotional and intellectual development. He also mentioned that while basic training isn’t easy, it’s always worth doing because of the better person a new recruit becomes in the end.
Some of us here this morning need to go back to basic training in our relationship with God. Let me explain what I mean by reviewing with you what was going on with the ancient Israelites in this passage.
As I mentioned last week, the book of Ezra is divided into two major parts. In the first six chapters, Ezra describes the first return of the Jews from captivity in Babylon. This involved the emigration of about fifty thousand Jews from Babylon back to their ancestral homeland in Judah. The last verse in chapter two says, Now the priests and the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants lived in their cities, and all Israel in their cities. (2:70). The end of Ezra chapter two also describes how the people who returned wanted to rebuild the temple and they gave generously to that end. The people provided for the rebuilding about eleven hundred pounds of gold and three tons of silver. One important item that we should note here is that while the Jews who were in captivity still followed God to a certain extent, since they were not going to Jerusalem and celebrating the feasts as God had commanded them to in the Law, they were not following God as they had done in the past. Incidentally, it was during this time in captivity that the synagogue system was inaugurated as a place of worship for the Jews.
God was disciplining them in captivity so that when they came back to Judah and Jerusalem, they would not only be coming back to a place they were from, but also more importantly, they would consider themselves as returning to God. Here we see a process that I believe God led them through in re-establishing their connection and relationship with Him. Because even though what we see here in this text is an historical description of the returning exiles that returned coming together to build an altar and a temple, it was in fact God Himself who was the builder. He was at work creating in them through their unity and worship, the people He wanted them to be again. Remember, last week we talked about restoration. That it means to change and to cleanse. God did not want the same kind of people returning that had left. God wanted the people who came to be different than those who had left. Remember, the reason the Jews had to go into captivity in the first place was because they neglected their spiritual lives with sin and disobedience. There are times in our own Christian lives, after we’ve experienced the discipline of God because of our own sin and disobedience, that God does the work of restoration in our lives as well. If we follow the story in Ezra chapter three we’ll see the process God used to do it. And it’s a process we can use in our own lives.
The question is: How does God go about restoring us?
1. God builds us up when we renew our commitment to each other. (v. 1)
Now when the seventh month came, and the sons of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem.
At the very beginning of the process the people renewed their commitment to each other. They practiced unity.
In the original language this does not necessarily mean that every single person who came back, but that those who did came together for a common purpose. For them the purpose was to do the work of rebuilding the temple together.
I like the way Chuck Swindoll explained what unity is in his book Home Again. He wrote that Union has an affiliation with others but no common bond that makes them one in heart. Uniformity has everyone looking and thinking alike. Unanimity is complete agreement across the board. Unity, however, refers to a oneness of heart, a similar purpose, and an agreement on the essentials of faith.
This wasn’t the time for individualism. This was an important time of becoming involved in the community of faith again. It’s a sense of community that we need to have so that we can overcome negative attitudes that can stifle our growth and divide us.
Friends if we are going to become the people that God wants us to be we cannot, we must not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. It is when we think we can live the victorious Christian life without others of like faith that we fall flat on our faces. I can’t tell you how often I’ve heard people say, “I don’t have to belong to a church to be a Christian. I can worship God in my heart.” That’s a difficult challenge to refute because it’s true—to a point. Nothing you can do—and nothing you can join—makes you right with God. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that Jesus is the only way; no one comes to the Father except through Him. But let me remind you that the Bible also places immense value on the church being together. Let me refer you to the book of Hebrews. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near. (Heb. 10:23-25)
It is important to understand that the benefits of our relationship with Christ are realized only within the context of a faith community. Paul made this point very clear to the Ephesian Christians when he wrote, And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:11-16)
Here’s the point: Our relationship to the corporate body of Christians is crucial to the progress of the growth of our personal relationship with God. God restores us we get together with each other. When we work together, when we play together; whatever it is we do, we need to do it together.
2. God builds us up when we renew our commitment to worship. (vv. 2-3)
Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brothers arose and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. So they set up the altar on its foundation, for they were terrified because of the peoples of the lands; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, burnt offerings morning and evening. (3:2-3)
Two men, Jeshua and Zerubbabel led the families of Israel in the reconstruction of the altar of burnt offering. This new altar was set up on the foundation of the old altar of Solomon’s Temple. Do you think there is anything significant in the fact that they set up the new altar in the exact same place it was before? Was it just coincidence, or was there something more to it? They weren’t trying to be religious innovators here. It says they built the altar and sacrificed the offerings according to the specifications set forth in the Law of Moses. They went back to God’s Word to see how to do it. All they way back in the Law in Exodus 27, where when we place that text in its context, took place after the Israel left another captivity.
One of the ways that God builds us and restores our hearts is leading us back to the way we did things before. Do you remember different times in your Christian life when you had more spiritual energy? More passion for ministry? More concern for the need of a lost world to hear and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ? If you do, can you also remember what different spiritual disciplines you practiced? If I were a betting man, I would bet that it was during that time you spent more time in god’s word. You spent more time on your knees in prayer. You invested more time in supporting the church’s programs. You gave more of your resources to the Kingdom.
Remember what Jesus told the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2? He said,
"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: ’I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. ’But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. ’Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place-- unless you repent. ’Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ’He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.’
If you feel that you need to reconnect with your first love, Jesus Christ, you can reconnect with Him through worship. Celebrate the goodness of God in your life. That’s what Israel did when they observed the feast of tabernacles for the first time in seventy years in verses 4-6.When they rebuilt the altar they were saying to themselves and to the nations around them that there is only one true God.
Building the altar was the first thing they did. That is significant. In the midst of the ruins of Jerusalem, out under the open sky they worshipped the God of heaven. Do you need to return to worship in your heart?
3. God builds us up when we renew our commitment to relay the foundation of Christ and Christ only in our lives. (vv. 8-9)
Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all who came from the captivity to Jerusalem, began the work and appointed the Levites from twenty years and older to oversee the work of the house of the LORD. Then Jeshua with his sons and brothers stood united with Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah and the sons of Henadad with their sons and brothers the Levites, to oversee the workmen in the temple of God.
Seven months after rebuilding the altar, they began building the Temple. The enthusiasm of the whole group is indicated by the fact that all who came from the captivity offered their services. The Levites as a group supervised the service of the laymen. Again the Scriptures told them all they needed to know about rebuilding the Temple, and they followed God’s plan. The important question for us is how do we follow God’s plan in rebuilding our “temple.” What foundation needs to be laid in our own heart again?
I know we have a few builders in the church today, men who know a lot about construction and building. Men who know haw to read a blueprint and follow an architect’s plan. Myself, I can’t put together a model car without gluing my hands together. People who know how to build know that the foundation is the most important part of the building. Do you know why that’s true? Because the foundation determines the size, shape, and strength of the structure. If the foundation is laid correctly, then whatever is build on top of it, whether it’s a single-story house or a skyscraper, will stand. Do you have the right kind of foundation for your life? Remember what Jesus said about foundations in Matthew 7? "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock. "And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act upon them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and it fell, and great was its fall." (Matthew 7:24-27)
The foundation of your life must be Christ and Christ alone. If He is going to be the Lord in your life at all, then you must allow Him to be the Lord of all. You build that foundation by hearing Christ’s words and responding correctly to them. Then your faith will be able to stand in any weather. Big faith requires big obedience.
On December 6th, 1865, just months after the civil war ended, the thirteenth amendment outlawing slavery was ratified by congress and became the law of the land. But that didn’t mean every state approved the ratification of the amendment. Mississippi’s state legislature, for example, was dominated by whites bitter over the defeat of the confederacy, and they rejected the measure. One hundred and thirty years passed before Mississippi took action. By 1995 Mississippi was the only state in the Union that had not approved the ratification of the thirteen amendment.
Finally, on Thursday, February 16th, 1995, The Mississippi Senate voted unanimously to outlaw slavery by approving the ratification of the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution. Senator Hillman Frazier, a member of Mississippi’s Legislative Black Caucus, said, “I think it’s very important for us to put the past behind us.”
Just as there was a delay in some states ratifying an end to slavery in the United States, so there is also a delay in some people’s lives in accepting the Lordship of Christ in their hearts. The Israelites did not delay in laying a foundation for the Temple. If God’s going to do the work of restoration in your life, why do you delay in accepting the lordship of Christ in your heart? Finally…
4. God builds us up when we look to the future of God’s grace. (vv. 10-13)
Now when the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD according to the directions of King David of Israel. And they sang, praising and giving thanks to the LORD, saying, "For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon Israel forever." And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the LORD because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy; so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.
The old people looked back and wept while the young people looked ahead and rejoiced. Tears and cheers; not too different from what’s happening in families and churches today. Don’t miss out on the excitement by dwelling on the past. Your past is God’s to deal with and he’s promised to cover you with his grace and forgiveness.
I read this week a story of two Buddhist monks who were walking together just after a thunderstorm. They came to a swollen stream. A beautiful, young Japanese woman stood there wanting to cross to the other side, but was afraid of the currents. One of the monks said, “Can I help you?”
I need to cross the stream,” replied the woman.
The monk picked her up, put her on his shoulder, carried her through the swirling waters, and put her down on the other side. He and his companion then went on to the monastery.
That night his companion said to him, “I have a bone to pick with you. As Buddhist monks, we have taken vows not to look on a woman, much less touch her body. Back there by the river, you did both.”
“My brother,” answered the other monk, “I put the woman down on the other side of the river. You’re still carrying her in your mind.”
How easy it is to be obsessed with the past at the expense of the future. The Israelites in this story did have a lot of misery to look back on. The sin and disobedience of their fathers, their seventy years of captivity in a foreign land under kings who were sometimes cruel to them. But in laying the foundation of a new temple, they recognized the hope of new beginnings. Remember, if you are in Christ you are a new creation. The old things have passed away, behold new things have come. God has buried your sin in the deepest ocean. He is the one who said, “I will remember your sins no more.” He is the God of the second chance. And if you need it, the third and fourth and fifth and on and on. The sound that God prefers is the sound of praise and rejoicing. Although God delights in the brokeness of repentance, I think the point here is looking forward.
