Title: First Things First (Ezra #3)
Text: Ezra 3:1-6; 10-13
Introduction
1. First things first…
This is a common saying…
To remind us to make sure we get things in the proper order…
We enjoyed a wonderful vacation in Weston, FL…
But, we knew that we couldn’t just jump in the van and drive 6 hours to South Florida and enjoy our vacation…
We had to make some needed repairs on our van…
We had to fill up the tank with gas…
We had to get packed…
We had to make preparations for our pets and our home…
First things first…
Let’s do all our prep work…
And then, we will be able to enjoy our week long vacation.
2. There is certainly a spiritual application to “first things first” as well…
And we find it nicely illustrated in our study of Ezra.
Read Text: Ezra 3:1-6; 10-13
Body
1. First Things First vv. 1-6
A. Zerubbabel had led this group of exiles back to their homeland…
When they got there and they saw the rubble of the city…
I’m sure it broke their hearts…
Their homes destroyed…
Their Temple desecrated and demolished…
In fact, Jerusalem was so completely destroyed…
That when Cyrus issued the proclamation in Ezra Chapter 1,…
He made the point of saying. “Jerusalem…in Judah”…
Jerusalem was in such disarray…
That, in order to make sure people understood where it was…
Cyrus specifically pointed out that it was in Judah.
B. In any event, in spite of the condition that they found Jerusalem to be in…
While it might of broke their hearts..,.
It didn’t break their spirits…
They set right to work to rebuild the Temple…
C. It is certainly telling…
As we look at the first 6 verses of this chapter…
That, before they started work on the foundation of the Temple…
Before they started to erect the walls of the Temple…
Before they started to build the walls of protection around the city…
They rebuilt the altar….
First things first…
Verse 2 says, “Zerubbabel … and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with what is written in the Law of Moses”
And verse 6 says, “they began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD, though the foundation of the LORD’s temple had not yet been laid.”
Evidently they had learned the error of their ways…
Last time, they got into trouble in their relationship with God because they rejected the One True God…
And worshipped the gods of their neighbors…
They followed Baal…
Instead of turning to the God who led them out of Egyptian captivity…
They followed Asherah…
Instead of turning to the God who provided for their food and water during the wilderness travel…
They followed the gods of fertility and prosperity…
Instead of following the God who was with them in the pillar of fire and the cloud…
They had abandoned the God who had led them and guided them…
They had abandoned the God who had loved them and cared for them.
Perhaps a few of them didn’t actually worship other gods…
But they were more interested in their activities of daily living…
Pursuing pleasure and financial prosperity…
there was no room in their lives for God…
Which, in and of itself is a type of idol worship.
D. But this time…
After all the warnings of the prophets…
After the judgment of God was levied…
After the people finally were restored to their city…
Their hearts turned to worship the One True God.
What a revival it must have been!!
Instead of returning to the gods made of stone and wood and bronze…
They worshipped Almighty God…
70 years of judgment…
70 years of exile…
70 years of spiritual defeat…
70 years of pruning…
And God certainly didn’t forget His promise…
He brought restoration to the people…
And this time…the people got it right!!
They put first things first.
They built up the altar so that they could worship God…
It was so important to them…
That they did that, before they even started on the rest of the Temple or even the city walls….
E. We see in verse 3 that they rebuilt the altar,…
“Despite their fear of the peoples around them”
They were afraid of the people around them…
But, in spite of their fear…
They didn’t let that inhibit their worship of God…
Later on, we will find that their fears were legitimate…
As time went by, they had different conflicts with the people nearby…
The people didn’t WANT to see God’s people rebuilding the Temple…
Perhaps they were afraid of the Jewish people becoming strong and powerful again…
But, in any event, God’s people didn’t let their fears get the best of them…
They worshipped anyway!!
F. What a powerful lesson for us today!!
Many times, we may let the fear of what other people think inhibit us in our worship of God…
Sometimes people may desire to worship the Lord…
But they wonder what their neighbors will think…
And I’m not talking about the people who live next door to their house…
I’m talking about the people sitting next to them in the pew…
We are so afraid of what other people think…
“what will so and so think if I raise my hand in praise to the Lord…they will think that I’ve gone charismatic…”
“I can’t go to the altar to pray…everyone will think I am a dirty rotten sinner”…
“I can’t stand and testify, I always mess up my words and people will think less of me”…
People…we can certainly learn a lesson from this group of people who had a desire to restore the church…
They didn’t allow their fears inhibit their worship…
They worshipped anyway!!
Don’t get hung up on what other people think…
You worship God…
Don’t worry what people may say if you are obedient to God…
Make sure you do what is pleasing to God!...
“Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the LORD, both the morning and evening sacrifices” Ezra 3:3
And the next 3 verse go on to list the various types of worship that they engaged in…
You get a sense that real revival was breaking out.
2. All Praise Goes to God vv. 10-11
A. After the people had rebuilt the altar…
And restored the practice of worshipping God…
They set out to rebuild the Temple…
And when they finished laying out the foundation of the Temple…
The people began to praise the Lord.
Verse 11 says, “With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD: "He is good; his love to Israel endures forever." And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid”
B. They didn’t celebrate THEIR accomplishments…
They didn’t run around patting each other on the back for a job well-done…
They didn’t make speech after speech honoring the accomplishments of man…
They gave praise to where it was due…
They lifted up their praise to God.
They recognized that without God…
Their efforts would fail…
They recognized that without God…
They would fall flat on their faces…
C. I wonder what would happen in OUR church…
If everyone would lift up their voices in praise to the Lord…
Instead of looking around…
Worrying about who is going to get the credit…
Instead of worrying about what so and so did…
Instead of nitpicking every little thing about the church…
What would happen if we gathered as 1 person in Belleview Church of the Nazarene?
What would happen if we decided that this altar would be dusted off and rebuilt and restored to glory?
What would happen if we decided that we would worship God…
In spite of our fears…
No matter what other people thought or did?
What would happen if we lifted up our voices in praise to God…
Instead of looking around to see what everyone else was doing first?
I’ll tell you what would happen…
Revival would break out!
The Holy Spirit would come in power and glory…
We would see changed hearts and changed lives…
We would see the church growing in number every week…
We would see miracle after miracle taking place…
All it takes is for a group of committed people to turn their hearts to following God in worship and sacrifice and praise…
And revival will come!!!!
And the Temple will be restored!!!
3. Our Attitude Toward the Church vv. 12-13
A. You would think that at this point…everyone would be excited about what God was doing…
The altar was rebuilt…
Worshipping God had become an important part of people’s lives…
And they had gotten the foundation of the Temple laid…
But not everyone was so excited…
Verse 12 says, “But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid”…
That seems to be a strange reaction doesn’t it?
With all the progress made in rebuilding Jerusalem…
You would think that everyone would be jumping for joy…
But, evidently, there was a group of people who were unhappy…
You see, they remembered what the old Temple was like…
THE Temple…
The Temple that Solomon built…
It was extravagant…
Covered in gold…
It was an incredible piece of architecture…
And, they just didn’t have the resources to rebuild the Temple to its former luster…
And so, they looked upon this Temple…
Built with wood…
They knew there would be No ornamental gold…
No intricately laid out designs in precious metals…
And so they began to weep…
They began to cry…
They began to moan…
“why can’t the church be like it USED to be?...
Why can’t we go back to the good ol’ days?...
Why does it have to be different?”
B. To be honest, we’ve got people like that even today…
They are so concerned about the good ol days…
They are so concerned with what the church USED to be like…
They aren’t participating in worship…
They aren’t bowing in prayer at the altar…
They aren’t lifting up their voices in praise…
They just look around…
Shaking their heads…
Clucking their tongues…
And moaning about why the church can’t be like it was 50 years ago…
Or in the case of the Children of Israel…
70 years ago.
C. and to be honest, I’ve had many a discussion with these kinds of people…
Sure there are some things that we like to reminisce about…
But what about our attitude today?
Are we going to sit around and moan and judge?
Or, are we going to join in the restoration of the church?...
Even if it isn’t exactly like I think it should be?
Are we going to gripe and complain and gossip?...
Or are we going to pray and worship and praise?
D. I’ll have to honest, sometimes I’ll get distracted by the “why can’t it be like it used to be” folks…
And I’ll gripe and moan about the gripers and moaners…
But the Lord convicted me about it…
because that’s not what the people in Ezra chapter 3 did…
Look at it,…
many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. 13 No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away. Vv. 12, 13
Don’t become distracted…
Don’t allow someone else’s moaning…
Stop you from praying…
Don’t allow someone else’s judging…
Stop you from worshipping!!!
Don’t allow someone else’s negative attitude…
Stop you from lifting up your face and praising God!!
Don’t focus on the sounds of weeping…
Lift up your shouts of joy!!
If we praise the Lord without becoming distracted by those others…
Then people from the outside won’t even notice…
They will just hear the sounds of a growing church praising and worshipping God!!
Conclusion
1. First things first…
The Children of Israel couldn’t rebuild the entire city in a day…
So they put things in the proper perspective…
They built the altar first…
And then they worshipped God…
After the altar was built…
They began the work on the Temple…
And they made sure to give praise to the Lord…
Sure, there were some people who were more interested in looking back…
Than looking ahead…
But when a godly, committed, fire-up group of people focus on putting first things first…
The Spirit will move…
The church will grow…
And revival will come.
2. Open altar
#343 “Just As I Am”
