The Renewal of Worship

Well take your Bible tonight, turn with me to the book of Ezra, the Old Testament book of Ezra. You should know by now where we are. If you are visiting with us we are in our third week in this little book of Ezra. It's right there near Nehemiah. Ezra is an Old Testament book that gets overlooked a lot, but there's a lot of truth in this little book of Ezra. We are going through this book of Ezra and we're examining how the Jews came out of Babylonian captivity back to their homeland and back to the nation of Israel.

Now the title of the series is "Reform and Renewal in God's People" and you'll begin to see these words pop up reform and renewal as we progress through the book. Now all throughout the book we'll see the theme and that theme is carried from chapter one all the way through reform and renewal and rebuilding. This is as the people of God are coming back. They must renew that covenant. Remember they were a covenant people. They had broken covenant. That's why they were judged by God and so they were renewing that covenant.

They were renewing and reforming their worship and they were rebuilding as a people and as a nation, literally from the ground up. Now very quickly in review in our two previous messages, remember it was a part one and part two, the return of God's people to rebuild. It was in chapter one and chapter two. We learned the context of the background of the story and we learn how this work, this work of God in the people, it got started. God prophesied through Jeremiah and Isaiah what would take place in chapter one and chapter two and we see this work getting started immediately there in chapter one.

It's really important for us to see God's sovereignty in this work. Remember I said that doctrinal theme is woven all through this book. God had purpose to do these things that are coming about and he is the one that is bringing them about. God's sovereignty is central. It is that central doctrine in the book but equally important we learned last week is that we must see man's responsibility to participate in the work. There are some who did not go back in that first wave of about 50,000.

Of course we know that there were two other waves, a second wave led by Ezra and a third wave but that is nowhere near the amount of Jews that were originally displaced. If you do the math you will see that only a fraction came back home. One of the sources that I study this week I ran across some information that said that there were millions of Jews who never returned back to their homeland. If you do some of your background study you'll know that there are some that did end up in Babylon. They were taken to Babylon. Some fled to Egypt. As a matter of fact the Prophet Jeremiah was part of that group that went down to Egypt.

Now this forces us to ask a question. Why didn't all the Jews return? We know that there were some like Daniel and Jeremiah who never returned. The scriptures are silent when it comes to Daniel returning. Most Bible scholars believe that he never returned. Clearly he was in the will of God. Clearly they were not sinful in staying these two men. Yet we do know that there were many who chose to stay. Even they chose to stay in Babylon in that very cultured society rather than to go back and to rebuild from the ground up. Now tonight we'll move into chapter 3 and we will move past their returning to begin to see renewal and rebuilding.

So we're moving from returning. Now we're beginning to see renewal and rebuilding and we will see a renewal of worship and a rebuilding of worship. Now let me give you just a little background with chapter 3. At the end of chapter 2 verse 68 we see that the first wave made it back to Jerusalem safely. It was about a 1,000 mile journey and it took roughly four months. Remember we learned that they came back unprotected. They were very vulnerable. But in between their arrival and the activity in chapter 3 there is a time gap. There is a distraction.

The prophet Hagia rebuked them for building their homes and neglecting the needs that we see here in chapter 3. A lot of people debate about that time gap. We really don't know. Some say it could have been a period of months. Some say it could have been even two years. But we need to see that. There is a gap between their arrival and what we see take place in chapter 3. Now the title of the message is very simple. It is a renewal of worship. It is a renewal of worship. We're going to look at two events here. We're going to make two observations here. We're going to look at a renewal of worship practices out of verses 1 through 5.

And then in the second portion of the chapter we're going to see a rebuilding of the place of worship. That's verses 8 through 12. Two observations, two events, two activities going on as they begin to do this work and they begin to renew and to rebuild. I'm not going to read all of the chapter. I'm not going to do that because of time. I'm going to read portions. I'm going to refer to portions and if I refer to a portion that I've not read jot that down as you take notes. Therefore you can read it and study it on your own. But look at verse 1. It says, "When the seventh month came, the sons of Israel were in the cities.

The people gathered to gather as one man to Jerusalem." And then starting in verse 2 we have a list of different individuals, different leaders. We have some that were priests, some that were governors, but notice what it says at the end of chapter 2. "They arose to build the altar of God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it as it is written in the law of Moses." And then on down in verse 3 it says they begin to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening at the end of the verse and in verse 4, "And they celebrated the feast of the boots of the feast of the tabernacles." Now that's familiar to us, is it not?

We've just seen in John, John chapter 8, Jesus was teaching there at the feast of the tabernacles. But then we go on down to verse 8, we see, it says, "Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem in the second month Zerubbabel, and then it goes on to talk about Yeshua. Zerubbabel was the governor and Yeshua was a leader of the priests. And notice what it says, "And all who came from the captivity to Jerusalem began to work." That's a key phrase here. And then it goes on the list some different individuals and it says that the older ones, who were the ones that were to participate in the work.

Then verse 10, "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 and the sons of Asaph with symbols to praise the Lord according to the directions of King David of Israel." And then it goes on to say, verse 11, on down that they celebrated both young and old the activities that were taking place here. So you see where we're going in this chapter. I want us to look at our first observation, this first activity, number one, a renewal of worship practices.

We see there in verse 1, all of the people gathered as one man and then it says there at the end of verse 2, "to build the altar." That is a renewal of these worship practices and it goes on down into verse 5. Now we learned earlier that there was a distance in this time. That's important for you to see. They did come at the end of chapter 2, but we see a gap between the activity. Again, some speculate as to this time frame. We don't know, but I'm going to show you where this comes into play. But I want us to see several things out of this renewal of their worship practices. First, they returned to unity. They returned to unity.

You'll notice that that word is not in this passage, but notice verse 1, "the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem." Now all of the translations that we study say gathered as one man. Now this is simplistic, simplistic communication here. This is speaking of unity. And in the original language, this is in the emphatic, meaning that it was strongly communicated. And this is seen fleshed out as we see the different leaders working together. Remember I mentioned some of those. We have Judean princes, we have priests, we have Levites, we have governors, and we have the common people all coming together.

They came together as one man, they were unified. Now a couple of questions here. Number one, what unified them? And number two, what were they unified to? Think about those questions. What unified them? And what were they unified to? Those questions are very important to understand, and they're very important to understand as we get into this work. It was the work that God did in them, and I emphasize, a work that God did in them for the fact that they were unified around God's Word. You see? It was a work God did in them, and they were unified around this work.

And we will see this more fleshed out as we continue, and that'll help us to understand and answer those questions. What unified them, and what were they unified to? Second, I want us to see they return to the Word. Look at the end of verse 2. It says that they built the altar of God, of God, of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it as it is written in the law of Moses. See, not only have they returned home, but they returned to the Word of God. They re-established the Word of God as their authority. Now, now you know why I wanted you to notice that gap.

Somehow, someway, during that gap, the Word of God was not supreme in their lives. Now, as they came as one man, they did not bring their opinions. They did not bring their ideas. They didn't bring their desires, and they did not bring their plans. If they had, if they had, the authority of the Word of God would have overruled them. Now, remember the questions above. It was a unity around the authority of God's Word, and they were motivated by that work that God had done in them. And this was a unity around the authority of the Word, and it led them to a unity around the work of God.

If it was man's work that they were seeking to accomplish, then they would have held on to their opinions, their desires, their ideas, their plans for the work, but that's not the case. So, they returned in unity. They returned to the Word of God. Third, they returned to the altar. Notice it says that they built the altar of God to offer burnt offerings on it, and then we go on to see that they offered burnt offerings morning and evening at the end of the verse, verse 3, and they celebrated the Feast of the Booths on down. Now, this altar, this was a new altar, but notice this was a new altar on the old foundations.

This was a new altar on the old foundations. Look at verse 2 and 3. That is communicated. Now, this was very important because this wording helps us see two things. First, they were acting in obedience and according to the Word of God. See, it was the Word of God that enabled them to build the altar. So, first, they were acting in obedience to the Word of God, and second, this was not a new worship brought back from Babylonian captivity, but a return and a renewal of the old worship which had previously been abandoned. That's why it's important to see a new altar on the old foundations.

Another thing, it's important for us to see that this altar was for burnt offerings. Go back to verse 2. They built the altar of God, the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it. And then on down at the end of verse 3, morning and evening, they would offer burnt offerings. Now, we see this in verse 2 and on down that this was an altar for burnt offerings, and this is important, and I want us to see that. This was an offering, this burnt offering was an offering that was wholly consumed on the altar. As they would offer animals, some animals, they only offered portions of that animal.

We don't have time to get into the different offerings, but this burnt offering, they offered the whole animal, and the whole animal was consumed on that altar. So, the animal was totally consumed, and also the purpose needs to be noted. This purpose was for the propitiation of their sin, or it was to deal with their sin. And also, for these worshipers, this was a picture of their entire consecration to God. So, you see what's going on here? As they're offering these burnt offerings, it is a total sacrifice. It is a picture of their consecration to God, and this is a sacrifice that deals with their sin. So, they return to the altar.

Fourth, they return to worship. Verse 4, they celebrated the Feast of the Boots, and you go on down, and it says they celebrated the New Moon festivals, the different fixed festivals, as they were consecrated to the Lord. Now, verse 4 says that they observed first the Feast of the Boots, or Tabernacles. This meant that they had returned to the sacred festivals or feasts. Now, the purpose of these feasts was to call together the people of Israel to sacred times of celebration and worship and remembrance. I will name a couple, and I will use them as examples to help you see. This is not an exhaustive list, but just a couple.

Listen, you'll see where I'm going. Now, the Passover, you've heard of the Passover, or the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This was the first of the annual feasts, and it was to remember God's deliverance of the Jews from Egypt. We should be familiar with that when we know that story. So, every year when they celebrated the Feast of the Passover, they were remembering what God had done for their forefathers in delivering them from Egypt. Then, there's the Feast of Pentecost. This is sometimes called the Feast of the First Fruits, or Harvests. This was to celebrate the end of the wheat harvest, which was a very important time in their lives.

Now, notice that they started with the Feast of the Boots. Why is that the case? This feast was to be celebrated in October, starting about the middle of the month and going on through. And this was when all of these activities took place. So, they were starting according to the calendar. You might not think that's a big deal, but they're being obedient to their worship. So, we see that they started this cycle of celebrating the sacred feasts and festivals. And this was in accordance to God's Word and was just as central to their worship as the altar. You see, they returned in unity as one man. They returned to the Word of God.

They returned to the altar, and they returned to worship. And we see that they returned to "Oh, so much." Just in these verses, these eight verses, seven verses in this portion of chapter 3. Unity, the Word, and the altar, and worship. But we must see that everything they did came out of the Word of God. Now, as I was studying this, there was something that came into my mind that I really wished I could do. I wish I could have taken that phrase, built the altar, and it says, "According to the law of Moses." I wished I could have taken that phrase as it is written in the law of Moses and put it at the beginning of the chapter. Why?

Because everything they did was in accordance to what? The Word of God. Even though it's listed on down, they did everything according to the Word. So when they began to renew their worship practices, what did they do? They went to the Word of God. Remember, no ideas, no opinions, no preconceived notions. Not one man had an idea of his own. If he did, it died when it came in conflict with what? The authority of the Word of God. Now, why do I make such a big deal about that? It's really sad in our day that so many people are doing so many things in the life of the church that are totally unbiblical and unscripical.

And we must be a people that are committed. We must be committed to the Word of God. Chapter and verse, chapter and verse, Genesis to Revelation. And look, our commitment to worship must be filtered through the Word of God. A lot of people have worship practices that are totally unbiblical and unscripical. They think it's worship, but actually it's unauthorized worship. Had they built the altar in a different manner, it would have been unauthorized. Had they not started the celebration of the festivals in an unauthorized manner, not according to the Word, they would have been out of step and out of joint with the Word.

Therefore, they would have been out of step and out of joint with the renewal of their worship. I was reminded of this this weekend, actually Friday. I was talking with an old minister friend. I don't talk to that often, but tried to keep up with him as God's working in his life and his church. And he and I were talking about a particular church problem. And as he was describing this church problem that had just been so laborious to him, I just smiled in my mind and my heart because it's not a problem that we face. Now, what was the problem? He was describing how a church that he had just left was structured unbiblically.

They did not have biblical elders and they did not have biblical deacons, so therefore it was structured unbiblically. And he began to describe how so much of his time was spent doing things that pulled him away from prayer and the study of the Word. And he began to explain how even the labors in the life of this church hindered his ability to preach and teach the Word of God. And I just thought to myself, how sad, because if they just got back to the authority of the Word, that would be corrected. And it reminded me of our journey. It's been quite a while since we've revisited the Ten Pillars of the church quite some time.

But remember the Ten Pillars of the church, biblical conversion, the commitment to the church, the gospel, prayer, the Word being taught and preached, evangelism, missions, and godly leadership, church discipline, and church membership. And as I was listening to my friend Mone and almost we, I was thinking, God has taught us to do these things according to the Word. So they renewed their worship practices according to the Word.

And when I look at these scriptures and I look at these Old Testament examples and I hear people and see people and just observe the journey that we're on, I have such freedom and I have such liberty and I have such joy. Not that we're doing everything right, no, but we as a congregation and we as the leadership are striving to build according to the Word. So they renewed their worship practices and no doubt there was great liberty and freedom and joy as they knew that they were doing it according to the Word. Let's move on. The second observation, their second practice is a rebuilding of the place of worship.

We see that transition in verse 8. We see that list of the different individuals who were leaders, Yeshua and Zerubbabel, and we see a list of different people, but then we see, "And all who came from the captivity of Jerusalem began the work." And what is this work? They've already built the altar and we see that they are beginning to build the very temple of God. They built the altar, they've returned their worship, and now we see the beginning of the rebuilding of the temple. Now what happened to the temple? If you know your Bible history, it was King Nebuchadnezzar who overran Jerusalem some 60 years earlier.

The year was 587 BC and he totally destroyed what was called Solomon's Temple. And now it was their task to rebuild the most holy place of worship and that was the temple. Several things out of these verses I want us to see. First I want us to see, "They all participated in this rebuilding." Look back at verse 8, it says, "And all who came from the captivity of Jerusalem began the work." We could easily overlook that word "all" but that's what it says. This tells us that all who came up, I don't know how, but somehow that 50,000 plus or minus group of people participated in this rebuilding.

Specifically we see that Zerubbabel, the governor, and Yeshua, the head of the priests and the Levites, plus all these workers that are listed, they put their hands to the task. This was an all-inclusive work, all hands-on-deck activity. They all participated in the rebuilding. Second notice, "They laid the foundation of the temple." Verse 10 says that when the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord and then we see the great celebration, what do we see? This foundation, this is the beginning of the building of the temple. This was important in that the temple was central to their worship.

Previously in Solomon's day it was where the glory of God dwelt. If you go back to Second Chronicles, after the first temple, Solomon's temple was constructed, Solomon stood up to offer a prayer of dedication, and literally the fire of God fell from heaven, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. So much so that two things happened. First, the priests could not enter the temple because the presence of the Lord filled the place. And second, the people of God saw the fire of God fall, and they knew God's presence was with them. So for them, as they are rebuilding this temple, even the foundations symbolized the very presence of God.

And laying the foundations of the temple was monumental in their return, and they're rebuilding the temple and the renewal of their worship. Second notice, "They celebrated this great accomplishment." If you look at verses 10 through 11, it's nothing more than a great celebration. What do we see? The priests stood in their apparel, and then we begin to see that they stood up and they celebrated. But notice at the end of the verse, "according to the directions of King David of Israel." And then it goes on, and they sang praises, giving thanks to God, saying, "He is good." This is an open celebration and act of praise.

This was a celebration of this greatest great accomplishment. All there, although there was so much more to do, and I don't know if you know how much more time it took and work, there was so much more to do, but they celebrated this accomplishment. Now this was a celebration we've already seen. According to what? King David. According to what they saw the directions in King David. Now what does this mean? If we go back to 1 Chronicles chapter 15, verses 17 through 21, "When David was having the Ark of God returned to Jerusalem, what took place? They were celebrating, they were dancing, and they were singing before the Ark of God.

And what were they doing? They were celebrating the presence of God being brought back to God's people." And in David's day, these Levites and priests were celebrating, and in this day they were doing the same thing. Fourth, I want you to notice they remembered the past. I've not read this verse yet. Notice verse 12, "Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of the father's households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundations." Here in verse 12, we see that there are older men who did remember the first temple, and it says that they wept as the foundations were laid.

Now for me this forces me to ask three questions. First, was this a reaction to seeing the temple rebuilt? Second, was this a remembering the grandeur of the first temple, or was it all of the above? Different Bible commentators go different directions with this. Most Bible commentators say that they wept because they remembered the glory of the first temple. They're remembering the past. Then fifth, notice they celebrated the present. They celebrated the present. If you go on down to the second portion of verse 12, what do we see? We see that the younger generation who had not seen that previous temple, they celebrated.

And so the younger generation, they shouted with joy while the older generation, they shouted with tears. And they shouted with joy because of the present work. These would have been those who were born in captivity, and all they knew of the temple was what they had been taught. They never saw the glory of Solomon's temple. So what do we see? They all participated as one man in the building. They laid the foundation of the temple. They celebrated this great accomplishment. They remembered the past, and they celebrated the present. Now it's very important for us to see this. In their day, the very presence of God dwelt in a man-made object.

Do you realize that? First it was the Ark of the Covenant. Do you remember that? Remember that tent that they carried around all through the wilderness as they wandered? God's presence was literally there in that tent, in that Ark of the Covenant. And then in their day, they would have understood that the temple symbolized the very presence of God residing with the people. And all they knew is what God had done in the past according to the Word of God. And they knew in Solomon's day God resided in the temple.

So this was not just central to their worship, but this was central to the idea of being the people of God and the presence of God among them as His people. And this affected them individually and corporately. And that's why they worked so hard to build. As I was finishing up today, I thought about another example that might help us with this, and then we'll move to our conclusion. It's a sad story because of the individual that's involved. Quite a few years ago, I knew an individual in another church. He professed that God had saved him and walked with God for a period of time and professed that God had called him in the ministry.

I use that language because he didn't stay in the ministry very long, and nor is he walking with God now. But I watched this individual as he went to a particular church, and it was an older church, and he began to minister there. And it did not take him long before he led the church in a great adventure. It was a good thing. He presented before the church, he said, "Listen, this church has not been attended to for so many years.

I think we need to put some attention and some money into the building." And he led the people, he said, "We need to remodel and we need to rework, we need to paint, and we need to do floors, and we need to fix up this place that we call the church." And they did a very good job, and it was nice. But in retrospect, looking back, he didn't seem to work as hard about the presence of God in the work of God within the people. And looking back, I can't help but ask myself this question. Would things have been different?

Had he worked just as hard for spiritual renewal in the people and a spiritual revival in the people and even a spiritual rebuilding among the people? Because, listen, God's Spirit does not dwell within a building today. He dwells within the hearts of men and women. He dwells within God's people individually and somehow, someway when we come together, he dwells with us collectively. If you know the rest of the story, it's really sad. There's no biblical recording of the fire of God falling in the Second Temple. It seems they had the building without the presence.

And it seems that my friend never had the workings of God among them, but they worried about the physical. And it leads me to make comments like this. We must be real careful what we do with the physical, because if we're not careful, we can ignore, listen, the most important. And that is God working in us. Listen, the building of the temple signified the presence of God and it does not matter what this physical edifice looks like. What matters is what we look like, what our hearts are like, and what our families are like.

It matters if God is working in us, if we are in step with God, we are walking with God, and we are not in sin, and we are not in rebellion. What matters is if we have the unhindered presence of God working in us. So what do we see? Two truths, two observations, two activities. There's a renewal of the worship practices and a rebuilding of the place of worship. Now as we move to conclude, I want to make two applications. First, we must always be returning to the old ways. What I mean is we must be a new church and a due day built on the old foundations. You know it really doesn't matter what color the carpet is.

It really doesn't matter what color the pain is. It really doesn't matter the style of worship. What matters is if we build on the eternal truths of the Word of God. And that's why it is so important to understand, listen, how the church is supposed to function, and it's so important for us to understand how the people of God are to be led. That's why it's so important for us to be in the Scriptures, systematically, sometimes tackling subjects that are before us, and we must always be returning to the old paths. And it's like a circle. We go out into the new day.

We go out into the future, but we make a loop, always coming back to the old ways, the old ways, the ways from the Word of God. Not traditions, but from the Word. And you know that's mine and Brother Keith's primary job as overseers, elders, is to lead us into the Word of God. There are lots of things I'd like to do in the life of the church, and I can't do them right now. Brother Keith always reminds me, "Major on the majors." And the majors are, "We must be in the Word. We must know these old paths." And second, we must all work hard. Remember that all-inclusive language, "all"? What did it say? In all who came up from the captivity?

There were no slackers. We must all here at Nola Baptist Church roll up our sleeves and engage and listen, building and working. First, building our worship and our worship practices. And then, yes, there are times to attend to the physical structure. But we will always attend to the spiritual first and then the physical second. But this is a job for us all. It is an all hands on deck. Because listen, if you have been called out of captivity, then the responsibility is yours. It is ours.

Now listen, and that means sometimes you might be doing the most minute task, but if it must be done, sometimes you might be facing a job to do that you cannot do while joining the crowd. It's all inclusive. Building our worship, building our practices, and listen, building this work called Nola Baptist Church. You see? A renewal of worship. They renewed their worship practices and they were building a place of worship. It's a lifelong task, people. It's a generational work, people. Usually we have bumps and rattles in the back by now. We are building for them, for the children, for the teenagers. Lifelong, multigenerational for the future.

Lord Jesus, thank you for these truths. Lord, so long ago these activities took place, but so very relevant.