Celebrate!

Speaker 1: 0:04

So how do you celebrate the accomplishment of something that you've done? Like if you've just finished a big project, what kind of person are you when that project ends? Are you somebody that is so invigorated by it being over that you're ready for the next challenge? If so, you exhaust people, and I'm guilty as charged. There are other people that become totally drained at the end of a big project. They just need time to be alone and to recoup and to reenergize. But one of the things that we should become more in tune with as the people of God is that when God works, we should be careful to take time to celebrate what God has done and to rejoice in His goodness. There can be times that life is so full that we forget to do something so basic as thanking and rejoicing in what God's done. There can also be a myriad of problems that in the midst of the goodness that happens. It can feel like the problems overshadow the goodness and we just don't really feel up to doing it or we don't even think of it. But when we consider what God has done, we should be people who are eager to offer to Him praise and thanksgiving.

Speaker 1: 1:37

We've been going through the book of Nehemiah, and we're finally at the point that they're ready to dedicate the wall and they hold an extraordinary celebration to do so Now. You might be saying to yourself now wait a minute, I thought they finished the wall chapters ago. They did, but that wasn't the only project you remember. Not only were they concerned about reconstructing the walls around the city of Jerusalem, they desired to reignite the people's hearts and a love for God and in His mercy. He did so. So, bringing those two things together, they now hold a celebration service and dedicating the walls. And as we look at the way in which the people of God celebrated God's work in their midst, we can learn two primary things. One is how we can join in celebrating in God, but also, secondly, to use that celebration and dedicating ourselves more fully to Him.

Speaker 1: 2:40

So let's begin reading in Nehemiah, chapter 12. I'm going to begin reading in verse 27. This is another one of those passages with lists of names. I'm not going to read through the names, not because they're unimportant, but because they do tend to disrupt the flow of thought as we focus so much on how do you pronounce these names. So I'm going to be skipping over different points in the passage.

Speaker 1: 3:04

And here we are in Nehemiah, chapter 12, verse 27, the word of the Lord. And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in all their places to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing and with symbols, harps and liars, and the sons of the singers gathered together from the district surrounding Jerusalem and from the villages of the Natethephites, also from Beth Gilgau and from the region of Geba and Asmutheth, and the singers had built for themselves villages around Jerusalem and the priests and the Levites purified themselves and they purified the people and the gates in the wall. Then I brought the leaders of Judah up to the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks. One went to the south, on the wall of the Dung Gate verse 35, and certain of the priests, sons with trumpets and the verse 36, and with musical instruments of David, the man of God, and Ezra, the scribe, went before them At the fountain gate. They went up before them by the stairs of the city of David at the ascent of the wall above the house of David to the water gate on the east. The other choir of those who gave thanks went to the north and I followed them with half of the people, on the wall above the tower of the ovens to the broad wall and above the gate of Ephraim and by the gate of Yashana and by the fish gate and the tower of Hammenel and the tower of the hundred and to the sheep gate, and they came to a halt at the gate of the guard.

Speaker 1: 4:42

So both choirs of those who gave thanks stood in the house of God and I and half of the officials with me and the priests and the verse 42, and the singers sang with Jezrehiah as their leader and they offered great sacrifices. That day in rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy. The women and children also rejoiced and the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away. On that day, men were appointed over the storerooms, the contributions, the first fruits and the ties to gather into them the portions required by the law for the priests and for the Levites, according to the fields of the towns, for Judah rejoiced over the priests and the Levites who ministered and they performed the service of their God in the service of purification, as did the singers and the gatekeepers, according to the command of David and his son Solomon, for long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there were directors of the singers and there were songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel, in the days of Nehemiah, gave the daily portions for the singers and the gatekeepers and they set apart that which was for the Levites and the Levites set apart that which was for the sons of Aaron.

Speaker 1: 6:04

So, as we look at this time of dedication, you might be thinking I know you've been tying in this bridge thing with the sermon series and you're talking about celebrating and dedicating the bridge, and that has even started yet. Well, the celebration should be a part of the planning for the bridge that we're careful to give thanks to God for what he's going to do. We trust not only with the bridge but in the hearts of us as people, and so we learned that, first of all, that we should celebrate joyfully with God's people by thanking God for his goodness and his blessings. One of the things that we set out to do in this series on Nehemiah was we talked about enlarging our vision, but we also talked about strengthening our fellowship. I really enjoy, in the book of Nehemiah, the emphasis that is placed upon the community of faith that together we are a part of God's family and the people of God go through the experiences of life together, the difficulties and the doldrums, the hard work and even the celebrations. And we should be mindful that when we celebrate as God's people, that we include the community of faith as part of that celebration of what God is doing. Think back over what God has done in and through these people.

Speaker 1: 7:35

As we've wandered through the book of Nehemiah and you might remember, in chapter one Nehemiah's brother brought word that the walls around the city of Jerusalem were still in ruin After 100 years from the time that the first exiles returned to the promised land. The walls were still in desolate condition. And it grieved Nehemiah's heart for the glory of God and for the good of the people, and he began to pray that God would do something. And so God raised up Nehemiah. You remember that he worked for the king and he approached the king when the king asked him to come and he told him about how the burial place of his father's was in ruins and he wanted to rebuild the walls. And not only did the king give him permission, but the king supplied him for that task he went back to the city of Jerusalem and, under the cover of darkness, he secretly surveyed what the problems were and came up with a plan. And then, to the people who were dispirited and defeated, he inspired them to embrace a vision of building that wall around the city of Jerusalem. And they united around that work, and they did. And the reason that Nehemiah had to be careful and make his assessment at dark and at nighttime was because of all the extraordinary opposition that they faced, historically, from their enemies and also internally, and three chapters in the book deal with all of that opposition. And yet, despite of it and all of it, in 52 days the people completed over two miles of repairs to the walls around the city of Jerusalem.

Speaker 1: 9:20

But remember that wasn't all that would needed to be done. There was also the need, with Nehemiah along with Ezra, to renew the hearts of the people, and God and His mercy brought about a nationwide revival that resulted in reforms to the government of the city and in city renewal as the people repopulated the city. It was an extraordinary accomplishment by the hand of God, among His people, and so they thank Him, they thank Him for His goodness that he would answer their prayers even though they had been unfaithful, even though their sins deserved punishment and exile, as God warned them again and again that if they persisted in their sin, this very thing would happen. God relented. He returned people back to the promised land. God was good and faithful to His promises. God abundantly provided for His people and he sustained them even in the midst of those difficulties. And so the people thanked God, because he's good, he's faithful, he's true, but they also rejoiced in the blessings that God gave.

Speaker 1: 10:38

Now, as a people, they were secure, as they had their city's defenses rebuilt and they were able to go on with their lives with a sense of security that they had not experienced in a long, long time. So we read in verse 27. At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sought the Levites in all their places to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings, with symbols, with harps and liars in verse 43. And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy, and the women and children also rejoiced, and the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away. Well then, hope you had a great day today. Thank you very much. Good night. Amazing that even far away, people could hear the people rejoicing. Have you ever been near a stadium where a big game is being played and the shouts of the people could be heard for miles and miles around? That is the type of setting that is taking place here.

Speaker 1: 11:47

But rather than cheering on the winning team, people are cheering God for what he's done in their midst and they are acknowledging that all that has happened with their hard work and their contribution. And we've seen before in the list of names in Nehemiah that one of the important things is is that the human workers were being acknowledged. Taking all of that into consideration, they still realized that it was God's work and he was the one that deserved the celebration and the glory. There's a beautiful verse in Isaiah, chapter 26, verse 12, that says oh Lord, you will ordain peace for us, for you have indeed done for us all our works. The people were able to acknowledge that what they did wasn't their own contribution solely. It was what God had done for them.

Speaker 1: 12:47

And the people sing and rejoice. Now you might wonder well, what's the difference between singing and rejoicing? Well, not all singing is joyful, is it? I mean, we have a whole genre of music known as the blues. We looked this past summer at songs of lament, when people cry out to God because their circumstances are so difficult, they're asking God for deliverance and for help. Today, the people of Israel. They are rejoicing. Their songs are happy songs of praise that they're offering to God for what he has done for them. One of the great things about Christians is they write hymns, they write songs of praise, they take the Psalms and they adapt them and put them to meter and music, and God has given extraordinary musicians who use their gifts. And Christians sing to celebrate the redemption that they have in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is a great cause for rejoicing. So I encourage you today, perhaps when you're riding home in your car, or maybe when you're sitting around the table and enjoying some lunch, share with each other what is your favorite Christian song and why is it your favorite Christian song, and let the words of the song speak of your love for the Lord, and perhaps maybe you will even sing it together as you worship the Lord for His goodness and mercy.

Speaker 1: 14:20

But we also see from this passage that we celebrate joyfully with God's people by dedicating ourselves to the Lord First as individuals and as a community of faith. There's a very interesting image that happens in this passage, the Israelite leaders form two great choirs and they start at various points on top of the walls and then they meet, they converge together in the sanctuary of God, and we see that in verse 40, for instance. So both choirs of those who gave thanks stood in the house of God and I and half of the officials with me and the priests. Nehemiah mentions what's happening here. The people are making the Lord the center of their lives. That's the primary thing that's involved in dedicating ourselves to the Lord Is that we commit that the Lord, above everything and anyone else, is gonna occupy the central place of importance and prominence in our lives. The temple, if you will, was the picture of God's presence among His people, and so the people were acknowledging and gathering in that temple that they themselves were making the Lord the center of their lives.

Speaker 1: 15:47

And we can often begin with that as our starting point, and we desire to express our celebration to the Lord by dedicating ourselves to Him. But boy, it's so easy to get the railed from that, isn't it? We could start our day praying saying Lord, I'm taking up my cross today and I'm following you, and somewhere along lunchtime we think man, what did I do with that cross. It's around here somewhere and it's so easy to get distracted from that primary goal of keeping Christ in the center of our lives. This is a regular thing that we need to make a part of reestablishing our priorities in the Lord's ways. But not only does dedication involve making the Lord the center of our lives. It also involves purifying ourselves so that we might worship and serve Him.

Speaker 1: 16:41

Verses 30 and 45, we read the priests and the Levites purified themselves and they purified the people and the gates and the wall In verse 35, excuse me, 45,. And they performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did the singers and the gatekeepers, according to the command of David and his son Solomon. It's pretty cool when you look at this. The people have finished the walls and they wanna acknowledge that it was God that did it. So they dedicate the walls, they dedicate the Levites, they dedicate the priests, they dedicate all the people. They even dedicate the gates in the walls.

Speaker 1: 17:27

So moved were they an appreciation and desire for what God had done, that they were setting aside, setting apart themselves from sin and the influences of evil, and they were dedicating themselves to walk in the way of the Lord. And that's what dedicating ourselves to Christ involves, where we would set aside those things that entangle us, the sin that besets us, and, by God's grace, we would seek strength to overcome those things so that we would not grieve His Spirit's work in us and that we would serve and follow Him. And the last component about dedicating ourselves to the Lord is mentioned in verse 43. It's the whole concept of sacrifice, verse 43, we read. And they offered great sacrifices that day and they rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy. The women and children also rejoiced and the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.

Speaker 1: 18:33

Joy and sacrifice, they seem so counterintuitive, right, they don't seem to fit together at all. On one hand, we think, well, you can either sacrifice. Or, on the other hand, you can be joyful, but you can't be joyful and sacrifice in the same time. It's like at the end of a wedding ceremony, when a pastor blesses the newly married couple, he pronounces that they would together for many years, be happy and holy together. Those are two things that we never seem to put together. Either, right, you're either happy and having fun, or you're holy and not having any fun at all. But as we learn, as we grow in the Christian life, as we seek God's pleasure, it becomes our pleasure. As we seek the Lord as our delight, he becomes our delight. And if we sacrifice out of a heart that desires to please God and to be dedicated to him, the Lord will bring great joy to us. We see at the end of Nehemiah, chapter 12, that the people are involved in giving to sustain the work of the temple so that the worship of God's people can continue. They're giving to support the singers, they're giving to support the choir and the music leaders and the Levites and the priests and so on, and they're offering animal sacrifices as well. But all of these things are taking place. That's involving personal cost and sacrifice to them, and there's great joy that's involved with it as well.

Speaker 1: 20:29

Many years ago, the church that I was passering was involved, and what was for us at that time an extraordinary expansion program there was really a beyond our reach in terms of what the congregation could achieve, and so the leadership was wondering how are we gonna make it so that we can afford all of this? And so we began studying in scripture about giving, and we looked a lot at when King David got the contributions together to build the temple. You might remember that God did not let him build the temple because he was a man of war. But he could collect the materials for the construction of the temple and it started off with the leaders giving sacrificially. So the leadership got together and we began to pray. And we began to pray with our families and we said you know how can we help leave the congregation and sacrificial giving? And so we got our Connie and I got our kids together and over a period of weeks we were talking about you know how much should we give, and we were throughout amounts and that kind of thing, and our kids were little at that time and we asked them we know, what could you do to help give? And one kid said you know, I'll give half of my birthday money this year to the expansion project. Another kid said I'm not gonna buy any Pokemon cards anymore. I'm gonna take the money that I would have spent on Pokemon and I'm gonna give it to the offering.

Speaker 1: 22:00

And Connie and I were praying and we came up with a figure that was so out of our reach. It wasn't something that we were giving from our abundance. We couldn't cover it. It was months of salary and I can remember the day when we gave the offering as a family. Connie and I were terrified but we were filled with such joy when we gave that an original amount and earn us for the pledge that we would give later. I have never given so much at one time and never have I been filled with so much joy in giving. It was an extraordinary experience and that whole spirit spread through the church and as people gave sacrificially, giving themselves first to the Lord, that whole spirit spread and it was such a marvelous time within the life of the church. But part of that whole giving that we were discussing as a family, our one son said that he wanted to give. I can't remember what the dollar amount was. It was so many dollars and 25 cents and I'm sure the treasurer just loved carrying that 25 cents on the books through the whole giving campaign. But each time I saw that 25 cents in the reports it was a reminder of the joy that we had together as a family and being able to give.

Speaker 1: 23:28

At worship services we often invite you to give and we do not invite you to give just so we can meet the bills of the church. Certainly, bills of the church are paid through the giving, and generous giving, of God's people. We aren't inviting you to give just so that you can tip God for the good job he's done in the last month, although our giving certainly should be an expression of thanks to what God has done for us. And we aren't making giving a lesser important part of the worship service. It's as every bit as important as every other part of the worship service. So why do we encourage people to give? We encourage people to give so that they can experience the joy of growing in character, to be more like our generous God.

Speaker 1: 24:27

And as we give, we experience that joy. It's a way to grow in grace by acknowledging that all that we have comes from God and we look to him to provide. It is an exercise of faith that as we give away what God has entrusted to us, that we believe that God is going to supply that need and even more. And it's a very important way that we can learn how living a life of sacrifice leads to extraordinary joy. And we might wonder how that can be the case. And it is so, because that is precisely what Jesus has done for us. And as he sacrificed himself, scripture says he did so with great joy.

Speaker 1: 25:22

In Hebrews, chapter 12, we read, therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, the heroes of the faith mentioned in Hebrews 11. Let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance, the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising its shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted. Did you see that connection there? Jesus endured the cross, despising its shame, for the joy that was set before him and pleasing his father. And those are the types of lives that we are to live, not just in terms of our financial giving, but all aspects of life. We live for him, who gave himself for us, and as we do, we experience the fullness of his joy.

Speaker 1: 26:41

Maybe God is calling you to some form of greater commitment to him and you're wondering whether or not you're able to handle the sacrifice or what it's gonna require of you to do that.

Speaker 1: 26:55

Maybe you have not yet placed your faith in Jesus and you are still trying to figure out whether or not you wanna give up control of your own life, or I should say the illusion of control in your life, to let God have control of your life.

Speaker 1: 27:14

If you are somebody who has yet to make that commitment, we can assure you from the fullness of God's word that if you set aside your sin and you believe in Christ and you commit for him, you will have joy unspeakable and full of glory. First, peter says Perhaps you're a believer who's young in your faith and you're wondering where you can use your gifts and service or where you can be in use of the Lord in different aspects of your life. And you're wondering, man, do I have more time to read the Bible? Do I have any time to pray? Do I have time to use my gifts and help other people? If you follow in the path of Christ, even though you give sacrificially, if you do it with the sense that you're offering it to the Lord for thanks for what he's given to you, the Lord will abundantly provide and he will give you joy. May we so follow Jesus and every avenue of life, that our lives reflect this worship of living sacrifices, which we know that pleases him, let us pray.