Category: Sermon

Sermon

Defining Mission (Luke 5:1-11)

Post author By Jinson Thomas
Post date November 21, 2016
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We’ll be looking at a familiar passage today which is known for the miracle in it but it’s not a common passage when people talk about mission. I thought it’ll be good for all of us to study it together and understand what its implications can mean for us today.

Luke 5:1-11

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

Let’s set this up by talking a little bit about the context of this passage. A couple of verses before we get to this passage, Jesus says “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” (Lk 4:43)

I think it’s interesting that Jesus plainly states his purpose to preach the good news and a couple of verses later he chooses his first disciples. It’s definitely connected. But don’t think that Christ is helpless when he looks at the huge task of getting the good news declared to all towns and therefore, he needs to urgently recruit some people to help him out. Acts 17:24-25 says “The God who made the world and everything in it, being the Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”

Psalm 19:1 says “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork”. The heavens and sky are also used by God to declare His glory.

In Numbers 22, God used a donkey to communicate with Balaam. A donkey spoke in clear legible language to communicate with a person! If God can communicate through a donkey, let’s not ever think that God is dependent on us. He is not dependant on us and yet He choses to use us. That in itself should humble us and make us grateful for the privilege to join God in His marvellous mission.

What we understand from the relation between the passage in Lk 4:43 and Luke 5 is that Christ is extremely passionate about the mission (must preach the good news) and His disciples are also defined and described by that mission.

With that let’s look at our main text. We see how an eager and hungry crowd come toward Jesus in order to hear the word of God. Jesus is standing by the lake of Gennesaret and he sees two empty boats because the fishermen were washing their nets. Jesus climbs up the boat which belonged to Simon Peter and asks him to put it out a little from the land. This isn’t the first time Peter encounters Jesus though.

In John 1, we learn that two disciples follow Jesus when John the Baptist points at Jesus and says “Behold the Lamb of God”. Andrew was one of the disciples and he finds his brother Peter, tells him that they’ve found the Messiah and brings him to Jesus. (John 1:40-42)

On another occasion in Luke 4:38-39, Jesus comes to Simon’s house and heals his mother in law who has a high fever.

Peter so far has seen Jesus perform miracles, heal people, drive out demons and teach with authority but he hasn’t yet followed him. It’s like he’s in an environment where he’s being exposed to the person of Jesus but doesn’t yet see the significance in actually following him. Many of us who grew up in a Christian environment would relate to this story because growing up we’ve read stories in the Bible, hear people talk about Jesus, we are taught songs about Jesus but don’t get how that makes any difference to our lives. If you are there at this point, I hope the conversion story of Peter encourages you. It wasn’t a co-incidence due to which Jesus got into Peter’s boat. Rather it was an ordained and planned event that was going to transform his life forever! Wow!

Verse 4 & 5

And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”

Could you imagine being in Peter’s shoes right now? He was an experienced, skilled fisherman. He just spent the entire night trying to catch some fish to no avail. Jesus on the other hand was a carpenter. I’m sure Peter must’ve wondered “I know Jesus heals people and all that but I know this trade better than him. I’m pretty sure that it’s not going to change anything”. Out of respect Peter heeds to Jesus’ request but probably didn’t expect or believe anything different to take place.

Think about something that you’re good at. You’re skilled at it because it’s a task that you do every day. You’re almost an expert in this field or task. Now what if someone with no experience in that task or field comes and tells you to do the opposite of what you think or believe, what would your response be?

Coming back to the text, Peter probably doubted Jesus at that point but he still exhibited trust by putting down the nets. Do you ever imagine what would’ve happened if Peter didn’t listen to Jesus? Instead you see him trusting and obeying what Jesus asked him to do.

Verse 6 & 7

And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.

What an amazing miracle they’ve just witnessed! It’s absolutely unheard of! How could it be possible that from no catch they suddenly caught so many fish that the two boats are now sinking due to the weight? In their many years of fishing they’ve never caught so many fish. They now realize that this Jesus does not only heal people of their sicknesses but also controls nature and circumstances according to His will!

Verse 8 & 9

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken

I find it interesting that before this miracle, Peter refers to Jesus as Master and now He is Lord. Peter understands the difference. Maybe earlier Peter only saw Jesus as an overseer and a Teacher but now He sees him as one with supreme authority. He realized that he wasn’t dealing with a Teacher and a Prophet but He was dealing with God Himself. I think that’s where Jesus gets offensive to people. People are okay with Jesus as long as He is a moral teacher or as long as he is a Prophet who talks about the future but they are reluctant to accept Him as God. And isn’t that strange? Why can’t Peter enjoy the abundance of his catch? Why is suddenly fearful and talking about his sin? This astonishing miracle opened his eyes to perceive the holiness of God and the sinfulness of himself. In essence what he probably meant is “Jesus, I know you are Holy and sent from God. I can’t be around you because I am so sinful! I am unworthy and unqualified to be with you!”

If you are there today, being overwhelmed in your sin and feeling absolutely unqualified to be on Jesus’ mission, here are 3 things this passage tells us today:

1) Mission is rooted in a relationship with Christ

Verse 10 ….And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”

Those 4 words “Do not be afraid!” changed everything! Can you imagine how Peter, John and James felt at that very moment? They expected condemnation and judgment from Holy God. Instead they received compassion and forgiveness! “Do not be afraid” Such sweet words from Jesus for sinners like you and me. The reason why we are recipients of God’s immense love and forgiveness is because Jesus completely paid the price for our sin by dying on the cross. The judgment that was deserving of criminals like you and me because we sinned against God in our thoughts, words and actions was borne by Christ who committed no crime. Apart from the sacrifice of our Lord all that is left for us is condemnation! When you stare at yourself in disbelief and grief because you understand how sinful you are…Christ speaks a better word…Christ says “Do not be afraid. I got this”. That’s why Rom 8:1 says “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”. Why would anyone not want that?

One of the reasons why Christians ignore mission or aren’t passionate about God’s mission is because they don’t have a pattern of continuous repentance and faith. So they’re living with unconfessed sin and have forgotten everything about the freedom and joy they have in Christ. If we look into our lives, would we say that a pattern of turning from sin and completely depending on the life and work of Christ is THE defining factor? Or are repentance and faith merely random events in your life?

2) Mission is empowered by the qualification of Christ

Not just that Jesus also empowered and commissioned them to “catch men”

What does “Catch men” mean? It obviously doesn’t mean kidnapping! That would be wrong. The word “catch” in the Greek actually means make someone captive or imprison them. It’s talking in a spiritual sense. We have been given the task to “apprehend” people with the beauty of Christ’s love and sacrifice. That’s what happens when we share the good news. We tell people of how we were “apprehended” by Christ’s compassion and love for us and how we’ve been set free from the sin’s penalty and condemnation. Its good news because it’s a free gift available for them too!

What if we get the feeling that we’re unqualified to “catch men”? Well, it is Christ who qualifies you. Firstly, he qualifies us by cancelling each and every sin and by giving us His righteousness. Then He qualifies us by nurturing us through His Word as we read and obey it each day. I’m sure Peter and the others thought Jesus should’ve approached some of Pharisees who were much more knowledgeable to be his disciples. No, that’s not the way it works in God’s kingdom. In Acts 4:13, Peter and John were standing before the big shots in the Jewish religious circles and a very interesting description is made of them. “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they had recognized that they had been with Jesus”. It is the relationship with Christ that qualifies you.

One thing that all believers know is how Christ transformed their lives. It’s a truth we can’t forget or deny. Yet many still don’t want to share their testimonies. We still wait for that moment when we will be ready to share our faith. Isn’t Christ’s qualification enough for us? If we have a real relationship with Christ, then we are qualified to share.

3) Mission is defined by the call to follow Christ

Verse 11 – And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
I always keep thinking. These were fishermen who had their livelihoods entirely dependent on the amount of fish they caught. Were they acting foolishly by just leaving everything and following Jesus at a time when they got so much? Wasn’t that terrible business decision making? Why couldn’t have they waited for a few more years and then followed Jesus during retirement?

I think it’s because till now their identity (everything that defined and directed their course of life), their purpose (driving motivation), security (what can secure their lives), longing of their hearts (maybe the trade or the abundance could satisfy) surrounded around fishing and what it could provide.

They just met and had an encounter with Jesus who in one miracle showed them that He was the answer to their longing for a true identity, true purpose in life, true security and true satisfaction. It’s like the treasure in Matt 13:44. A man finds a treasure hidden in the field. In his “joy” he sells all that he has and buys the field. If you found the answers to the deepest questions in your life, would you hold back from giving yourself completely to the solution to those questions? That’s why it wasn’t foolishness but conscious and a joyful response by Peter, James and John to leave everything and follow Jesus. That’s where mission begins.

It’s a question of willingness to follow Jesus. Only a true follower of Jesus will be on Mission. Only a follower would want to trust and obey Jesus. Could it be possible that you don’t want to be on mission because you aren’t really following Jesus?

Sermon

The Work of God (1 John 1:1-4)

Post author By David
Post date November 18, 2016
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Good morning — Please open your Bibles to 1 John

Back home — at the Red Tree church I get the privilege of pastoring — we are beginning a new series called THE WORK OF GOD. Where we will spend 3 weeks answering the question what is GOD at work doing?

As a pastor most of my time is spent answering three really basic questions… They come in all kinds of crazy circumstances and in crazy ways but when you boil it down I’m spending most of my time answering the questions: Who is GOD, What is He doing, Who am I in light of that?

Here is my encouragement to you this morning… No matter how many answers you get to those questions — never stop asking them…

People all over the world whether they know it or not – are asking these questions — And the reason why these questions are still popular today is because the answers to these questions are actually make sense of the world we live in — they deﬁne for humanity it’s deepest questions, like: why do we exist?, what is our purpose?, how do we spend our time on this planet?…

Ecclesiastes tells us an incredibly depressing story about King Solomon – who set out to try and answers these questions outside of GOD and in the end his conclusion was vanity, vanity all is vanity!

Without GOD nothing has meaning, nothing has purpose. Philosophers have been searching for the answers to these questions since the beginning of time.

Here is my concern for the church – and my main problem with cultural christianity — It seems to promote an attitude — that causes us to stop seeking… I prayed a prayer I’m done — We have pad answers to questions like: why do you exist? “for the glory of GOD”… NOW go live your life…

Listen the answer to the question why do you exist was never intended to stop our seeking of GOD… But rather to fuel it!

The most destructive thing that can happen to a person’s faith — to a person’s life is that they stop seeking GOD.

A.W. Tozer – “How tragic that we in this dark day have had our seeking done for us by our leaders.”

SO today I am hoping to stoke the ﬁre of desire in your hearts for GOD by beginning the conversation with a question: “What is GOD doing?”.

We use language like invitation and participation. I want us with conﬁdence to be able to answer the question What is it that I am being invited into and how do I participate once i’m there?

So What is the work of GOD? I broke it down to three of the most basic aspects of what GOD is doing:

Revelation: God is revealing Himself to His creation
Redemption: God is buying back what was stolen by sin, satan and death
Restoration: God is renewing that which was damaged by sin

I don’t have time to teach through all three this morning but I do want to address the ﬁrst one.

Revelation: God is revealing Himself to His Creation. He’s making Himself Known… I could literally read hundred’s of passages of scripture to support this claim.

Yet it is becoming one of the least talked about aspects of the work of GOD in the church. Scripture itself is becoming less central to the life of the believer because of this truth.

Many in the western world are abandoning the beauty and sufﬁciency of the word of life and in the end they are ﬁnding themselves less and less satisﬁed with GOD.

Sin is attempting to be satisﬁed by anything outside of GOD and His design for us. Which means worship is the state of ﬁnding satisfaction in GOD and His design for us.

1 John 1:1-4

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

My son’s favorite phrases is “Daddy do it again!”. He never tires of repetition. It doesn’t matter what it is. It could be a magic trick or drawing a picture or swinging him around. He never tires.

A few weeks ago we went ﬁshing together and he has his own little ﬁshing pole and I get all ready and baited up and we walk over to the side of the lake and I have the pole and wrap his little hands around mine so he could learn how to cast and we cast it into the lake — and no joke not 4 seconds after it hit the water a ﬁsh took the bait and hooked himself on our line.

So we reel it in together and there is this little ﬁsh on the line and Moses is just going nuts and jumping up and down and just so incredibly happy.

We take the ﬁsh of the line and throw it back and my son looks back up at me with his big blue eyes and says “Daddy — do it again!”.

So it’s on — I spend the next hour trying to become super ﬁsherman. I am casting and reeling, I am standing under bushes and on logs trying to ﬁnd the best spot for Moe and I to catch another ﬁsh. And nothing… I can see as time goes on the disappointment growing on my son’s face which put even more pressure… So I abandon my son and I am off to try and go catch a darn ﬁsh.

And he comes up to me and says Daddy I don’t like ﬁshing anymore and I say oh son we’ll catch another ﬁsh and he looks up to me and says “I just want to be with you”.

In that moment it hit me. Moses’ do it agains were not because he was so amazed by what I accomplished but his “do it agains” were motivated by his desire to spend more time with me.

He got to be with me. If I did it one more time that was more time that we got to be together… the drawings, magic tricks, spinning around none of it was ever about anything else other than being with His daddy.

I was so busy trying to accomplish something for Him that I missed the real gift — which was just to be with him…

Let me begin by saying this: The greatest missed truth about the REVELATION of GOD is that all of it is for the purposes of a Restored Relationship with GOD.

Let me say it this way — GOD has AND is revealing himself to you so that you would have a genuine RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM.

GOD made you and He knows you and His desire is that you would know him… That you would know His glory and that He alone would be your satisfaction.

listen: Not because He’s lacking — but because He’s loving…

THE VEIL

1 John

The apostles John and Paul were both big on the idea that what was hidden has now come to light. What was veiled by sin and human desire has now been brought to light by Jesus through His life, death, and resurrection.

John the Baptizer went around, before Jesus’ public ministry quoting the prophet Isaiah… “The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the shadow of death a great light has dawned.”

Something has changed…

I hope we hear the zeal and excitement in this text — For John — in the 1st century they had only heard about GOD. There was 400 years of silence – no miracles, no burning bushes, no parted seas, no prophets — Just stories.

They heard about it but now through Jesus they SEE. God has become manifest — The word of life has come to be seen (known) and become a tangible reality for them.

GOD is at work making himself known. But why?

3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. {Relationship: The invitation is to participate in fellowship, deep relationship with the Father and with His son in the power of the Holy Spirit}

Time/Out – the God of all creation — wants to be in fellowship with you and on top of that has made a way for us to be in fellowship with him.

This truth is the most humbling truth… the God I reject on a daily basis by my indifference or selﬁshness or self righteousness — Is constantly at work wooing me to himself. Through revelation (Creation, Word, Jesus)

HE PURSUES

So all of the work of Revelation that GOD is doing is so that we would be humbled unto repentance and return to the FATHER….

NOW here is what Blows my mind… Not only is GOD revealing himself to us — He is pursuing us!

John 6:44 says that “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…”

GOD is at work drawing you to Him so that you can know Him.

But let me show you how relentless His pursuit of you is…

The imagery used here is awe inspiring…

Turn with me to the book of HEBREWS 12:24-29…

GOD is relentless in His pursuit of us… His creation, His beloved children…

What this is saying is that GOD is willing to shake the heavens and the earth in such a way that anything that is not of him would fall away… So that the only thing that remains in our lives is Him and His glorious purposes and design. His UnShakable Kingdom

verses 28 and 29 display more of the heart of GOD and our only right response to that…

Therefore:
“let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,
AND
let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe.”
for our GOD is a consuming ﬁre…

When life seems to be shaken up this verse should come to mind because we know that the one thing that cannot be shaken is the kingdom of GOD that we have been promised through Jesus Christ. Our response: THANK YOU!

Our God is a Jealous GOD and is a consuming ﬁre… Because He loves His creation— Because He desires good and glory in His creation — He leaves us with the only thing that can truly satisfy and truly capture our hearts and that is himself…

4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

His willingness to whatever is necessary to keep His unshakable kingdom our ﬁrm foundation is because of His Unshakable LOVE for us…

WE MUST PURSUE HIM

Now I want to get practical. What does that mean for us?

Simply put the Doctrine of Revelation means: We are invited to know HIM…

And in order to know someone you must pursue them.

Here is a really basic truth for you… You will never lay a hold of that which you do not pursue.

This is why Jesus said in Matthew 16:24 “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

God is pursuing you and GOD has initiated the relationship AND God has given us everything we need in Jesus — HE has done everything necessary BUT we have to lay hold of that work… it’s called FAITH.

One of the things that crept into Christianity is the idea of convenient grace and easy salvation

Where one can be “saved” purely as an academic endeavor but never truly have a love and desire for GOD. ONE can walk an aisle, pray a prayer, and even get dunked in water but in the end have no real desire for GOD.

This is one of the affects of the porn generation… It’s convenient and easy and there is no real work involved…

And then in the end we wonder why are left completely unsatisﬁed. What is more frustrating to me is we have a generation who is blaming GOD for their unsatisfying life when GOD has been at working inviting His creation to ﬁnd satisfaction in Him.

Everything in the Christians life is completely and utterly dependent on relationship with GOD. GOD is drawing you to Him by revealing Himself to you. We must Lay a Hold of it…

James 4:5-8 5

Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will ﬂee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

Matthew 5:6

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisﬁed or ﬁlled.

John 6:29

Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe (intimate knowledge) in him whom he has sent.”

It is not about understanding GOD… It’s about knowing Him.

He is not a science to be mastered or even a history to be detailed out, He is a person to be known!

This truly is the work that GOD himself has initiated with you. To know him… To See Him… To Cherish Him… To pursue Him as He has you ﬁrmly in His hands.

Jesus’s words to the thief on the Cross… You will be with me!… Jesus died so that we could be with HIM.

So what are some things for us to know in our pursuit of GOD…

1) We seek to know not to get…

– in knowing — everything we long for is satisﬁed.

My son taught me that day at the lake that what He truly sought was me. Not what I provided, not what I could do but me…

25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your ﬁll of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” Do you believe that the best and most valuable thing God can give you is himself?

2) We seek him through His means not ours…

– (??Moses and Show Me Your Glory??)
– His word, prayer, mission, obedience

Matt 11:28-29

3) We seek Him in the mundane not just the extravagant…

– How are you knowing GOD in your singleness?
– How are you knowing GOD in your marriage?
– How are you knowing GOD in your vocation?
– How are you knowing GOD in your education?

We look for the red sea and miss the manna in the morning…

God never tires of the do it agains… Everyday the sun comes up, and every year the leaves change colors, and every minute he reveals and saves and renews His children. God never gets tired of the do it gain.

So SEEK HIM!

Psalm 70:4

May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you!

Sermon

The Great Commission .. Go Therefore .. (Matthew 28:18-20)

Post author By Saju Joseph
Post date November 6, 2016
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In our last series on Nehemiah we saw the missional journey of Nehemiah and therefore our next series is on Missions and I hope this stirs your heart to Go and spread the love of Jesus.

Our passage for today is Matthew 28:18-20

These are the final instructive word from Jesus to His church. Jesus had just risen, the Jews handed him over to the Romans to crucify him on the cross.

Unlike today the world in which Jesus commissioned his disciples was a hard ground. There is already a lot of tension between the Jews and the Romans and here is Jesus asking his disciples to go spread the good news to the world.

Not all of the disciples that were gathered believed in the fact that Jesus is now risen. But still Jesus did not reject or disapprove of them, he accepted their worship.

Verse 18 Jesus starts his conversion by saying “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me”

Here’s what that authority meant –

Authority to forgive Sins (Luke 5:20)
Authority to mediate to the Father (1 Timothy 2:5)
Authority to send the Holy Spirit (John 14:26)
Authority to open the hearts & minds of His people (Luke 24:45)
Authority to reveal the Father (Matt 11:27)
Authority to give eternal Life to whom He chooses (John 10:27-28)
Authority to raise us up on the last day (John 6:40)

Jesus showed His equality with the Father and possessed all authority and power.

Verse 19 – Go therefore & make disciples of all nations

This command was not given only to the disciples but even to us in this generation. We are called to make disciples.

This is the core reason we exist – of all the things we do in life.

We often speak of God been glorified in our lives. Mission is the means through which God is glorified in us.

Mission draws us nearer to God – and keeps us away from slackness.

Bill Hybels in his book “Becoming contagious Christians” writes

“Often I meet Christians who are in spiritual malaise, holding on to their faith but not advancing it much. Bible study has become a chore; prayer is a dry routine. The miracle of their own conversion, once recounted with great passion, is now a distant, fading memory. And going to church is – well, its something they just do.

Mechanically and half-heartedly, these people trudge along through the drudgery of quarantined Christianity.

But when these lethargic believers break out of spiritual isolation and meet some spiritual seekers, something incredible starts to happen. As they experience high-stakes conversions that tend to happen with unchurched people, they begin to notice a sort of inner renewal taking place. Areas long ignored suddenly come alive with fresh significance .. Isn’t it incredible how elevating our efforts to reach others can be a catalyst for personal growth?”

The ultimate goal of Mission is worship

Worship of the true & living God is the ultimate goal of Mission. We lead and disciple people to Christ not to make them mere Church going Christians but to lead them into becoming true Worshippers, the one the Father seeks.

John Piper in his book “Let the nations be glad” writes

“Worship is ultimate, not mission. Because God is ultimate, not man”

We need to make Mission the ultimate goal of our life by

living intentionally
looking for opportunities to glorify God
consistently reaching out even in hard times
staying faithful to our calling

Sermon

The Prescription for our hearts. (Nehemiah 13:23-31)

Post author By Jinson Thomas
Post date October 28, 2016

[otw_shortcode_info_box border_type=”bordered” border_color_class=”otw-black-border” border_style=”bordered” shadow=”shadow-down-right” rounded_corners=”rounded-10″]This sermon is part of our Expository Preaching Collective on the Book of Nehemiah. Follow the link below to know more about What Expository preaching is and Why is it important to us. (Click here)[/otw_shortcode_info_box]

We have come to the end of Nehemiah! It’s been a wonderful process for all of us as we’ve seen God’s love and grace in rebuilding and restoring the hearts of His people. The story on the exterior might seem to be only about rebuilding, repopulating and governance but it was really about renewal of their hearts!

It’s been exhilarating recounting the experiences of Nehemiah, the people of Judah and learning to apply them to our lives. We’ve learnt a great deal on prayer, repentance, purity, obedience, giving ourselves to the work of God, worship, fighting sin, standing firm in opposition.

And yet when we come to the end of the book instead of finishing with a triumphant message, it closes with the sad reality of people’s failing commitment to God.

23 In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 24 And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people. 25 And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. 26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin. 27 Shall we then listen to you and do all this great evil and act treacherously against our God by marrying foreign women?”

28 And one of the sons of Jehoiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I chased him from me. 29 Remember them, O my God, because they have desecrated the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

30 Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established the duties of the priests and Levites, each in his work; 31 and I provided for the wood offering at appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.

This morning I want us all to go to Doctor Scripture for a checkup. Doctor Scripture will be doing a thorough check up of our hearts today. Our prayer is that the truths of this passage will illuminate us to know what’s in our hearts and turn to Christ for him to perform the surgery:

The first thing that we discover about our heart condition is that:

We are forgetful: Prone to forget our identity in God (v23-27)

“Wow! Really?” might be our response when we read this text. These were the same people in Chapter 10 swore…entered into an oath and curse to walk in God’s Law. I thought these were the people who separated themselves from the peoples of the land to the Law of God!

I thought they were the ones who stood for half a day confessing their sins to God and made a firm covenant in writing on a sealed document! Let’s look at Chapter 10:28-39 to see what all they had committed to. By Chapter 13 we find that all those commitments were forgotten and broken.

A couple of weeks back we saw how they neglected the house of the Lord and did not support the priests and the Levites, last week we saw how the people ignored the commandment to keep the Sabbath and now we see how they intermarry with the women of Ashdod, Ammon and Moab.

The Israelites witnessed first-hand how intermarriage with the people these nations always resulted in disobedience to God. Association with these nations always meant that the Israelites were led to sexual immorality and idolatry. There was no good that came out of these relations. It’s like that old sinful indulgence that we immerse in when we seek pleasure and comfort apart from God. Somehow for this sin there’s always an exception. When it comes to this sin we always compromise.

We love this sin so much that we don’t mind ignoring the commandments of God or the commitment to God. Just know that this comes at a huge risk. We learnt a couple of weeks back how our sin damages and contaminates our worship of God. There’s another thing at stake here. Identity!

V24 says: And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people.

Is anything wrong learning another language and culture? That’s why context is essential. In Ancient Times, the way nations used to conquer other nations was not just by power and might but also by teaching them their language and culture. That’s how they would brainwash them in order to make them slaves.

Daniel 1:3-8: 3 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family[a] and of the nobility, 4 youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. 5 The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. 6 Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. 7 And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.

In Daniel’s time we see how the attempt was made to brainwash him and the other Israelites by educating them with the literature and language of the Chaldeans. Not just that, their names were changed: because that would also totally change their identity!

Now we may think…what’s the big deal about identity? Everything! It affects everything you do. Just imagine if you were literally brainwashed and sent out to roam within the city without any ID, what would that be like? Wouldn’t it be disastrous? You wouldn’t know where to go? You wouldn’t know who was in your family? You wouldn’t know what to do? Neither would you know your rights and duties as a citizen.

In the same way if you forget your identity in God, you forget your identity as a child of God, rescued by God to serve God and glorify God! If losing your identity physically is devastating, how much more dangerous is it to lose your identity in Christ?

You forget that Christ has totally and completely forgiven ALL your sins.
If we confess our sins, he isfaithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.(1 John 1:9)
You forget that there is absolutely no condemnation for those who are in Christ! (Rom 8:1)
You forget that in the presence of God there is fullness of JOY! (Ps 16:7)
You forget that Christ chose and appointed you to go and bear fruit! (John 15:16)

We miss out on all of that by forgetting our identity! And Satan knows that so from the start he’s always tried to play around with our identity. He asked Eve “Did God really say that you shouldn’t eat of any tree in the garden?” By v5 he convinces her that her identity apart from God is more attractive. And from v6 we see how the whole of humanity and creation fell with that loss of identity.

And just like how Satan subtly tempted Adam and Eve to eat the fruit. He didn’t tell them explicitly that he was trying to confuse their identity in God. Similarly what are some sins we entertain assuming that they are innocent?

For eg: Culture around us will tell us we need to be secular, there’s no harm in marrying an unbeliever. Will you still go ahead and pursue a relationship knowing how it’s going to impact the way you view your identity? Another one, what we watch often on TV or on the Internet heavily impacts the way we view our identity. We may think it’s so innocent. It’s just a TV show. But through the TV show they’ll subtly or overtly express ideas that are so unbiblical and we end up consuming them.

That’s why you see that from the way people dress, to the way people talk and the way people behave…all of that is being influenced by media. As believers we must be careful with what we watch because of the way it impacts our identity.

We are powerless: No amount of human effort can transform people’s hearts (v25 & 28-29)

25 And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.

Perhaps one thing we can definitely understand from Nehemiah’s ministry is that he was very zealous. In this case however even though the intent was to remove and cleanse the evil that was in the nation, it still was abusive. The last chapter did talk about Nehemiah’s reforms but in his zeal did it actually lead people to repentance? So no matter what he tried, he still couldn’t change people because the problem wasn’t just in their behavior and action, the problem lied in their hearts! SIN!

Jesus clearly understood our hearts and described it perfectly. In Matt 15:19, Jesus says: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person.”

It’s what’s in your heart that needs to be healed first. How have you approached your fight against sin? How have you approached your devotion to God? Is it by doing certain things, by completing a list or is it by having your heart transformed? Have you come to that place where you admit that no amount of human effort can actually change you? Only God can change your heart! If you are in that place waiting, help is there.

We are self-righteous: We always assume that we are more righteous than who we truly are (v30, 31)

Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established the duties of the priests and Levites, each in his work; 31 and I provided for the wood offering at appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.

Nehemiah undoubtedly was active in removing the evil that was in the nation and bringing things to order but he ends the entire episode with no mention of his own faults. We see a humbled and penitent Nehemiah in Chapter 1 where he’s pleading and confessing his own sins alongwith the sins of the people. Now there’s no confession in his prayer.

This happens a lot when you’re leading or discipling other people. Often you’ll think that the passage you read only applies to the person you’re leading. You’re always thinking of ways you can apply that Scripture to the other person. It’s all good but is that Scripture reading you? The root issue is because we often think we’re more righteous than whom we truly are.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8, 9)

The true display of the Spirit’s work in a person’s life is not in the denial of sin but in the growing awareness of sin and repentance! That’s why repentance is not a one-time activity for a believer, it is a continuous lifelong activity until the believer becomes like Christ!

Guess what…even the most hardened unbeliever thinks he is more righteous than he is. That’s why even after the gospel is shared, he won’t budge because he doesn’t think it’s required for him. Only the person who truly sees his sin for what it is knows why he needs Jesus.

Have we identified the sin of self-righteousness in our hearts? Have we been denying the actual presence of sin in our lives or has it been brought to the light in confession?

We’ve just seen three different truths about our human condition: We are prone to forget our identity in God, no amount of human effort can transform people’s hearts, and we think we are more righteous than we are. Where we failed is where Jesus succeeded.

He was completely aware and in sync with His identity with the Father, his effort is complete and can transform people’s hearts, he was the only person who lived a life that was considered perfectly righteous by the Father! Our frail and wicked lives were the reason why we deserved to die. But Christ showed His compassion and love by dying in our place on the cross.

Three days later he rose from the grave to give us our true identity: united with God forever, to give us a new heart and to give us a new righteousness! His own righteousness! We receive it in repentance and faith! If we ask ourselves, which of the three has been the hindrance this past week:

Forgetting our identity, Our Self-Efforts or Our Self-Righteousness? Can we turn from it and run to Jesus receiving what He has already done for us?

Sermon

The Importance of Sabbath and its Implications on us Today. (Nehemiah 13:15-22)

Post author By Saju Joseph
Post date October 16, 2016

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This is our second last preaching collective on the book of Nehemiah and our text today is Nehemiah 13:15-22
Last week we saw how the Eliashib the priest profaned the house of the God by preparing for large chamber for Tobiah where the offerings were supposed to be kept as per the commandment from the Lord. When Nehemiah hears this news he gets angry and throws away all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber and bring back the vessels of the house of God along with the other offerings.

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We learnt how SIN damages the worship of God individually and contaminates the worship of God corporately. To deal with sin that leads us into disobedience we must begin by hating them, take drastic measures to uproot them & replace them with elements of worship.

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Today we will look at another unusual event or an issue that takes place in the camp.

In verse 15 Nehemiah is saying “In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day”

What Nehemiah meant to say was “they were basically working on the day of Sabbath”

The reason I used the word unusual event or a problem is because we live in a generation where work is celebrated and is the norm. Day in and day out, in season and out season … you ought to be working.

Majority of middle class, lower middle class and especially the lower class people don’t even get a Sunday off. If they don’t work all 7 days then they won’t be able to provide for their families. In my new company they encourage people to configure the company email on their mobiles so they are constantly working even on holidays, our team has a whatapp group where they are chatting about work all the time. This is the culture we are living in right now and maybe in this context the verse 15 may have sounded unusual to you.

Why is Nehemiah the leader upset to see people working a Sabbath day? Isn’t that good for the growth of the nation? Isn’t that good that people are busy?

Nehemiah wasn’t upset because of some personal reasons but he was upset because the disobeyed God’s command. It was God’s command that people shouldn’t work on a Sabbath day.

It was one of the commandment given to Moses, we read that in Exodus 20:8-11. It’s the 4th command.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.

Here’s what we will be doing in the next couple of minutes, we will unfold the meaning of Sabbath and also discover its implications for us in the new covenant. Two lessons we will learn from this text is ..

1. Obeying God is more important giving in to our cultural demands.
2. Obeying God is more important that making extra or even losing much.

5 things that stands out from the command over Sabbath in Exodus 20:8-11 are

1. The word “REMEMBER”

Firstly, God is telling the people to remember the rest day. Sabbath means Rest.
People of God had to remind themselves that they need to take a break, a day off after every 6 working days. It was not an optional command but a mandatory one.

I guess because in those days they did not have systems like today, it’s easy to remember a day of holiday because it’s an off at work, we in fact count our days till the weekend comes. But in those days since they did not have a calendar they used to work at their winepress, farms etc every day and maybe they had to make an extra effort to count 6 days … thou they had to do it as a community they had to remind themselves to take a break after every 6 days.

2. KEEP IT HOLY

Second, “Keep it holy,” means set it aside from all other days as special. Specifically, as verse 10 says, keep it “to the Lord,” or “for the Lord.” In other words, the rest is not to be aimless rest, but God-centered rest. Attention is to be directed to God in a way that is more concentrated and steady than on ordinary days. Keep the day holy by keeping the focus on the holy God.

3. The command is not just YOU

“your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates”

We cannot say “Well, I will keep it, but I will put my maid to work, or set my ox to threshing with a carrot in front of his nose at 6 PM the evening of the sabbath so that it will thresh the grain all day while I rest.” God says, No. You miss the point if you try to keep the business running by using servants or animals or relatives. What point?

4. God’s Rest after creation

In Genesis 2:2 we read, “And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.”

The questions that arises in our hearts is If God is omnipotent—if He has all power—it doesn’t make much sense that He would need to “rest.” After we’ve had a busy week, we take a nap—but God.

The important thing to notice in that verse is, it doesn’t say God “needed” to rest; it simply says that He did. It is therefore clear from Scripture that God did not rest because He was tired.

Genesis 17:1 calls God the “Almighty God.”
Psalm 147:5 says, “Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.”

God is all-powerful; He is never tired and never needs to rest.

Isaiah 40:28 says, “The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary.”
God is the sum of perfection; He is never diminished in any way, and that includes being diminished in power.

When God said, “Let there be light,” the light appeared. He simply spoke creation into existence (Genesis 1:1-3).
Later, we read that Jesus Christ “is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3).

The entire universe is held together by Jesus’ word. The creation and maintenance of the universe is not difficult for God. A mere word will suffice. As Psalm 33:9 declares, “For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.”

The Hebrew word translated “rested” in Genesis 2:2 includes other ideas than that of being tired. In fact, one of the main definitions of the Hebrew word shabat is “to cease or stop.” In Genesis 2:2 the understanding is that God “stopped” His work; He “ceased” creating on the seventh day. All that He had created was good, and His work was finished.

God did not merely “rest” on the seventh day; He “stopped creating.” It was a purposeful stop. Everything He desired to create had been made. He looked at His creation, declared it “very good” (Genesis 1:31), and ceased from His activity.

Sabbath means to cease and rest ….

Here what I believe the implications of Sabbath is for us today.

1. Firstly, it is applicable to all and not just the leader, pastor or elder of the church
2. The bible doesn’t suggest a particular day as Sabbath, like only Sunday …. It just says the 7th day.
3. It basically means to cease from doing any kind of work …. whether office work or even household work … it means to halt from doing any mundane daily activities … that may even include cooking … even our servants & maids shouldn’t be allowed to work on that day
4. It is not supposed to be an aimless rest where we sleep till 12 PM, have lunch in the afternoon and go back to sleep again. Rather it has to be God centered – Praying, reading & meditation on his word
5. More than physical or mental rest it means to rest in God, trusting his sovereignty over our lives.
In the light of what Sabbath means and the disobedience of the people of Judah in the story of Nehemiah here are 2 lessons we need to learn from the text.

1. Obeying God is more important than giving in to our cultural demands.

We understand the reason for the disobedience of the people of God was the influence of the outside world. And to stop that Nehemiah takes a drastic step.

In verse 19-21 it says

As soon as it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, that no load might be brought in on the Sabbath day. 20 Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. 21 But I warned them and said to them, “Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath.

Let’s evaluate, what are some of the cultural influences and demands that distract us from obeying God and what are some of the drastic steps we need to take in order to avoid them.

Job Culture – Stand firm in our convictions
Family Culture (Indian) – Speak up against them as the Lord gives you grace
Societal Culture (bribe) – Conduct yourself in godliness and set ourselves as an example
Entertainment Culture – Discern what is distracting you from worshiping and obeying God and restrain from those as the Lord leads.

We looked at Romans Romans 12:2 a few weeks back it says

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The word of God prohibits us from loving the world and the things of the world.

1 John 2:15-17

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Story of Eric Liddel is a great example. Been a sprint runner and been selected for the Olympics, he refuses to run the race because it was scheduled on Sunday his Sabbath day.

2. Obeying God is more important that making extra or even losing much.

It is often that people give in to the demands of their financial needs and end up working every single day without rest. But I believe taking a Sabbath off also implies that we cease to trust in our own ability to provide for ourselves but trust more on God who is our ultimate provider.

Matthew 6:25-33

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?[g] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you,even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

– For some it would mean for some of us to give up on the extra income that we make on our rest day – share my example of working on rest day for extra money – people of God faced loses on that day because of no trading

– For some it would mean to have less or limited food for that day

In this context I consider Sunday to be my Sabbath day .. my sermon preparation and preaching is not work but deep diving into god’s word … our fellowship time with you guys are a joy whether it’s a Sunday morning or an afternoon or an evening get-together – as long as we’re not working – neither our maid and cook – as long as our focus is God.

Let’s reflect on these lessons and make adjustments in our lives that are God glorifying.

Sermon

The High Risk of making Sinful Investments! (Nehemiah 13:4-14)

Post author By Jinson Thomas
Post date October 9, 2016

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How many of us would generally evaluate the risk involved before we take any financial decision for ourselves or our families? It’s interesting that when it comes to moral issues specifically sin; we don’t usually put any thought to it. The harm in making sinful investments outweighs and outdoes any of the great mistakes we may make in our career or finance because it deals with the worship of God negatively. I believe today’s passage offers a sober warning and reassuring hope for us. It tells us two things about making sinful investments:

1) Sin damages the worship of God individually
2) Sin contaminates the worship of God corporately

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Read Nehemiah 13:4-14 (Click text to read)

1) Sin damages the worship of God individually (v4-7)

In these few verses we see two main characters being described. Eliashib and Tobiah. Let’s try and find out from Nehemiah what we can know about them.

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Eliaship:

Eliashib was the high priest at the time. His grandson was the son in law of Sanballat the Horonite. (v28)
He had a huge responsibility of leading the people in spiritual matters.
He had the responsibility of ministering to them and ministering on their behalf by offering sacrifices in the temple.
He also had the responsibility of looking after the Levites and the priests by making sure that the tithes and the offerings that were brought to the temple were distributed to them.
Eliashib was related to Tobiah.

Tobiah

He was an enemy of the people of God.
He hated the idea of Nehemiah seeking the welfare of the people of Israel. (Neh 2:10)
He despised and jeered at the people while they were rebuilding the walls. (Neh 2:19)
He accused the people of rebelling against the King.
He and his counterparts became very angry when they saw that the work of the walls continued in spite of their threats. (Neh 4:7)
Even toward the end of the rebuilding process, we see how they tried to deceive and make Nehemiah afraid in order to somehow make the work to stop. (Neh 6:19)

We know how the broken walls were a picture of the spiritual state of the people of Judah. They were in shame and in spiritual ruins. But God lovingly pursued them and repaired their hearts! Therefore when Tobiah tried to attack the people of Judah and attempted to stop the work, he wasn’t just being an enemy of the people he was being an enemy of God!

Now this enemy of God was given the storage place that was meant to store tithes and offerings that supported the ministers who were given the great responsibility to lead the nation in worship! By whom? Eliashib the high priest. Nehemiah returns back after his absence to discover the “wickedness and evil” that was done by Eliashib. Now what made this act to be really evil? Not only was it because he was the enemy…there were some more reasons to this:

i) Disobedience to the direct command of God. (Deut 23:3-6)

As a nation, the Moabites and Ammonites always intended to harm & destroy the people of God. It came through sexually immoral practices and marriages that led people into idol worship. God loves his people too much to allow them to be harmed by these nations and that’s why he commanded them to not enter the assembly. God is a loving protective father!

ii) Failure in guarding the sanctuary kindles the wrath of God (Num 18:1-7)

It’s clear from this passage that the fury of God will pour out on outsiders and the priests for ritual trespasses. We might think “what’s the big deal”. It’s just a room in a temple. Why should God become so angry? Well would you be able to enter the President’s office as and when you like? No. You require special permission. What stops anybody from just entering the presence of God? God’s holiness and our unholiness!

You know the Bible tells us in 1 Cor 6:19 :

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?

2 Cor 6:16 :

What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.

This verse tells us that this temple is devoted exclusively for the Living God! It cannot be shared with idols! Cannot! Plus, it’s His stamp on us signifying His very close union. It’s a very special relationship that he shares with us.

Eph 2:21 calls us a “holy temple”. We are set apart and pure!

Now the question is how have we been guarding our temple? Just like Eliashib, have we allowed relatives like Tobiah in this temple? And these relatives are the sin idols we identified last week. We’ve known this sin and indulged in it too long. Now it’s too hard to part ways with it. Are there relationships in our lives which are tainted and scarred with sin? What are the habits and sin patterns that we have continued to give shelter to? What about our speech? Has sin penetrated through our conversations? What consumes our thoughts throughout the day? We inevitably worship what we end up thinking about most. What about pleasure? What is it that you delight in the most? Is it God or is it sin? What is it that has been your source of security this past week? If this one thing or person was taken away from you, you would find it so hard to survive. Is there a comfort in this life that you cannot live without? How much do you end up thinking about yourself during the day? Is sin and self the core foundation of your pleasure and excitement each day?

Brothers and sisters, let’s understand this clearly. Our God hasn’t changed. He is still Holy as He was in OT. If we are keepers or guards of the temple that is there in us, we will need to give an account for it. Don’t allow yourself to be deceived. There is grace but is should never be used as a license to sin!

2) Sin contaminates the worship of God corporately (v10-11)

10 I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each to his field. 11 So I confronted the officials and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their stations.

The sin of Eliashib was now affecting other people as well. The Levites and singers who were dependent on the tithes and offerings had fled to their fields because they needed to find an alternative to sustain themselves. At what cost? The worship of Almighty God!

Brothers and sisters, let’s understand that sin is not just something that we’ll need bear the consequence of but what’s at stake is “the worship of God”. Let’s come out of the self-centered view of sin where it only affects us: it affects the worship of God corporately too.

How? By dwelling and continuing in sin:

a) We pollute the image of God in our minds: God is probably thought about as someone who doesn’t really judge sin, who doesn’t really have a high view of holiness etc. We’ve made God out to be like one of us.

b) We corrupt the image of God to each other and the world: If the “people of God” love sin, live in sin, breathe sin what image of God are we sharing with the world? It’s not a great, wonderful, glorious God. God is zealous about His glory. And that’s why God has also graciously provided church discipline as a way of maintaining the purity of His people. And also, people’s sin eventually finds them. Secret sin never quite remains a secret for too long.

Our sin obstructs and damages our worship & our sin contaminates other people’s worship. Worship is to bow down out of reverence to someone. The first reference in the Bible was in Genesis 22 when Abraham says that he is going on top of Mount Moriah to “worship”. God’s desire and design for us was to fall down in worship at the gaze of His glory and wonder. What sin did when Adam and Eve fell was to blur that image. So instead we started worshipping people, possessions and pleasures only to bring upon us judgment for forsaking life and choosing death! The reality is by our sinful nature, we have chosen death! Even the most righteous man on the earth currently would still find idols lying in His heart. But God is so faithful and merciful…he sent His only Son to this earth. He worshipped God fully and perfectly. It was pure and pleasing worship! He then died for us all – ungodly, idol worshipping and hypocritical people so that the blinders could be opened in order to recognize our God as the God of glory! Our response is repentance and faith. What does that look like according to today’s passage? What should the approach to sin and idolatry be in our life?

Let’s compare it with Nehemiah’s response.

1. Angry (v8)
2. Threw the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chambers. (v8)
3. Cleansed the chambers, put back the vessels of the house of God with grain offering and frankincense. (v9)
4. Appointed reliable men as treasurers. (v13)

I believe these are parallels for us today:

1. It needs to begin with hatred toward the sin. Motivated by the zeal for the worship of God personally and corporately.
2. Drastic measures need to be taken to uproot the idols from our life.
3. We must replace the idols with elements of worship (Scripture, prayer, service, witness)
4. We must have reliable resources to help us maintain the standard of worship: We cannot truly claim to be repentant of habitual sins apart from Christian community. Eg: my struggle with pride. In God’s grace He has graciously provided means of grace of dealing with our toughest struggles with the help of community.

Which idols of yours have been challenged head on this morning? Do you understand how the glory of God is being compromised by your sin? Do you see how your sin is affecting the worship of your other believer brothers and sisters? Let’s turn to Christ and accept His way of turning away from idols. What is God calling you to do today?

Sermon

The exclusivity of God’s people just as the Gospel is exclusive. (Nehemiah 13:1-3)

Post author By Saju Joseph
Post date October 2, 2016

[audioplayer file=”http://thegatheringcommunity.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/161002_1050-mp3cut.net_.mp3″]

Our text for today is Nehemiah 13:1-3 (Click the text to read)

So far God’s been doing an amazing work in the life of these people and I believe as we are about to finish this book it is true that it has impacted our lives as well. Before I go ahead I want to share some of the specific areas in my life that God has been working through this book.

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The first thing I believe this book has made me understand is the sovereignty of God over our lives, the story of Nehemiah reminds me that it is God who is building his church and just like Nehemiah he has chosen each one of us to be used for His glory and name for this generation. And if we remain faithful to his calling he will satisfy us with all eternal blessings.
The second thing I believe this book reminds me is God’s great love for us. Even though God’s end motive is his glory and his fame his motivation is his great Love for us. He immensely loves us, the one whom he made in his own image. It is His great love that drives him to pursue us till the end just as he did in the lives of these people mentioned in the book.
The third thing I learned from this book is that God expects and desires a response in return, and the response is our heartfelt adoration, worship and an obedience, always trusting in his saving grace and not ability to do it right.

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The passage we are looking at today is one of the responses of the people of Israel. When they read from the Book of Moses they discover a peculiar demand from God that needed attention.

What was that demand?

“No Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God”

This command is found in the book of Deuteronomy 23:3 (Click on the text to read)

Who were these Moabites and Ammonites that God disliked so much?

To understand the origin of Moabites and Ammonites let’s turn to Genesis 19:30-38 (Click on the text to read)

The Moabites and the Ammonites were both tribes related by blood to Abraham as they descend from his nephew (Gen. 19:37–38). They were born out of sin and their generation continued in sin just as their parents did.

These peoples often brought much trouble for Abraham’s children. It was Moab that led Israel into Baal worship on its way into Canaan. In Num. 25:1–3 we read about it.

While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them.

There’s another incident where both the Ammonites and the Moabites hired Balaam, a prophet to curse Israel as it journeyed toward the Promised Land. The story is found in Numbers 22-24.

One of the prominent issue we see regarding the Moabites and the Ammonites is that whenever the people of God got closer to them they ended up sinning against God by indulging in sexual immorality and idol worship.

The episode with Balaam also shows that the Ammonites and Moabites always meant harm and destruction to the people of God.

It is therefore clear to us that God’s command to separate them from the assembly of God was nothing to do with race or ethnicity, it had and has everything to do with distinction as the people of God and purity in worship to him.

Now, let’s unfold this thought furthermore.

In that case, what did it meant for the people of God to separate the Moabites and the Ammonites from among them?

It meant that they wouldn’t have any influence of these people over their lives in a way that displeases God.
It meant that they wouldn’t be persuaded anymore into sexual immorality by their women.
It meant that they wouldn’t be led to worship any other gods other than the true and living God Yahweh.
It meant that only God alone would be glorified in their midst.

I believe what this text is trying to emphasize and remind us is the exclusivity of God’s people from the world around – just as the Gospel is gloriously exclusive.

How is the Gospel exclusive?

Let’s unfold the exclusivity of the Gospel before we look at the exclusivity of God’s people.

The Gospel is the only one way to be reconciled to God and that is by grace, through faith in the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. That’s exclusive! There are not many ways, there is only one way.

Out of millions and billions of people on this earth God chose to reveal himself to an exclusive bunch of people and through them choose to shine and reveal His glory throughout earth to every tribe and nation and tongue.

And how do we know that this God called Yahweh is the only true God? We know it because every word in these scriptures inspired by God has answers to man’s deepest longings, whether it is for love, peace, fulfilment, joy or any other yearnings.

Ravi Zacharias, an Indian who was born in a hindu family, at the age of 17 tried to commit suicide by swallowing poison. While in the hospital, someone handed a bible to his mother as she read from John 14:19 the very words of Jesus which said “Because I live, you also will live” changed his life forever and became a follower of Jesus. He is now 70 years old and goes around the world proclaiming the good news of Jesus.

He once said

“When you think of it, really there are four fundamental questions of life. You’ve asked them, I’ve asked them, every thinking person asks them. They boil down to this; origin, meaning, morality and destiny. ‘How did I come into being? What brings life meaning? How do I know right from wrong? Where am I headed after I die?’”

He concludes this argument by saying that the answer is found only and only at the feet of Jesus.

He said “Only through repentance and faith in Christ can anyone be saved. No religious activity will be sufficient, only true faith in Jesus Christ alone.”

The Gospel is exclusive.

Nabeel Qureshi, a devout muslim by birth wrote in his book “Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity”

“While I was wallowing in self-pity, focused on myself, there was a whole world with literally billions of people who had no idea who God is, how amazing He is, and the wonders He has done for us. They are the ones who are really suffering. They don’t know His hope, His peace, and His love that transcends all understanding. They don’t know the message of the gospel. After loving us with the most humble life and the most horrific death, Jesus told us, “As I have loved you, go and love one another.” How could I consider myself a follower of Jesus if I was not willing to live as He lived? To die as He died? To love the unloved and give hope to the hopeless?”

The good news of the Gospel, the work of Christ on the cross for the redemption of human kind is exclusive. There is not many but one truth.

And here’s an interesting thing. Just as the Gospel is exclusive so are we, the children of the most high God. And here’s what the word of God has to say about us.

John 1:12 – We are children of God.

John 15:15 – I am a friend of Jesus.

Romans 3:24 – I have been justified and redeemed.

Romans 6:6 – My old self was crucified with Christ, and I am no longer a slave to sin.

Romans 8:1 – I will not be condemned by God.

Romas 8:2 – I have been set free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:17 – As a child of God, I am a fellow heir with Christ.

Romans 15:7 – I have been accepted by Christ.

1 Cor 1:2 – I have been called to be a saint.

1 Cor 1:30 – In Christ Jesus, I have wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

1 Cor 6:19 – My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in me.

2 Cor 2:14 – God leads me in the triumph and knowledge of Christ.

2 Cor 5:17 – I am a new creature in Christ.

Gal 5:1 – I have been set free in Christ.

Eph 1:3 – I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

Eph 1:4 – I am chosen, holy, and blameless before God.

Eph 1:7 – I am redeemed and forgiven by the grace of Christ.

Eph 1:11 – I have been predestined by God to obtain an inheritance.

Eph 2:10 – I am God’s workmanship created to produce good works.

Eph 4:24 – My new self is righteous and holy.

Phil 3:20 – I am a citizen of heaven.

Phil 4:7 – The peace of God guards my heart and mind.

Phil 4:19 – God supplies all my needs.

We are an exclusive people of God called to live distinct life for His glory. And anything that comes in the way of God, anything that takes away His glory from us he dislikes them. Just as he disliked the closeness and association of the Ammonites and the Moabites who were among them, infiltrating their minds and distracting them for serving God.

In the light of this text, we need to identify what these Ammonites and the Moabites mean to us in this generation. The ones God hates and wants us to put away with.

First, I thought I will give you a list of things I think are the Ammonite and Moabites in our lives but then I realized that my list could be different to your list. I believe based on our upbringing, our circumstances, our nature, our lifestyle we all have different idols to deal with and it will be unfair if I fail to miss any one of them.

Instead, I want to help you identify them for yourselves.

To help you identify the Ammonites and Moabites in your life I’ve categorized a set of questions into 2 groups.

The first group is “WORSHIP”, it says anything that hinders worship of God in our life needs to be put away. We read in the scriptures how the Ammonites and the Moabites were responsible for distracting the people of God from worshipping him.

The second group is “SERVICE”, it says anything that hinders us from serving God needs to be put away. The Ammonites and Moabites schemed against the people of God by hiring Balaam to curse them and wipe them out from the earth, taking out a whole generation of people called to serve God.

Under worship I’m listing 8 hindrances that keep you from worshipping God – it’s a list by a Puritan preacher and author called Thomas Brooks from 1608. I hope it helps you identify your hindrances to worship.

These Ammonites and Moabites are our enemy and we need to be aware of their schemes.

Anything that makes the world look beautiful, attractive and desirable instead of Christ.

1 John 2:17 says “The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever”

Many people profess Christ and see him as desirable for a time. For a while they enjoy private and public worship and do it all with enthusiasm. But before long Satan presents to them worldly things and makes those look more beautiful and desirable than Christ, and many souls are drawn away.

Anything makes you aware of the fact that those who worship the Lord have often faced danger, loss and suffering.

There are many men who would obey the Lord and worship him, except that they fear the consequences. The enemy loves to present the high cost of obedience. This was the case for many in Jesus day: “Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue” (John 12:42).

Anything that make you aware of the difficulty of worshipping well.

The enemy will whisper, “It is difficult to pray well, it is hard to spend time with the Lord and to persevere until he speaks to you through his Word, it isn’t worth the effort of going to church and being warm and friendly and engaging with other Christians.” Whatever God tells you to do, the enemy will present it to you as a great burden or as something you do poorly, and in this way he will keep you from it.

Anything that leads you to wrongly understand the implications of the gospel.

Christ has done everything for you and given everything you need in his death and resurrection. There is nothing left for you to do but rejoice in Christ and to serve him out of the joy of salvation. But the enemy will lead you to make wrong inferences from what Christ has done, encouraging you, for example, to believe Christ has freed you from the need or desire to spend time with him or to gather with other Christians. He will allow you to see the gospel, but do all he can to make you understand it all wrong.

Anything that shows you how many of those who follow Christ with obedience are poor and despised.

The enemy will ensure you see that those who are most interested in worshipping God are the poorest and most despised of all. You can see echoes of this in John 7: “The Pharisees answered them, ‘Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed’.”

Anything that shows you that the majority of the people in the world, along with the great and mighty of the world, do not worship the Lord.

The enemy will ask, “Don’t you see that the great, the rich, the honorable, the intellectual elite, the wise, the most honored, and the sheer majority of people do not trouble themselves with worshipping the Lord? You would be much better off to be like them. After all, why would you think that you, of all people, have this figured out?” To have success here he will intentionally draw your attention away from Exodus 23:2 and many similar passages: “You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice.”

Anything that fills your mind with unimportant and distracting thoughts while you are attempting to worship

He afflicts you with so much distraction and futility that you are tempted to say, “I have no desire to hear from the Lord in his Word, no desire to speak to him in prayer, no desire to spend time with other Christians in worship services.” He crowds out the very thought of worship by the sheer weight of lesser concerns.

Anything that encourages you to take comfort in past performances of your religious duties and in that way he convinces you to stop trying.

He reminds you that in the past you read so much and prayed so much and spent so much time in worship. And having reminded you, he convinces you that you have earned the right to coast for a while. “You already know this. You’ve already done this. You’ve already prayed this. You’ve been to better worship services than this.” And through it all he inclines you to rest from worship.

Under Service, here are the list of items that you need to put away that God would dislike,

Anything that makes you feel undeserving and unworthy in the service of God.
Anything that withholds me from confessing my sins with one another so I can serve God guilt free.
Anything that hinders me from giving myself to prayerful submission to God.
Anything that hinders me from soaking myself in God’s word.

In conclusion, remember we have to put away everything that distracts us from worshipping our God and everything that takes away our joy of serving him.

God bless you.

Sermon

Making much of God by caring for our church leaders. (Nehemiah 12:44-47)

Post author By Jinson Thomas
Post date September 28, 2016

[audioplayer file=”http://thegatheringcommunity.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/160925_1103.mp3″]

Nehemiah 12:44-47

44 On that day men were appointed over the storerooms, the contributions, the firstfruits, and the tithes, 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. 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. 46 For long ago in the days of David and Asaph there were directors of the singers, and there were songs[b] of praise and thanksgiving to God. 47 And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and 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.

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I want to start by asking this question: What are some ways by which we can care for the people whom God has appointed to minister to us? Often our church experience and expectations end up being very consumerist. We may think that the elders/ministers exist for us but as we will see today, as much as we require being cared for, so do the elders and ministers and I believe this text helps us with that.

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We can care for our leaders/elders in 3 ways:

Valuing our elders
Encouraging our elders
Supporting our elders

Value our elders

On that day men were appointed over the storerooms, the contributions, the firstfruits, and the tithes, 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. (v44)

On the same day, we learn that men were appointed over storerooms meant for gathering tithes and offerings for the priests and Levites. As we learnt last week, it was a day of celebration! They celebrated the presence of God, they celebrated the work of God and they celebrated God being known through them. A continuation of this celebration was the celebration of the ministers. The end of v 44 says that “for Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who ministered”. Great joy for the men who served and ministered for them/to them.

So men were appointed to gather all the collection, tithes, wine, grain and oil to distribute it among the Levites and priests. Now why did the Law require them to be provided for?

From Deut 18:1-5 we learn that the Levites didn’t have a portion of land or inheritance in Israel. The food offerings that were brought into the temple were their inheritance. In fact, God tells them that “the Lord is their inheritance”. What an amazing privilege!

Why was this asked from them? It says in v5 that God chose them out of all the tribes to stand and minister in the name of the Lord. What a great and unique privilege. When we think about serving a normal human it may not seem like a huge deal but when we think about serving and standing and ministering in the presence of a Holy God…this is huge! And it’s interesting how in 1 Pet 2:9, it tells that we are a kingdom of priests as His redeemed. What an awesome privilege we get to minister and stand in the presence of God to a lost world.

So what did it mean for the people of Judah to rejoice over the Levites?

They acknowledged the privilege that the Levites and priests had to serve the Lord.
They recognized how important their role was in worship.

This attitude towards their spiritual leaders was only possible because of a repentant heart. Early on in this book we see how the people repented and were in right relationship with God. They gave prominence to the Law of the Lord and sought to obey all that the Lord had commanded. This resulted in finding extreme joy and value in the people God placed over them to lead them in worship.

This brings us to an important question: how do we view those who have been given the responsibility to lead and minister to us?

It’s not a norm these days. Sometimes in some circles people the perception is that only those who don’t have any career option in life, they end up in ministry. Otherwise, it’s perceived that pastoral ministry is a smart and easy way to get rich. These abuses in ministry have caused us to be skeptical. However, Scripture clearly tells us to respect and esteem those who labor among us.

We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. (1 Thess 5:12, 13)

And so it starts with the attitude of valuing our leaders. But how do we show them that value? By submitting to their authority through Scripture. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Heb 13:17)

Elders are those that keep watch over our souls and so being obedient to their instruction through Scripture is important to God. Sometimes people end up agreeing to everything that the pastor advices them but doesn’t really intend to make any changes in their lives. Does this mean that the person is submissive? I don’t think so. It’s like if your boss at your workplace asks you to specifically do something, and if you don’t do it. A failure to do it would mean disrespectful to the authority of the boss. Therefore, similarly the attitude we show to our elders is best displayed in our obedience and submission.

Encourage our elders

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. 46 For long ago in the days of David and Asaph there were directors of the singers, and there were songs[b] of praise and thanksgiving to God. (v45, 46)

The next two verses is the result of encouragement being given to the ministers in Nehemiah’s time. When they were being encouraged, they were able to perform and excel in their God given roles.

1 Pet 5:1-5:

So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight,[a] not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you;[b] not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

This passage gives a very good description on the responsibilities of an elder. And there is a huge responsibility! Elders are called to be under-shepherds of the flock of Jesus. And that’s what makes the responsibility big. However, I would like to look at these verses from a different angle. What if we looked at these verses from the perspective of someone who needs to submit to the leadership of an elder. What can it mean for us to not make it hard for the elders so that they can lead willingly and eagerly? What can we do to encourage the elders to be examples for us? And the moment we start thinking that way it changes the way we view the church. Coming back to the point of being a consumerist in church. Sometimes we need to step back and realize that elders also need the spiritual encouragement and accountability as much as we do. Most of the cases of ministers caught in adultery have taken place due to a life of no accountability. When was the last time you encouraged your elder telling him how he’s blessed you through his service? When was the last time you checked up on how your pastor was doing spiritually? I think this is key to ensuring that our elders are taken care of.

Supporting our elders

And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and 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. (v47)

Another thing that we need to do is support our spiritual leaders. We see in this passage how the whole nation was faithful in giving to ensure that the ministers could focus on serving in the Temple. In the next chapter we in fact see how the failure of having to support them led to a lot of problems. So coming to the question whether it is right or wrong to support those over us?

Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.” (1 Tim 5:17, 18)

I personally wrestled with this question for a long time. And again I don’t think the question here is bi-vocational ministry or exclusive ministry better. I think we need to look at it in this way: if supporting a minister helps him to be more effective and focused in doing what God has called him to do then that should be done. And it’s not that this is should ever be a burden on the congregation but it should be done willingly and also as a way of honouring the people appointed over the church.

I think this point of support doesn’t only apply referring to financial support but also support in terms of being involved in executing the vision of the elders. Especially as the elders think of strategizing and finding way to get the gospel out, where people come alongside and cooperate in terms of that vision. That’s certainly good support!

Finally, I think what we need to realize that the main reason that prevents us from caring for and submitting to our leaders is due to our sin! It’s not them…it’s us! Resisting authority is a result of the fall and that’s why we desperately need the gospel. The gospel…the death of Jesus on the cross nailed the sin of selfishness and pride and ego and allows us to humbly be led by our elders. And humble submitting to our elders magnifies God – why because there is submission within the Trinity as well. The Son submits to the Father and the Holy Spirit submits to both the Father and the Son. All three persons in the Trinity are equal, yet we find submission. How can we then not view, rejoice, care for our elders with that in mind?

Sermon

Here’s what Celebrating & Rejoicing in the Gospel looks like. (Nehemiah 12:27-43)

Post author By Guest
Post date September 18, 2016

[audioplayer file=”http://thegatheringcommunity.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/jeff.mp3″]

Good morning Gathering! It brings me so much joy to be able to say that, and to be with you in person this morning. I want you to know that, even though there are stretches of time where we’re not with you in person, that doesn’t mean that we’re not lifting you up in prayer and giving thanks to God for you constantly.

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The truth is that it brings me so much joy to be able to partner with you in the work that’s happening here in Mumbai. I feel like Paul when he wrote to the Philippians and said: “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.”

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That is exactly how I feel. That is exactly how all of us feel in the Red Tree family of churches. It is a blessing to have family here in Mumbai and for us to be able to partner together in this great work — both here & in the US — because the need is so great IN BOTH PLACES.

I was reminded of the overwhelming need that exists here in this city as my plane landed on Thursday night. I saw fireworks from the window of the plane as we were landing and wasn’t sure what kind of celebration was happening.

But then, to drive the streets to Saju & Jane’s house, and realize that it was a festival celebrating Ganesh. My heart was reminded of the amount and the depth of lostness in Mumbai and just how desperately people need to hear the gospel. Because they’re all searching for something. That’s what I was reminded of, as we weaved through parades, and music, and dancing — — — all to an idol that will never bring the satisfaction, and contentment, and fulfillment that the people are looking for.

They won’t find it because those things are only found in the Creator & Sustainer of life. They’re only found in The Redeemer — — The One who has made the way for us to be reconciled to God.

So, what we see around us is utter lostness. Which isn’t much different than my context in the US — — it just looks more Christian on the surface. But, there is pervasive lostness there as well. The idols might not be as external and obvious, but the people have still taken idols into their hearts. Which is, in some ways, even more dangerous.

People in my culture are searching for the same satisfaction, and contentment, and fulfillment and they’re also searching in the wrong places. They have set up idols in their hearts that are consuming their affections and their worship. THIS IS WHY WE NEED THE GOSPEL. This is why the work that’s happening here in Mumbai and the work that’s happening in St. Louis is the same work.

Different culture, different context, same lostness. And the answer to that lostness is the same as well. Because there is but one way to be reconciled to God — — THE GOSPEL.

I love Ezekiel chapter 14 because it talks directly about the issue of idolatry in our lives and, more importantly, it shows us how God deals with us in the midst of our idolatry. Let me just read this for you quickly and, as I read, just listen to the language. This is The Lord speaking to Ezekiel.

“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols.”

Doesn’t that tell us something profound about God? I think it tells us something very encouraging about God. That, in the face of our rebellion, in the face of our taking up idols, in the face of us worshiping the creature rather than the creator — all things that deserve only condemnation, and wrath, and separation from God. In the face of those things God responds with forbearance, and patience, and ultimately with Grace. Not ignoring the idols that we’ve set up as a stumbling block between our heart & His. But dealing directly with the multitude of our idols.

Why? Because He loves us! Because He loves us enough to lay hold of our hearts. Because He loves us enough to pursue us even when we are intent on running from Him and hiding our sin. Isn’t that beautiful?

Listen, some of you are here this morning and that’s all that you need to hear from this message. You’re playing “hide & go seek” with God. You’re playing “hide & go seek” with your sin. You’ve set up idols in your heart as a stumbling block between you & God. And it’s breeding feelings of guilt, and shame, and separation. And so, your tendency is to try to hide those things from God (just like Adam & Eve in the garden, hiding in the bushes).

The good news is that God loves you way too much to let you play that game. He will pursue you & work on you until you show Him what you’re trying to hide. I saying “trying” because you can’t hide anything from God.

Isn’t that amazing news this morning church? That, in the face of our rebellion, sin and idolatry, God loves us & pursues us through His Son Jesus Christ. That’s the Gospel.

It’s the good news that, over & above our rebellion, Jesus Christ has laid down His life so that His righteousness could be credited to us by grace through faith. And through His perfect righteousness we are reconciled to The Father and adopted as sons & daughters. And so, we no longer have to hide anything.

That’s the gospel. And that’s what we are here to celebrate this morning. That’s why we gather like this every week. That’s why we gather in gospel communities throughout the week. That’s why we learn to think missionally where we work, live & play. It’s all for the glory of God and the name & fame of Jesus Christ.

And — what a gift that we get to do that this morning in The Book of Nehemiah === === === If you have a Bible with you, I’d invite you to turn to Nehemiah chapter 12 this morning.

It’s hard to believe but we’re just a couple of months away from wrapping up this amazing book of the Bible. I don’t know about you, but this journey through Nehemiah has done so much to enlarge my view of the character & nature of God. It’s done so much to stir my affections for Christ. And, I pray that it’s been a blessing for The Gathering and for each of you individually. That God has revealed Himself more & more to you, and that He’s drawn you into greater intimacy through the process.

Alright, we will be in chapter 12, looking specifically at verses 27 – 42 this morning. Let’s go to The Lord in prayer and ask Him to work in us this morning. Let’s ask Him to lay hold of our hearts so that we might cast down our idols.

Read NEHEMIAH 12:27-42 (Click here to read the text)

Alright, so let’s spend a few minutes talking about the basics of what’s happening here so that we’re all on the same page. After that, we can dig down a bit and talk about some gospel implications for our lives.

Here’s basically what’s happening. As the header in your Bible suggests, we’re reading about the official dedication of the wall. As we have seen throughout this project, there has been no shortage of opposition, and frustration, and obstacles.

There has been opposition from outside the people of God. There has been opposition from within the people of God. And, in the midst of it all, God has led His people (through Nehemiah) to this day where the work is completed.

And, what we see in this text is the people have now gathered to celebrate God and dedicate the wall. It’s really a similar picture to what we see in Ezra chapter 6, where the people gather together (in what’s essentially a massive worship service) to dedicate the Temple.

And so, as we just read, the people send for the Levites who are settled around the city of Jerusalem. Which, by the way, is a very normal thing. The Levites and Priests served for a specific few weeks every year and, the rest of the time, they were home tending to their families.

So they brought them back into Jerusalem for the celebration and the dedication. And what was the point of the dedication? Well, they were essentially declaring that this city belongs to God. They were announcing the distinctness of Jerusalem because of the presence of God.

That’s basically what’s happening. Now, before we get to the deeper implications of where I think God wants us to go this morning, I think it’s worth pointing out something that exists in the correlation between the dedication of the wall here in Nehemiah chapter 12 and the dedication of the Temple in Ezra chapter 6.

When we think about the dedication of The Temple, that is an overtly spiritual event because you’re dealing with The Temple. After all, that’s the dwelling place of God. That’s where His presence was intended to reside. That’s where worship happened and sacrifices were offered.

So, you read about the dedication of the Temple and you think, “Well yeah, that was a worship service because we’re talking about The Temple!” But, what’s fascinating to me is that we see the same kind of worship celebration with the dedication of the wall.

Which, on the surface, doesn’t seem like as spiritual an issue as The Temple. The wall feels more like a civic issue (the protection of the city & the people in it). And yet, the worship celebration is just as detailed, and just as weighty, and just as celebratory as with the Temple.

Now, I think that raises a really important point that we need to consider in our lives. Our tendency is to compartmentalize areas of our lives. We tend to think in terms of work, and family, and our faith, and our social circles, and our duty as citizens all as separate areas.

Which — can easily lead to a lifestyle where our worship is reserved exclusively for the “spiritual” or “church” compartments. But that’s not what living out the gospel looks like at all. Living out the gospel (being a Christian) means that worship permeates every single area of our lives. To the point where we see our families — — as worship. We see our jobs — — as worship. We see our role as citizens & our civic duty — — as worship. We see social circles & neighborhoods — — as worship. We understand that they are all opportunities to glorify God & magnify the gospel.

Being a Christ-follower means that we break down the walls of compartmentalization in our lives. It means that we understand & live in such a way that living for the glory of God & worshiping Him with our whole lives permeates, more and more, every single area — NO MATTER THE COST.

The people in this text are celebrating the work of God and worshiping Him for the rebuilding of the wall the same way they did with the rebuilding of The Temple. That’s because they knew that everything is spiritual. They knew that everything is about what God is doing and every situation represents an opportunity to proclaim His greatness.

That’s very helpful if we’re actually going to live out the gospel and see the gospel proclaimed through our lives. And that’s basically what’s happening here. So, knowing that, how does this speak to our lives and inform what God has called us to?

Let me point out a few things that really had an impact on my heart as I studied this text. First, when you look at the circumstances of where the people find themselves and the overall scope of resettling Jerusalem, there is still a lot of work to be done.

Just think about this. They still have to address issues of rebuilding other buildings, and establishing organization in the city. There are systems that still need to be put in place and infrastructure that needs to be developed. The list of things that still need to be accomplished goes on and on. And yet, the people are celebrating. There’s so much work still before them, and yet, they’re worshiping in the midst of it all. Here’s what I find so fascinating about that; we must learn how to celebrate in the midst of the struggle. We must learn to celebrate in the midst of the mission, while there’s still work to be done.

I think it’s really easy for the church to slip into the mind-set that we are waiting to celebrate, and waiting to rejoice, until the work is finally and ultimately done. And that’s true! We are waiting for Christ’s return. We are waiting for God to complete His redemptive work. We are waiting for everything to be set right and returned to its proper order. And we will celebrate when that happens, there’s no question. But, if we don’t learn to celebrate in the midst of the work still happening, it can easily produce a depressed, hopeless mentality among the people of God. And, sadly, that happens all too often in the church today).

Can I just say something that should be incredibly obvious for us? CHRIST HAS ALREADY WON THE DAY!!!! Sure the battle is not yet over, but the victory has already been secured by Jesus. === === And so, WE CELEBRATE THE WORK OF GOD, right now!!!! WE REJOICE, right now!!!!

It’s amazing when you look at the things that Scripture says are true of us right now (not later) but right now… (PAUSE)…

Co-heirs with Christ
Adopted sons & daughters — (literally children of God)
A royal priesthood
A holy nation — (Not just becoming holy. He has made you holy in Christ)
A people for God’s own possession
Ambassadors // Ministers // Proclaimers of His excellencies
Righteous

We could spend a long time listing out all the things that Scripture says are true of you (RIGHT NOW) if you are in Christ. Is that not cause to celebrate? You’re not waiting for joy, Psalm 16 says, “In His presence is a fullness of joy.” Guess what? By the blood of Jesus have you been brought near into the presence of the most High God. There is joy RIGHT NOW.

SO, my first encouragement to all of us is that we learn to celebrate and express joy in the midst of the work that God has called us to right now. It is good and right to celebrate during the struggle.

The other thing I would point to is THE REASON THAT WE CELEBRATE. This was true of the people in this text, and it’s just as true for us today. Let me point to 3 things that drive celebration & joy in our hearts.

** We celebrate the presence of God
** We celebrate the work of God
** We celebrate God being made known through us

I want you to think about this phrase in verse 43 for just a moment. “For God had made them rejoice with great joy…” Isn’t that an interesting phrase? “God had made them rejoice.” I’ve been thinking about that for the last week or so. What does it mean that God would make His people rejoice with great joy?

Well, let’s think about the answer to that based on the 3 points I just listed. We need to remember that God is with us (He’s present), and that God is doing His work among us, and that He’s using us to make His glory known to the world.

I want to contend this morning that those things WILL produce joy in us. His presence, His work and His mission. Those things WILL produce joy in His people. Not perfectly and not in every season of life. But, as our sanctification progresses, our joy will increase along with it.

And, if there’s one thing that the people of God should be known for, it’s joy! If there’s one thing that God’s church should be known for, it’s joy! Just think about this for a moment: What is the message that’s presented by a lot of churches right now? Sometimes it’s moralism & religiosity. In some cases it’s separation from the world and the attitude, “You’re wrong & we’re right!” There can be all kinds of messages that come from churches. But I want to contend this morning that, when the world looks at the church, the primary thing that they should see is JOY. Joy that is emanating from the presence of God & the work of God in our lives.

And that’s produced by the presence of God among His people, which Christ has purchased for us, and by the work of God among His people, and by the work of God through His people to glorify His name to the world.

I love how Nehemiah points out — — that “The joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.” Isn’t that how this is supposed to be? That’s the whole point of what God is doing. The people here are declaring to the world that they are God’s and He is theirs. They are declaring that He’s with them and that He’s moving. They are declaring that He is real and that He is GLORIOUS!!!!!

This is Psalm 67 — — — “God Bless us and be gracious to us and make your face to shine upon us…” That’s verse 1. We love verse 1, don’t we? Yeah, but you can’t stop at verse 1.

“God Bless us & be gracious to us & make your face to shine upon us, SO THAT your way will be known on the earth, SO THAT your saving power will be seen among the nations.”

Church, that’s what this is all about. Every single thing that God is doing in us, and among us, and through us, is for the purpose displaying His glory to the world around us!

And, ultimately, that fills us with more joy. Not just because we are His. Not just because He is with us. Not just because He has reconciled us through the life, death & resurrection of His Son. But, because His name is being proclaimed through us.

Because His name is being brought to bear against the darkness of our world and the idolatry that exists in the hearts of people. Because His gospel is going forward and pushing back the darkness in places like St. Louis & Mumbai & every other corner of the earth.

BECAUSE ALL OF THIS IS FOR HIM

Sermon

The Meaning of True Worship. (Nehemiah 12:1-26)

Post author By Saju Joseph
Post date September 11, 2016

[audioplayer file=”http://thegatheringcommunity.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/the-true-meaning-of-worship.mp3″]

[otw_shortcode_info_box border_type=”bordered” border_color_class=”otw-black-border” border_style=”bordered” shadow=”shadow-down-right” rounded_corners=”rounded-10″]This sermon is part of the Expository Preaching Collective on the Book of Nehemiah. Follow the link below to know more about What Expository preaching is and Why is it important to us. (Click here)[/otw_shortcode_info_box]

Our text for today is Nehemiah 12:1-26

So far from Nehemiah 1-11 we saw how God restores his people back to himself through a man called Nehemiah who participates in the re-building of the broken walls.

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Against all the opposition and problems they could see God’s sovereign hand over them and when the walls are completed they go back to the Law of God and as the Word of God convicts their heart they confess and repent of their sins.

In Nehemiah 10 we saw that they don’t just stop there but continue to give themselves to God’s work of redemption in their lives.

[bctt tweet=”The Meaning of True Worship. (Nehemiah 12:1-26)” username=”gatheringmumbai”]

They now have a renewed understanding of what it means to live like children of God, they are more committed to God, they are courageous to walk in obedience to God’s word.

Last Sunday in Nehemiah 11 we saw another serious side of their commitment where they are now inhabiting the land and giving themselves in serving God. Two lessons we learned about serving from those verses were

1. Serving God is unpopular yet pleasing in the eyes of God
2. Serving God is unattractive yet beautiful in the plans of God.

In today’s passage in verse 1-9 we see a list of names of the chief priests and Levites that came up with Zarubbabel, in verse 10 & 11 we see the succession of the high priests, in verse 12-21 is the next generation of the other chief priests, verse 22-26 gives the names of the eminent Levites that were in Nehemiah’s time.

What caught my attention while reading 1-26 was verse number 24 which said

“And the leaders of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua son of Kadmiel, and their associates, who stood opposite them to give praise and thanksgiving, one section responding to the other, as prescribed by David the man of God”

The statement “prescribed by David the man of God” is also mentioned in 2 Chronicles 8:14 but in different context and slightly different words. It says

“In keeping with the ordinance of his father David, he appointed the divisions of the priests for their duties, and the Levites to lead the praise and to assist the priests according to each day’s requirement”

The context in 2 Chronicles is that now Solomon has completed the building of the temple of God which his father assigned to him, he is now appointing priests who will offer worship to God on behalf of the people.

In both these context what we see common is God re-establishing His worship. We saw in Nehemiah earlier that the reason why God brings them all together is not because there were better job opportunities in the land but because He wanted to re-establish his worship.

Worship is at the center of God’s work in their lives. Even today Worship is at the center of God’s mission on earth. Just as in the times of Nehemiah or Solomon even today God gathers His people to himself only for one reason and that is to worship Him.

Jesus points that in John 4:23 and says

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.”

Why does God demand, seek or request that we worship him?

Worship is “to give honor, homage, reverence, respect, adoration, praise or glory to a superior being”

Firstly, God demands worship because He and He alone is worthy of it. He is the only being that truly deserves worship

Rev 4:11

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

And Exodus 20:3-5 God says

“You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me”

Secondly, God expects us to worship Him as an expression of reverence and thanksgiving to Him

Heb 12:28

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,”

Thirdly, God desires that we worship Him because our eternal destiny depends on our worship of the true and living God.

Please do not be deluded to think that God is here to make you rich and famous, and to give you a comfortable living with no troubles.

God desires his glory and worship more than anything else.

And our greatest pleasure and satisfaction in life will come only when we worship the true and libing God giving him the highest glory he deserves.

So, what is worship?

Is it just singing some songs on a Sunday morning? Lets answer that question from God’s word.

In Nehemiah 12 God is re-establishing His worship, Levites and priests are been appointed in the temple courts in a particular fashion as prescribed by David, which originally points to Leviticus and the times of Moses.

In the time of Moses when God brings the people out of slavery from Egypt, he instructs Moses to build a tabernacle for Him where he will be worshipped by the people, offering sacrifices at the altar.

In the book of Leviticus we see God giving Moses specific instructions about every single detail of the tabernacle. From what material should be used, its measurements, the design of each and every object in the tabernacle, the kind of clothes the priests were suppose to wear while conducting the ceremonies, what kind of offerings were acceptable, what kind of fire should be used etc.

In total that book of Leviticus has 27 chapters and all verses were instructions given by God on how they were supposed to worship him.

When we read that book we feel overwhelmed and wonder whats the point behind doing all of it. How did they even remember to follow all of it to the dot?

The apostle Paul talking about the Laws and regulations in Galatians 3:10, he says

For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”

He says that if someone fails to keep every command perfectly he is cursed and condemned.

James 2:10 says “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”

The Law is basically points us to the standard of God’s Holiness and gives us an impression that no matter how hard we try we can never match up to God’s Holiness.

Recently I saw a video of R.C Sproul where he gives an excellent demonstration of Gods standard of holiness in comparison to ours while explaining the concept of sanctification and glorification.

What does this teach us about Worship?

In Psalms 96:9 the Psalmist says “O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.”

The first lesson we learn here is that True worship should lead us and point us to God’s Holiness.

When the people of God gathered around the tent to offer sacrifices they would revere and acknowledge God’s Holiness and worship him and tremble before him.

Even God takes his holiness quite seriously. In Leveticus 10:1-3 Nadab and Abihu died in the presence of God because they offered unauthorised fire before the Lord.

The second thing the Law and the rituals reveal is our sinfulness

Romans 7:7 “What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law”

Romans 3:20 “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”

What does it teach us about worship?

It teaches us that True worship of God should reveal our sinfulness when we compared to the standards of God’s Holiness. The more the people of God approached God’s Holy Laws the more they realized how sinful they were in the sight of God.

Even today when we worship on a Sunday morning or when we worship him in private we should remind ourselves that its not just about singing and dancing but its about acknowledging and remembering God’s Holiness and our sinfulness.

Thirdly, in the book of Leviticus God instructs the people to offer sacrifices to compensate for their sins. Every time the people of God would approach him they would bring a sacrifice with them, either a goat or a dove or grain etc and offer it at the altar as a burnt offering and the aroma of the sacrifice would reach God.

Why would the aroma of a sacrifice be important to God?

The importance of the sacrifice’s aroma was not the smell but what the smell represented – the substitutionary atonement for the sins of men – a temporary solution that God offered by which the people could go near him and enjoy his presence.

The permanent solution God offers is His son Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 10:14-22

1 John 2:2 says “Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

What does it teach us about worship?

It teaches us that True worship eventually should lead us in appreciating the finished work of Jesus on the cross – His death as a perfect sacrifice for the compensation of our sins.

It the Jesus that bridges the gap between God’s Holiness and our sinfulness and we should cherish that.

So, what kind of worship is God re-establishing for himself?

It’s not the one that ends up as singling spiritual songs on a Sunday morning without pointing us to God’s Holiness and our sinfulness leading us to appreciating and cherishing Christ above everything else.

In the light of what’s been shared here are three questions I want us answer today.

Q1. When we come to worship on a Sunday morning and in our private time do we come to God in reverence in our hearts, acknowledging His holy presence or are we too casual about it?

Q2. When we come to worship do we see our sinfulness and our inability to please God in our own strength or do we come with pride in our hearts and a self righteous attitude?

Q3. When we come to worship do we see and cherish the beauty of Christ and his finished work on the cross that helps us relate with God?

I believe that as we give ourselves to God in worship in this manner every single day He will sanctify our hearts and make us more like Christ.

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Why does God demand, seek or request that we worship him?

So, what is worship?

In the light of what’s been shared here are three questions I want us answer today.