When it comes to seeking heart satisfaction and fulfillment, C. S. Lewis famously said,
“If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are halfhearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased” (The Weight of Glory).
Our hearts were designed to find satisfaction by delighting in God. In fact, satisfying our heart in this way is the foundational starting point for our mission
God has designed life so that our heart loves must be ordered properly. The first commandment and Great Commandment are about giving God first place in our affections—“Have no gods before me.” “Love me with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength.” We were created to be worshippers, to delight ourselves in the Lord—to find pleasure in praising God’s moral beauty.
In fact, Peter tells us that the purpose of our redemption is to fulfill our created role first and foremost as worshippers. Peter writes, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet 2:9). Nehemiah 12 is the story of God’s people celebrating God and proclaiming his excellencies. From it we remember again how to keep our heart properly aligned by filling our heart with the joy of praising him.
Thanks for joining us today for Season #7 Episode # 18 of Mission Focused Men for Christ. My name is Gary Yagel. I think our study of this portion of Nehemiah will be enriched by remembering an incident from the life of our Lord. In Luke 17:11-19, we read.
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”
In this familiar story in the life of Jesus, the penetrating question that comes from Jesus’ lips is the question, “Where are the nine?” I just performed a life transforming miracle for ten men and only one returns. Only one gives God the praise he deserves. How rude can people be? How ungrateful can people be?
Somewhere there are nine former lepers starting life all over again undoubtedly caught up in the exhilaration of being whole once more caught up in the blessing of their new life that they just never got got around to tracking Jesus down to convey their gratitude to him and Jesus almost in disbelief says, “Were there not ten where are the other 9?”
In this episode in Nehemiah 12 we see a nation gathered to express its gratitude to God.
And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres. And the sons of the singers gathered together from…. (many districts surrounding Jerusalem.) And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people and the gates and the wall.
Then I brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks. One went to the south on the wall to the Dung Gate. And after them (one group of leaders and priests). And Ezra the scribe went before them. At the Fountain Gate they went up straight before them by the stairs of the city of David, at the ascent of the wall, above the house of David, to the Water Gate on the east.
The other choir of those who gave thanks went to the north, and I followed them with half of the people, on the wall, above the Tower of the Ovens, to the Broad Wall, …. and they came to a halt at the Gate of the Guard. So both choirs of those who gave thanks stood in the house of God, and I and half of the officials with me; and the priests, with trumpets; And the singers sang with Jezrahiah as their leader. And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.
WHAT MADE THIS WORSHIP EXPERIENCE SO MEANINGFUL
A. Nehemiah went out of his way to prepare for worship. Vs. 27: they sought the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres. And the sons of the singers gathered together.
The tribe of Levi's responsibility was caring for the temple, offering sacrifices and leading worship. There were divisions within the tribe of professional musicians and a professional choir, who were supported by the tithes of the people. Nehemiah had to recruit a large group. This was no easy task of making a few phone calls. We know that there were several hundred in Jerusalem besides all those who still lived outside the city to be recruited.
It is instructive to me that Nehemiah didn't just expect worship to happen spontaneously, when the final stone was placed into the wall. Normally great worship takes a lot of preparation. Here it is led by trained musicians who, you can be sure, did a lot of practicing ahead of time. When I was a young, immature Christian who didn't know much, I thought we should cancel choir practice and send choir members out to share the gospel on choir night. That shows how little I understood about the centrality of worship in setting our hearts on the Lord as a regular part of our schedule. If you are a regular part of a worship team in your church, “Thank you for your service.” We need to be grateful for those who serve the Lord as part of the worship teams in our churches.
B. Before celebrating, there was purification. A second part of what made this worship meaningful is seen in verse 30: And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people and the gates and the wall. Before there was one moment of celebration there was purification. What did this ceremonial purification involve? We're not told here. But from the rest of the law we know it included taking a bath, putting on clean clothes, fasting, abstinence from sexual relations, and giving sin offerings. Ezra and Nehemiah had grasped one of the most profound truths taught by the ceremonial law: that no person contaminated by his own sin can draw near to God to worship him. Our sin always blocks our relationship with a holy God. The person who does not belong to Christ can't worship the true God; his guilt has not been removed from him. He has not been justified. He is still in his sins.
But the person who does belong to Christ can also have his worship blocked if he's ignoring some sin in his own life. True worship by God's people is stymied by sin. Do you remember Jesus’ teaching in the sermon on the mount? “If therefore you are presenting a gift at the altar and you remember that your brother has something against you what should you do? Say, “I'll take care of it soon.” No. Jesus said, “Leave your gift there before the altar. First go and reconcile with your brother. Then come and offer your gift. Don't try to worship if there is sin in your heart that has not been dealt with,” says Jesus. If you and I have been ignoring God's promptings in some area of our lives our worship will be hollow and superficial because only those with a pure heart who’ve genuinely confessed and repented of their sin can draw near to God. That's what Psalm 24 tells us: “Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place?” That is, who can draw near to God to worship him? Psalm 24 answers, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart.”
C. Nehemiah fixed the focus of the people on what God had done for them. He planned a great parade to walk around the entire wall. What we see in verses 31-39 is Nehemiah creating two huge choirs, each complete with priests, Levites, musicians, instrumentalists, harpists, cymbals, stringed instruments, and vocalists. What were they going to do? Verse 31 says one was to proceed on top of the walls to the right toward the dung gate.
In verse 38 the second choir proceeds in the opposite direction. So, Nehemiah organizes these two marching bands going opposite directions on top of the wall, which, by the way, was very wide. These two groups will then meet at the temple where they'd come down from the wall and conclude the service of praise. What an idea! So, everything is in order. Ezra's leading the one group. Nehemiah is with the other group bringing up the rear. They'll meet all the way around the other side.
Think about this scene. As the music begins, I wonder what's going on in Nehemiah's mind. The last recorded account of Nehemiah touring the wall was back in Nehemiah 2, his midnight walk. The wall was in such bad state that he had to stumble through the ruins. But now, through the power of God, it had been rebuilt. The very wall that Tobias said was so dinky that it could be knocked over by a fox, had been strengthened and rebuilt by the power of God. I wonder if Nehemiah was thinking to himself, “Play these symbols a little louder—loud enough for Tobias and his friends to hear us!” Nehemiah had been tested by God but now he was expressing the exhilaration of seeing God triumph and of being used by him. There is nothing to compare to that joy.
Think also about what the people were feeling, especially as the families walked by the portion of the wall that they had built. They'd be saying, “This is where God used me. I had a part in what God has brought to pass.” I imagine the closer they got to the temple the more they poured out their praise to God. This parade around the city was instrumental as a catalyst to worship because the people's focus was fixed on what God had done. Like the Samaritan leper who looked down and saw a restored body and then fell down and worshipped Jesus, these Israelites looked down and saw a restored wall and worshipped the God who brought it all about. The beginning of worship is taking my focus off myself, my needs, my problems, my hurts, my concerns, and fixing it on God—his greatness, his glory, his goals, his purposes. In fact, a good definition of worship is a preoccupation with the Lord--fixing your mind on his character, majesty, holiness, wisdom, and greatness. Nehemiah's walk on the wall fixed the people's focus on who God is and upon what God had done. That is the prerequisite for meaningful worship.
D. Now in verses 40-43 we see some of the component parts to a meaningful experience of worship.
1. The first is giving thanks. Verse 40: “So both choirs of those who gave thanks” In verse 31 we read “I also assigned two choirs to give thanks.” Have you ever sat down to pray and said, “Now Lord I know this is a really unusual but I'm not here for me today. This prayer is for you. All I'm going to do for these next moments is thank you for being you. “Bless the Lord o my soul and all within the bless his holy name and forget not all his benefits.” “Father, I adore you, I lay my life before you, how I love you.” That's all I wanted to do, Father, thank you for who you are and the enormous blessings you've bestowed upon us”.
2. The second element we see is the beautiful melodious singing of a choir accompanied by instruments and probably the voices of people as well. What did the people sing? They sang psalms like Psalm 48:
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth. Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King. Within her citadels God has made himself known as a fortress…. We have thought on your steadfast love, O God in the midst of your temple. As your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
Let Mount Zion be glad! Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments! Walk about Zion, go around her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels, that you may tell the next generation that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever.
Music has the ability to draw our hearts to the Lord as nothing else can. That's true when we want to celebrate; it's also true in difficult times. In Acts 16, Paul and Silas are severely flogged around midnight. We read that they were praying and singing hymns to God. They weren’t singing because they were so happy to be flogged! To the contrary, they found comfort and assurance in their hymns, which helped them lift their focus to the Lord.
3. The third element of meaningful worship was offering sacrifices. Verse 43: and on that day they offered great sacrifices. True worship costs you something. David said, “I will not offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing.” The animals and crops offered to God were the best they had. They did not offer the Lord some old, skinny, sick lamb. As followers of Christ, we offer ourselves to God as a living sacrifice. We need to ask ourselves, “Are we giving God the best of our time, the best of our energy, the best of our talent, the best of our treasure? Or is he getting the leftovers?”
4. The fourth component of meaningful worship is joy. Verse 43 They offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away. Does it seem to you that Scripture talks so much more about joy than we experience it? Why is our joy so easily extinguished? Here is one reason:
The true sources of joy are major league matters and internal. (--God has proved his love for us.--God delights in us.--Our eternal destiny is so wonderful that Paul said no human has ever conceived of it.--Every effort we make to please Jesus will honor him eternally.--God working in the hearts of our loved ones is the deepest of our longings. He has done that in many of those we care most about.--We live at the highest standard of health and wealth the world has ever known.)
Frustrations and irritations are minor league matters and external. (--heavy traffic, --a flat tire, --sickness, --not being appreciated, --being passed over for promotion, --making costly mistakes
Why we don’t experience joy more? Minor league concerns so fill our minds that they crowd out the major league realities that ought to be the source of our joy.
Have you ever had an experience like this? It’s your day off and you spend almost the entire day doing things with your 5-year-old daughter that she loves. You play games in the morning. You go on a bike ride in the afternoon. You take her out to McDonald's for dinner and watch a movie together after dinner. You send her off to bed with lots of hugs and kisses. It’s been a perfect day of loving on her. But a few moments later she comes stomping out of the room crying and mad. You ask what's wrong. She answers, “My favorite purple pajamas are still in the wash, and I hate wearing these grungy old, pink ones. That little frustration overshadows the delight of the entire day. Aren’t we just like that little girl?
THREE LESSONS ABOUT JOYFUL DELIGHT IN GOD
1. Joyful delight will happen when we take time away from our everyday schedule to review what God has done taking that walk on the wall and fix our focus on the way God has blessed us.
2. Joyful delight will happen when we begin our prayers by saying I'm not here for me to give you my Christmas list of what I want this prayer is just for you to give to you the praise that you deserve.
3. Joyful delight will happen when we stop letting the minor league concerns crowd out our Major League joys crowd out joy over our Major League realities.
For Further Prayerful Thought.
- Why do we not devote ourselves more to delighting ourselves in him?
- Nehemiah inspired thankfulness to God in his people’s hearts for what God had done (enabling them to complete the wall in 53 days) by having them physically walking on the wall they built. How can we, as Christians, do a better job of setting our focus on what God has done for us?
- What else stood out to you about this joyful worship celebration planned by Nehemiah?
