I.Introduction
Shalom! Thank you, Pastor Dave, and all here at St Marks, as you continue to celebrate Advent in your 63rd year of public ministry. I represent the organization Jews for Jesus for whom I’ve worked for 46 years, both in the US and the last 27 years here in Sydney. I grew up an Orthodox Jew in Kansas City and came to believe in Jesus in 1971, so many of the things I will speak about today are very personal and homegrown. And hopefully this will speak to you as well. Thank you, Dave, for this kind invitation to speak to you today in what many title The Silly Season. I want to speak with you about surviving this season and help us all get a heavenly perspective on it.
To watch and listen along with this: https://youtu.be/2USHlQ2afu4?si=9096ZD68eHuNBnOX
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, they say, and certainly it is for retail businesses whether clothiers or JB Hi Fi and Kmart and those who run venues along the foreshore for New Years Eve celebrations. The term “Black Friday” was coined in the US as the day after Thanksgiving when all the sales at the department stores, like we have at David Jones and Myer, would finally assure the owners of those stores that their spreadsheets would turn from ‘in the red’ to ‘in the black.’ That is, a guarantee of profits that far exceeds their outlays and investments.
But we here in Sadleir are keen to learn more than end-of-year sales events. We want to learn how to live as believers in Sydney and wherever else we travel in these darkening days. Am I right?
And for that, we turn to Nehemiah chapters 9 and 10, my assigned texts for the day. Last week Chris taught from chapter 8 and set apart that chapter and the next two as an interlude between the historical narratives of the opening 7 chapters and the final three. After two full months of your investigation and discovery, this section tells us what happens after the glorious celebrations of chapter 8 and helps us here today to know how we should live after the final carol is sung in a few weeks, and the fireworks stop filling the skies above the bridge and the world. How shall we live after celebrations?
Let me give you the main elements of my talk today in case you are given to sleep during a sermon. At least then at morning tea or when you meet up with each other during the week, you can speak intelligently with one another. I’ll speak of four specific realities: the call to repentance, the poem of historical reflection, separation from wrongdoing, and commitment to live according to the Word of God, all the while praising the God of grace. To simplify this in one word each then: repent, remember, remove, renew, all the while rest.
Now the Lord watch between me and thee while we are apart from one another.
II. The call to repentance
First is the call to repentance. This seems very different than what we saw in the last chapter. The Jewish people spent 7 decades in Babylon wishing to return to the Promised Land and after those 70 years, the new king under whom they now were sworn, the Persian King Cyrus, allowed them to leave. Most of them returned to the land. The Temple of Solomon was rebuilt, and holy worship was reestablished. Priests of proper rank and family are then set in place. Religion is back in order. Done and dusted. Now under Nehemiah the walls were established, producing safety and security. Done and dusted. The organizers read from the Bible about setting up booths, and for the first time since Joshua’s days which is approximately 900 years before, the people set up booths. Done, dusted and Fireworks Fantastic!
By the way, in modern days, the Jewish people still celebrate the Feast of Booths in September or October with setting up these tabernacles at our homes and at synagogues and its nickname is Z’man Simchateinu, the Time of our Rejoicing. No wonder chapter 8 ends with such celebration.
But then chapter nine startles us. Rather than continuing with the joys and pleasures of Tabernacle celebrations, the tone and mood shift immediately. Only 2 days after the holiday of Sukkot ended, verse one tells us, “The sons of Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloth and with dirt upon them.” What a dramatic turnaround. And what caused that 180-degree change?
I believe it was that to which they listened. The Word of God. “They stood and read from the book of the law of the Lord for a fourth of the day.” (9.3) Now some of you might wonder what they heard that caused this. Listen, I’m not privy to a particular passage, but chapter nine is full of prayers in response that tells me they were listening to the Bible and that listening was deep and personal. It was also corporate and took the Jewish people by storm. It was-- God said it; I believe it; that settles it. We agree!
The Hebrew word for ‘faith’ is ‘emunah’ and the root of that is the word Amen, which we could translate to “I believe it.” In fact, repentance without God initiating the call to repent is simply a religious good work and is NOT what happened here. Paul wrote the Romans and said, “The goodness of God leads to repentance.” (Rom. 2.4). This suggests that God's kindness, patience, and love are intended to draw people to change their hearts and minds. This is not a force that compels repentance, but a gentle, loving invitation for people to turn away from sin and return to a right relationship with God.
That’s what got me to be a believer. It wasn’t messianic prophecies that all pointed to Jesus being the Messiah. It was the love of God manifest in Yeshua, and in his people, that was compelling to me as a 19-year-old hippie.
Maybe that’s why I love this book, Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund. I have plenty on the table in the hall if you haven’t bought your copy yet; so good in highlighting the character of God especially as the people of Nehemiah 9 evidence. Their prayer sings the praises of the Lord (as they had been doing during Sukkot) as in verse 8 “You are righteous”, in verse 17 “You are a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.” And so much more. It’s the goodness of God that leads to repentance. That’s why I believe the 180 degrees took place.
And it’s important for us as well, when the dust of opened packages and wadded up wrapping paper laminates our carpets on 25 December, after its full impact settles, may we hear the message of hope that the glory of God demonstrates, the message of a great God who loves and is willing to forgive our sins, even to the thousandth generation. (See Exodus 34.6,7)
The call is not so much from the Levites and priests, but rather from God through the agency of his word, what we call The Scriptures.
III. The poem of Historical Reflection
The first section key word then is ‘repent.’ I say this second section has a key word “remember.” The rest of chapter 9 features a very lengthy prayer that is a rehearsal of the history of the Jewish people, in our well doing and our not-so-good doings. Verse 6 is the summary of Genesis 1-11. Verse 7 introduces Abraham and verse 8 ends as Israel cries for a deliverer from Egyptian slavery. This fast-moving history of the Jewish people carries on as verses 9 and 10 get Israel out of Egypt and verse 11 splits the Red Sea. Verse 12-14 we receive Torah and all the laws. Verse 15 is about bread and water, that is God’s provision, hinting at the land of Promise. BUT we get our first interruption of failure in verse 16. And we hear the subject changing from THEM to US. Our fathers both acted wrong and had a wrong attitude. Refusing to obey, we in verse 17 ‘did not remember’ what God had done.
Up to verse 25, God did more great things in the conquest of the land, over the 7 nations of the Hittites and Jebusites, etc, but again we bump up against wrongdoing in verse 26, with “they rebelled and became disobedient.” This is historical review and remembering, not revisionism, not remembering with foggy or rose-coloured glasses. We committed blasphemies, it says. It’s raw and stark and painful to admit. But friends, without this admission, without this acknowledgement of our historical failures, we will not be able to win in this transitory life.
Verse 28, “as soon as they had rest, again they did evil” says this pattern is likely fixed in our social and religious agenda. It’s almost as if Nehemiah and the people are admitting to a problem in our DNA; we are sinners. We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because by nature we are sinners.
Stephen the deacon said as much in his final sermon recorded for us in Acts chapter 7. Again and again, he repeated the history of our people, with its commensurate admissions.
Admit that in your poem. Admit that in your song. Admit that with one another and you are on the road to victory. Prayer might be understood in this section as remembering who God is and who you are not. That is, there is one God, and you are not he.
IV. Separation from Wrongdoing
With all that clarity about our own sinfulness, what is a man, what is a woman, what are we as God’s chosen people to do? We need to separate from wrongdoing. For this, the key word is remove, that is remove ourselves from all this misbehaviour and from those who do such.
Look at these passages in our text. God chooses Abraham (.7-9) from among the peoples, Sabbath from among the other days (.14), separation from the peoples of the nations around them (10.28), and from those who break the Sabbath (10.31).
But this is not a new concept in Nehemiah’s days. The Hebrew word here for ‘separate’ is first used in early Genesis and is used in modern Hebrew for the ceremony that ends the Sabbath and begins the ordinary days.
I am ever remembering the warning of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians after he cautions them in this separation and removal business. Listen to his warning:
“I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; 10 I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. 11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler — not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? 13 But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES. (1 Cor. 5.9-13)
Holiness is communal and we are to remember that our Father wants his children together in a holy life. At times, we must remove ourselves from those who influence us away from our God. Paul later wrote those same Corinthians “bad company corrupts good morals.” (1 Cor. 15.33)
A simple algorithm I use is this: I’m on fire for the Lord. I’ve got fire in my soul. If I meet some mates and they, like an iceberg, start to freeze me over, I need to walk away. If I can begin to melt them, I stay. Warning: this is a simple takeaway but may help some of you.
V. Commitment to live according to the Word of God
The renewal God expects from us and for us is so wonderful, I can hardly keep it inside. While the previous three issues involved repentance, remembering and removing ourselves from wrongdoing, issue #4 is renewal. And that renewal is according to the Word of God. Scripture, which was the highlight in chapter 8, spawned the repentance early in chapter 9. Listen to these passages, 9.13 “you gave them just ordinances and true laws; good statutes and commandments.” And the inverse in 9.26 “they cast your law behind their backs.”
How then should they live? The avoidance of interaction with foreigners was all based on Scripture and with some extensions of it. Ex. 20.8–11; 23.12; 34.21, even Amos 8.5. The commitment to financial commitments again Lev 25.1–7, 2 Chr 36.21, and Deut. 15.1-8 draw from Scripture. Exod. 21.2-6. The use of the Land, and the rest of the Land are clear.
Verse 34 says, “as it is written in the Law.” This, friends in Sadleir, is the key answer to the question, “How shall we live?” By living according to God’s Word.
Remember Yeshua said the same thing. It’s not the people who know the Word; it’s those who do what the Word says who are commended. Yeshua says, “everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Mt. 7.24)
His warning to the Jewish leadership was “you search the Scriptures thinking that in them you have eternal life, but they speak of me.” (John 5:39)
VII. All the while: Rest
Religion is a fascinating study in itself. No matter if it’s Islam in Indonesia or Malaysia, or Sikh or Buddhism, modern Judaism or any of the hundreds of Christian religions and knock-offs, religion is big business and significant philosophy wrapped as one. I grew up as an Orthodox Jew and we had massive amounts of practices associated with that religion, from what prayer to say on the beginning of a calendar’s new moon or on purchasing a new garment, when marital relations are allowed or disallowed, and how long we had to wait between eating dairy products and meat products. The list is endless and the operative word is ‘more.’ You can always do more and pray more, learn and study more, etc.
But then Judaism is not alone in that, is it? You could be a good Anglican and perhaps better Anglican if you attend the Moore College course on offer in the next term or hand deliver the Toys and Tucker packages to the needy. I'm pretty sure that God is ever interested in us as people, to rest in him, to know him, to love him, sincerely and honestly.
The Word says so much about God's compassion in this prayer. We fail and God sustains. We turn away and he longs to draw us back. Perhaps you hear the phrase "and yet" throughout this prayer and throughout your own life. I make mistakes and yet God forgives. I will rest in all that he has done. And all he will continue to do. I will rest in his love.
VIII. So What? The takeaways
1) When you recognize your own sins, confess them to a loving God who delights to forgive us and bring us back into real relationship with him
2) Learn the Scriptures and live them in community with others
3) All these four summary words and thoughts would not be possible without the God of peace, the God who rests in his love for us and who calls us to rest in him. You will be able to read that in reflection this arvo, as you listen to the Scripture in your Bible app or read it to one another.
I’m very happy Ps Dave asked me to share from this text today. It’s Advent 2; next weekend begins Hanukkah; so many other themes we could find to address, but these shout to me and I hope to you as well.
You know I also work with Jews for Jesus and have for over 40 years. We are relentlessly pursuing God’s plans for the salvation of the Jewish people, in Israel, the UK, here in Aus and around the world. Your financial support helps us get God’s message of hope out in Sydney and well beyond. Would you consider being generous to us in these holy days? On the screen is a QR code you can shoot that links your sign up to Sadleir, to St Marks, to Jews for Jesus and today. Some clever people work that out every week when I’m out and about from church to church, so use the QR code on screen or on my resource table where books on evangelism and my own testimony and much more are available.
To give use this URL (no screen shot required)
j4j.co/608050
Thank you, Ps Dave, for this time in your pulpit and thank you to each of you who wants to partner with Jews for Jesus today or down the road, as we proclaim Yeshua Lord of all,
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