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Saturday, July 26, 2008

THE GOOD HAND OF GOD WORKING THROUGH OPEN HEARTS

DEVOTIONAL 6

EZRA 1:5-2:70

5 Then the heads of fathers' households of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites arose, even everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem. 6 All those about them encouraged them with articles of silver, with gold, with goods, with cattle and with valuables, aside from all that was given as a freewill offering. 7 Also King Cyrus brought out the articles of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and put in the house of his gods; 8 and Cyrus, king of Persia, had them brought out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and he counted them out to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. 9 Now this was their number: 30 gold dishes, 1,000 silver dishes, 29 duplicates; 10 30 gold bowls, 410 silver bowls of a second kind and 1,000 other articles. 11 All the articles of gold and silver numbered 5,400. Sheshbazzar brought them all up with the exiles who went up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

When I was younger I would crawl under the hood of the car with my dad in order to help him. Sometimes my help was a hindrance, other times it wasn’t really helping at all (I just pretended I was helping) and at other times it was genuine. As I grew older the help became more and more genuine. At one point I cut myself pretty bad. I began to bleed verily profusely even though my life was not in danger. I want to stop the bleeding immediately, but my dad understood the situation better than I did. I was covered from head to toe in grease and oil. The one thing that didn’t need to happen was for me to attempt to stop the bleeding and not allow my bodies natural defenses to fight off any infection. I learned something that day some wounds need to bleed before we tend to them.

God works much of the same way. He may allow something to come along which makes no since at all, something which may hurt severely at first, but if it is allowed to bleed great things may be on the way. In verse 5 of this passage it mentions that “…God had stirred…” the Jewish leaders “…to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem. Here again as before God has stirred something up regarding His people and His work. As mentioned in one of the earlier devotionals the term “stirred” has little to do with what we in the twenty-first century think. It has something to do with cutting and laying open. In other words He cut their hearts and opened them up before His will. Verse 1 notes that he did this with Cyrus the king of Persia and now He does it with His people. The interesting thing to see here is that God can and does use pagans to perform His will but He uses His people to perform a specific task. In this case we see it is for the rebuilding of the Temple.

We also see in verse 6 that He opened up the hearts of the communities surrounding the Jews who were preparing to leave. In this we see God’s provision for His people. While they were ordered to give according to verse 4, the text reads with the idea that they did this out of their own volition. First, it states that they did this to encourage, build up, or help out in the effort. Second, the way they gave is seen in the fact that they gave in abundance. The giving was in terms of food, animals (for food and sacrifices), equipment and money. This giving was not just for the sake of the rebuilding itself but for the journey as well. Third, it states that it was a “freewill offering.” While the orders may have gone out to give and support, how, what resources and how much was never mentioned. In other words the decree was sent out that stated, “You will give and support. However, what you give, how you give and how you support it, is up to you.” The community as a whole came out to do and give what they could.

Today we see similar actions occurring. God is in the process of cutting the hearts of his people and opening them up to do His will. While He may use pagans to perform His will generally and on a global scale, He uses His people specifically to carry out the Gospel message. We cannot get past the point of what this book is all about, the re-establishment of a community which calls on God for salvation, hope and help. We need to be that kind of community. We do not need to be like the old story where a man was asked about his prayer life. His response was that he had a very good prayer life because he prayed for himself, his wife, and his two children. He calmly stated, “I pray for us four and no more.” Folks we need to seek God not only to cut and open our hearts to do His will, but we need to be praying for the lost. We need to pray that God will cut and open their hearts to His only way of salvation through the blood soaked cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and His resurrection. If we want to see things turn around it will not happen through laws and legislation. It will only happen with us being faithful to Him in preaching His gospel and us praying for those around us.

Next time Ezra 1:5-11, SEEING THE GOOD HAND OF GOD AT WORK THROUGH PAGAN STORYLINES-A SECOND EXODUS

Unless otherwise noted all verses quoted are from the New American Standard Version.

Monday, July 14, 2008

THE GOOD HAND OF GOD WORKING THROUGH RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY WHO ANSWER THE CALL-Part 2

Devotional 5

(EZRA 1:5-2:70)

5 Then the heads of fathers' households of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites arose, even everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem. 6 All those about them encouraged them with articles of silver, with gold, with goods, with cattle and with valuables, aside from all that was given as a freewill offering. 7 Also King Cyrus brought out the articles of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and put in the house of his gods; 8 and Cyrus, king of Persia, had them brought out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and he counted them out to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. 9 Now this was their number: 30 gold dishes, 1,000 silver dishes, 29 duplicates; 10 30 gold bowls, 410 silver bowls of a second kind and 1,000 other articles. 11 All the articles of gold and silver numbered 5,400. Sheshbazzar brought them all up with the exiles who went up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Have you ever heard the old saying, “Too many chiefs and not enough Indians” or “Too many chefs in the kitchen but not enough cooks”? These old American colloquial’s normally mean that too many people view themselves as the boss and not enough people see themselves as workers. However sometimes there can be a benefit to having more than one person involved in working through an issue. This leads to another colloquial, “Two brains are better than one.”

One time an issue came up at a church I was attending. A recommendation had been made which I did not feel comfortable about, but stayed prayerful and silent regarding the proposal. Mary and I prayed about it while discussing the ramifications of the suggestion. Weeks went by while the offer continued to be made and pitched to us as a good thing. Finally, I said something about the one issue which bothered me. While it was not ignored it was moved to the side. Two more weeks past, I did my research, consulted God through His word, received conformation and went to the individual who had made the suggestion. . I opened the scriptures up and gently explained my discomfort as well as what I found in my research about the desired action. When I did he looked at me and tears appeared in his eyes. He said, “This confirms what I was thinking, we should not move forward with this idea.” In this situation calling on God and His authority helped protect His glory in that church.

I am constantly hearing about how we do not need religious authority in our churches today. That the individual is the one who should be able to discern what God’s will is in a situation. I hear how pastors and staff should not interfere when a family is at the boiling point of divorce or if a spouse has gone in the direction of moral failure or if people aren’t coming to church. This is both ridiculous and biblically unsound. God wants there to be some form of authority and organization when it comes to worshiping Him in every area of our lives, including church. This is brought out very clearly in this passage were it is noted that “…the priests and the Levites arose…” meaning they joined this small band of people answering the call of God to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. Chapter 2:36-39 give the names of the heads of the fathers households regarding the priests and 2:40-63 give the names of the heads of the Levites.

Both parties are extremely important during and after the rebuilding of the Temple. According to scripture the priest were considered the guardian of the holy place (Numbers 18:5); where to preside over the various sacrifices (Numbers 28-29); sprinkle the blood from the sacrifice on the alter (Leviticus 3:2); pour the drink offerings (Exodus 37:16); consult the Urim and Thummim regarding the will of God in a situation (Numbers 27:21); be consulted regarding possible leprosy (Leviticus 12:30-46; Deuteronomy 24:8); judge the people (Deuteronomy 17:8-9); and teach the law to the people (Leviticus 10:11). While this is a long list of things they were to do, it is by no means an exhaustive list. For a far greater understanding of the role of the priests it would be best for you to read the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. According to 1st Chronicles 24 King David set 24 families over the priesthood. By the time the writer of Ezra records the heads of the households of priests in 2:26-39 there are only four families mentioned. This shows us two things: First, how disastrous the Babylonian campaign was against Judah in regards to the loss of life and; second, the people were more concerned with the daily wealth of this world and were unwilling to leave what they were doing for the sake of the call of God.

The next group listed was the Levites. Their list was quiet larger from the priest. The reason is because the priestly line came from the Levites according to Leviticus 2:40-42. The Levites were a special tribe from the very beginning: First, they were custodians of the sanctuary of God in both the Tabernacle and Temple (Numbers 1:15; 18:22-24); second they were appointed to be in charge of the worship services (Numbers 8:19; 18:2-6); third, they were did not possess any land because God was to be their inheritance, to own land or have huge sums of money would disqualify them from service (Numbers 18:20; 26:62; Deuteronomy 10:9; 18:1-2); last they were elders over six cities known as “cities of refuge” where they made judgment over criminal cases (Joshua 21). While this list is not a comprehensive one it does show the extent of involvement the Levites had within the other tribes of Israel.

There are several things to notice about the Levities themselves which are mentioned in the chapter 2:40-58 passage. Notice several things about them which would co-inside with the list above. Singers are mentioned in verse 41. Here we see that they were to lead the people in worship. Gatekeepers are referred to in verse 42. We can see here the guardianship of the temple grounds. Gatekeepers were very important for three reasons: first, they literally guarded the gates to make sure that only those who were allowed to get into particular areas of the Temple got in; second, they helped direct people who needed assistance; third, they kept order. If there were any questionable activities occurring on the Temple grounds they would investigate and move the activity outside the Temple or even arrest those involved. Verse 43 lists “temple servants” and in verse 58 it mentions “the sons of Solomon’s servants” among the Levites. The term “temple servants” means devoted or dedicated ones. Many scholars believe that both of these groups were Gentiles who over the years, mainly during the years of King Solomon, gave themselves to the worship of Yahweh. They also believe that this group had a lot to do with administrative affairs, took care of the mundane task of everyday work in the Temple, handled all of the secular affairs of the Temple upkeep, and watched over the treasury of the Temple.

So how does this all apply? Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 12:14, “For the body is not one member, but many. In verse 25 he states that there is to “be no division in the body” yet in verse 27 he declares, “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. The point which Paul is making and Ezra is illustrating is that there are many people which are gifted in different areas. This is not to be done for individual glory, but for corporate worship in glorifying God. There are similarities between what was going on in the days of Ezra and how things should be today in our churches. First, the priests were the key teachers. This translates to us today that there are some among us who are gifted in teaching. Those of us who teach are to be involved in discipleship and helping other mature in Christ to the point that they willingly share the gospel with those who they come in contact. There were the Levites who had in their ranks gatekeepers. These bastion guards of old are nothing more than what we call ushers and greeters today. The primary goal is to guard the glory of God within the churches by keeping order, help direct people where they need to go, and greet people as they enter the time of worship. There were singers. Today we have song leaders, musicians and choirs. They had the devoted ones or “temple servants,” we have people who have the gift of administration. The application is all over the board, the key is involvement. Many people in the churches feel that they have nothing to contribute, but according to Scripture that just simply is not true. The only person who does not have anything to contribute is the person who does not know Jesus Christ as their Savior. Those who have not come to the cross of Christ and believed in His resurrection have nothing to contribute. They must first repent of their sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation. Other than that, if you are in Christ and Christ is in you then the Holy Spirit has gifted you for the glory of God and the work of the kingdom through His local church.

Let me know your thoughts.

God Bless,

Steven

Next time Ezra 1:5-11, SEEING THE GOOD HAND OF GOD AT WORK THROUGH OPEN HEARTS

Unless otherwise noted all verses quoted are from the New American Standard Version