WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.820 Ezra 3, 8 through 13. Today I was wondering when's 00:00:06.820 --> 00:00:11.259 the last time we were in Ezra. I scoured our 00:00:11.259 --> 00:00:14.740 website to look and we haven't had a website 00:00:14.740 --> 00:00:17.039 with sermons on it for all that long, maybe 10, 00:00:17.079 --> 00:00:20.600 15 years, but no sermons on there from Ezra. 00:00:20.679 --> 00:00:25.219 So if this is your first time in Ezra or perhaps 00:00:25.219 --> 00:00:27.949 you just haven't been there in a long time. You 00:00:27.949 --> 00:00:31.230 can find Ezra in the Old Testament. If you run 00:00:31.230 --> 00:00:35.609 into Nehemiah, you've gone too far. Going to 00:00:35.609 --> 00:00:38.049 Esther, gone too far. You're going to find it 00:00:38.049 --> 00:00:42.710 after Samuels and Kings and Chronicles. And I'll 00:00:42.710 --> 00:00:45.829 give some historical background on this as we 00:00:45.829 --> 00:00:51.189 go along. We're going to look at Ezra 3, 8 through 00:00:51.189 --> 00:00:57.380 13. And it reads in this way. Now, in the second 00:00:57.380 --> 00:01:00.460 year after the coming to the house of God at 00:01:00.460 --> 00:01:04.340 Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel, the 00:01:04.340 --> 00:01:08.340 son of Shealtiel, and Yeshua, the son of Jezodach, 00:01:08.659 --> 00:01:12.519 made a beginning, together with the rest of their 00:01:12.519 --> 00:01:16.260 kinsmen, the priests and the Levites and all 00:01:16.260 --> 00:01:19.420 who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity. 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:23.239 They appointed the Levites from 20 years old 00:01:23.239 --> 00:01:27.120 and upward. to supervise the work of the house 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:30.459 of the Lord. And Yeshua with his sons and his 00:01:30.459 --> 00:01:33.219 brothers and Kadmiel with his sons, the sons 00:01:33.219 --> 00:01:37.420 of Judah together, supervised the workmen in 00:01:37.420 --> 00:01:41.439 the house of God, along with the sons of Hananadad 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:45.560 and the Levites, their sons and brothers. And 00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:47.939 when the builders laid the foundation of the 00:01:47.939 --> 00:01:50.739 temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments 00:01:50.739 --> 00:01:53.909 came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, 00:01:54.049 --> 00:01:57.689 the sons of Asaph, with cymbals to praise the 00:01:57.689 --> 00:02:01.849 Lord, according to the directions of David, king 00:02:01.849 --> 00:02:05.769 of Israel. And they sang responsively, praising 00:02:05.769 --> 00:02:09.569 and giving thanks to the Lord, for he is good, 00:02:10.150 --> 00:02:13.150 for his steadfast love endures forever toward 00:02:13.150 --> 00:02:16.930 Israel. And all the people shouted with a great 00:02:16.930 --> 00:02:20.379 shout when they praised the Lord. because the 00:02:20.379 --> 00:02:22.879 foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. 00:02:23.379 --> 00:02:27.460 But many of the priests and Levites and heads 00:02:27.460 --> 00:02:30.680 of father's houses, old men who had seen the 00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:33.939 first house wept with a loud voice when they 00:02:33.939 --> 00:02:36.520 saw the foundation of this house being laid. 00:02:37.180 --> 00:02:40.419 Though many shouted aloud for joy so that the 00:02:40.419 --> 00:02:43.639 people could not distinguish the sound of the 00:02:43.639 --> 00:02:47.020 joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping. 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:50.879 For the people shouted with a great shout, and 00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:54.860 the sound was heard far away. This is God's holy 00:02:54.860 --> 00:02:59.539 word. Let's pray. Father, on a night when we 00:02:59.539 --> 00:03:02.759 give you thanks, we certainly give you thanks 00:03:02.759 --> 00:03:06.340 for this word. We thank you for a holy word, 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:09.520 an inspired word, an infallible word. Father, 00:03:09.639 --> 00:03:12.300 the word is what we need. I ask that you would 00:03:12.300 --> 00:03:14.740 guide us through it tonight. We pray in Christ's 00:03:14.740 --> 00:03:20.789 name. Some of you who have known me for a long 00:03:20.789 --> 00:03:29.610 time know that prior to seminary and during seminary, 00:03:29.969 --> 00:03:34.110 I had a different career. I was a newspaper reporter 00:03:34.110 --> 00:03:38.509 for several years. I was a young reporter right 00:03:38.509 --> 00:03:42.250 out of college, and if you know anything about 00:03:42.250 --> 00:03:44.909 young reporters, they don't get the most scintillating 00:03:44.909 --> 00:03:47.830 of stories all the time. They don't always get 00:03:47.830 --> 00:03:51.550 the front pagers or the six o 'clock news. One 00:03:51.550 --> 00:03:55.389 of the stories I had to cover often as a young 00:03:55.389 --> 00:04:00.050 reporter was the opening of a brand new business 00:04:00.050 --> 00:04:03.469 or the opening of a brand new nonprofit organization. 00:04:05.250 --> 00:04:08.169 There would usually be some sort of groundbreaking 00:04:08.169 --> 00:04:10.810 on new buildings that were made. And as a reporter, 00:04:10.889 --> 00:04:13.169 all you really had to do when you went to such 00:04:13.169 --> 00:04:17.300 a story was get the photograph. That's all people 00:04:17.300 --> 00:04:20.040 wanted. There's a photograph that is taken, I 00:04:20.040 --> 00:04:23.259 think, of every groundbreaking, and it's always 00:04:23.259 --> 00:04:25.720 the people who are involved in the organization, 00:04:25.860 --> 00:04:28.860 the leadership, some dignitaries from the community, 00:04:29.300 --> 00:04:32.139 maybe the mayor, maybe a county council person, 00:04:32.500 --> 00:04:36.060 maybe a congressman even. And you've seen these 00:04:36.060 --> 00:04:40.199 pictures. These people have their shovels, and 00:04:40.199 --> 00:04:43.459 they're dug in slightly into the ground. And 00:04:43.459 --> 00:04:45.959 then they look up and smile real big for the 00:04:45.959 --> 00:04:50.040 camera. It's the same thing every single time. 00:04:50.139 --> 00:04:52.579 Nothing controversial about that kind of a story, 00:04:52.699 --> 00:04:55.600 about that kind of a photograph. It's just all 00:04:55.600 --> 00:05:00.240 shovels and smiles. Well, with the groundbreaking 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:06.519 for this new temple in Ezra 3, it's not all smiles. 00:05:07.560 --> 00:05:11.300 There are tears that are shed just as there is 00:05:11.300 --> 00:05:17.439 praising. There is also weeping. And you know 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:22.220 this. This is life. This is life under the sun. 00:05:22.319 --> 00:05:25.620 Even during our best moments, there is still 00:05:25.620 --> 00:05:28.339 something within us that tells us something's 00:05:28.339 --> 00:05:31.899 not right here. How can anybody believe that 00:05:31.899 --> 00:05:35.300 this life is as good as it gets? And so what's 00:05:35.300 --> 00:05:40.990 the key? What's the key to living life? With 00:05:40.990 --> 00:05:43.870 the smiles and the tears, the praising and the 00:05:43.870 --> 00:05:49.970 weeping, how do we do it? We must maintain thanksgiving. 00:05:52.970 --> 00:05:56.930 This text here, you might remember some of the 00:05:56.930 --> 00:06:01.009 history behind what's happening. The Jewish people 00:06:01.009 --> 00:06:04.790 were allowed to go home. You remember that? There 00:06:04.790 --> 00:06:07.870 was a time when the people of God were split 00:06:07.870 --> 00:06:10.649 into two countries. You had Israel and you had 00:06:10.649 --> 00:06:15.569 Judah. Israel falls to Assyria in 722. Judah 00:06:15.569 --> 00:06:18.629 falls to Babylon. The Babylonians, they come 00:06:18.629 --> 00:06:22.389 in around 586. They take people captive out of 00:06:22.389 --> 00:06:26.829 Jerusalem like Daniel, taking them to Babylon. 00:06:29.089 --> 00:06:36.750 But then something happens around 539 that And 00:06:36.750 --> 00:06:40.389 the king of Persia decrees that the people can 00:06:40.389 --> 00:06:43.449 go home, the Jews can go home, but when they 00:06:43.449 --> 00:06:46.410 go home they find that their hometowns, their 00:06:46.410 --> 00:06:50.129 homes have been destroyed and the temple itself 00:06:50.129 --> 00:06:55.329 was destroyed. And so they get there and after 00:06:55.329 --> 00:06:58.250 a short time they begin work on the temple and 00:06:58.250 --> 00:07:01.189 that's exactly what's happening here in our text. 00:07:01.449 --> 00:07:07.329 Around that 536 time period look in verse 8 It's 00:07:07.329 --> 00:07:10.889 the second year and they make a beginning and 00:07:10.889 --> 00:07:14.089 you might say they made a beginning of what they 00:07:14.089 --> 00:07:17.670 were making a beginning to the foundation of 00:07:17.670 --> 00:07:20.430 the temple the place where they will worship 00:07:20.430 --> 00:07:24.649 But we know from other books other texts that 00:07:24.649 --> 00:07:28.290 as they sought to do this they experienced trouble 00:07:28.290 --> 00:07:32.449 They experienced enemies coming upon them. They 00:07:32.449 --> 00:07:35.709 experienced a lack of resources, but they press 00:07:35.709 --> 00:07:38.990 on with all hands on deck. You see the text says 00:07:38.990 --> 00:07:42.949 that everyone, everyone 20 years or older, the 00:07:42.949 --> 00:07:46.550 Levites were supervising this work as the foundation 00:07:46.550 --> 00:07:49.970 is laid. And as it is laid, as that foundation 00:07:49.970 --> 00:07:53.550 is accomplished, what do they do? They take time 00:07:53.550 --> 00:07:59.589 to stop and to worship, to give thanks. the thanks 00:07:59.589 --> 00:08:02.550 that they give. This is not lukewarm worship 00:08:02.550 --> 00:08:05.389 by any means. You see the priests are properly 00:08:05.389 --> 00:08:08.449 clothed. They've got the trumpets in hand. The 00:08:08.449 --> 00:08:12.110 Levites, the sons of Asaph, have the cymbals 00:08:12.110 --> 00:08:16.350 and they sing this incredible song, this incredible 00:08:16.350 --> 00:08:21.069 refrain that echoes throughout Scripture. For 00:08:21.069 --> 00:08:25.550 he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. 00:08:25.980 --> 00:08:28.639 You might remember this is in many of the Psalms, 00:08:28.779 --> 00:08:31.600 including our call to worship from Psalm 107. 00:08:31.699 --> 00:08:35.600 It's also in Psalm 136, where throughout 26 verses 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:39.860 of that Psalm, the refrain is this, his steadfast 00:08:39.860 --> 00:08:44.419 love endures forever. And this song that they 00:08:44.419 --> 00:08:47.299 sing, this is like when King David built the 00:08:47.299 --> 00:08:50.460 original temple, Solomon's temple. Hundreds of 00:08:50.460 --> 00:08:53.519 years before, there was worship then, and there's 00:08:53.519 --> 00:08:57.299 worship now. There's this great loud worship 00:08:57.299 --> 00:09:04.620 that is happening. But amidst that, as great 00:09:04.620 --> 00:09:09.659 as it sounds, something was off here. Something 00:09:09.659 --> 00:09:12.360 was off. And if you were just listening to it, 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:15.360 perhaps you wouldn't be able to tell because 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:18.700 all the noise, it all kind of blends together 00:09:18.700 --> 00:09:22.740 in a mixture of shouting. But if you were there, 00:09:23.309 --> 00:09:25.750 When this foundation was laid, if you were there 00:09:25.750 --> 00:09:28.870 in this worship service, if you happened to be 00:09:28.870 --> 00:09:32.809 standing next to an older priest, an older Levite, 00:09:33.110 --> 00:09:35.690 an older head of household, you would have seen 00:09:35.690 --> 00:09:39.509 something. That not everybody was praising God. 00:09:40.330 --> 00:09:45.950 Some were weeping. Is this not the experience 00:09:45.950 --> 00:09:50.210 of the Christian life? That we do have joy, but 00:09:50.210 --> 00:09:53.529 it's oftentimes mixed with sorrow. sorrow over 00:09:53.529 --> 00:09:58.029 sin, sorrow over the sins of others, sorrow over 00:09:58.029 --> 00:10:01.649 the effects of sin. The apostle Paul captures 00:10:01.649 --> 00:10:04.950 this brilliantly in Second Corinthians chapter 00:10:04.950 --> 00:10:10.149 six, verses two through nine. Listen to this. 00:10:10.990 --> 00:10:14.870 Paul writes, behold, now is the favorable time. 00:10:15.049 --> 00:10:19.250 Behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no 00:10:19.250 --> 00:10:22.860 obstacle in anyone's way. So no fault may be 00:10:22.860 --> 00:10:26.080 found with our ministry, but listen for the contrasting 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:29.200 words. But as servants of God, we commend ourselves 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:33.860 in every way by great endurance, in afflictions, 00:10:34.200 --> 00:10:37.779 hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, 00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:42.799 riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger, by purity, 00:10:43.259 --> 00:10:46.500 knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:50.179 genuine love, by truthful speech and the power 00:10:50.179 --> 00:10:53.269 of God. With the weapons of righteousness for 00:10:53.269 --> 00:10:56.610 the right hand and for the left Through honor 00:10:56.610 --> 00:10:59.929 and dishonor through slander and praise we are 00:10:59.929 --> 00:11:04.610 treated as imposters and yet are true as unknown 00:11:04.610 --> 00:11:08.289 and yet well known and listen to this as dying 00:11:08.289 --> 00:11:11.970 and behold we live as punished and yet not killed 00:11:11.970 --> 00:11:19.049 as sorrowful yet always rejoicing as poor yet 00:11:19.049 --> 00:11:25.659 making many rich as having nothing yet possessing 00:11:25.659 --> 00:11:29.480 everything. That's the Christian life, friends. 00:11:30.360 --> 00:11:34.039 That's life under the sun. Psalm 34 says, many 00:11:34.039 --> 00:11:36.879 are the afflictions of the righteous. And so 00:11:36.879 --> 00:11:39.940 living the Christian life, living for Jesus doesn't 00:11:39.940 --> 00:11:42.419 eliminate the trouble. It doesn't eliminate the 00:11:42.419 --> 00:11:45.240 sorrow. It doesn't eliminate the pain. Being 00:11:45.240 --> 00:11:48.799 a Christian helps us through it. It helps us 00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:51.700 see beyond it. that because of the sovereignty 00:11:51.700 --> 00:11:55.820 of God, Jesus saved us from our sin and Jesus 00:11:55.820 --> 00:11:59.799 went to prepare a place for us without tears, 00:12:00.379 --> 00:12:05.779 without tragedy, and without turmoil. Because 00:12:05.779 --> 00:12:09.360 of Christ, we're able to look beyond our pain 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:13.500 and beyond our loss and beyond our circumstances 00:12:13.500 --> 00:12:18.730 and still give thanks. You remember that we studied 00:12:18.730 --> 00:12:23.110 First Thessalonians recently. What does that 00:12:23.110 --> 00:12:26.830 book tell us? Among many things, give thanks 00:12:26.830 --> 00:12:31.309 in all circumstances. Jesus makes it possible 00:12:31.309 --> 00:12:34.629 to give thanks even when things don't seem so 00:12:34.629 --> 00:12:38.909 thankful. And this is the problem. This is the 00:12:38.909 --> 00:12:42.149 problem for the people of Ezra's time. Those 00:12:42.149 --> 00:12:46.620 who knew of the splendor of the old temple. They 00:12:46.620 --> 00:12:49.279 knew this new temple would not compare and so 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:52.580 what do they do they weep over it now if they're 00:12:52.580 --> 00:12:56.580 weeping because Sin was the thing that led to 00:12:56.580 --> 00:12:58.779 the destruction of the temple and sin was the 00:12:58.779 --> 00:13:01.480 thing that led to the destruction of Jerusalem 00:13:01.480 --> 00:13:04.740 and if sin was a thing that led them to Deportation 00:13:04.740 --> 00:13:09.899 then they were right to weep But if their mourning 00:13:09.899 --> 00:13:13.840 was simply over a lesser temple then they were 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:18.879 wrong Matthew Henry said, let not the remembrance 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:23.460 of former afflictions drown the sense of present 00:13:23.460 --> 00:13:29.379 mercies. Friends, this week, this Thanksgiving 00:13:29.379 --> 00:13:36.200 may not be your favorite. Time has passed. People 00:13:36.200 --> 00:13:41.100 have passed. Smaller gatherings might happen. 00:13:41.559 --> 00:13:44.350 You might miss people. You might miss the old 00:13:44.350 --> 00:13:47.269 days. There's something about a holiday designed 00:13:47.269 --> 00:13:50.350 to give thanks that because of our losses, we 00:13:50.350 --> 00:13:55.909 feel it more acutely, don't we? Sometimes things 00:13:55.909 --> 00:13:59.389 just don't measure up. Sometimes the new building 00:13:59.389 --> 00:14:02.950 goes up, but it was never intended to amount 00:14:02.950 --> 00:14:07.049 to the former one. That's the thing about the 00:14:07.049 --> 00:14:10.690 Christian life, though. No matter the circumstances, 00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:15.360 We give thanks to God. It's a mark of maturity 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:18.379 to be able to give thanks in difficult situations. 00:14:18.820 --> 00:14:22.379 And this doesn't mean that we have to masquerade 00:14:22.379 --> 00:14:26.080 as though everything is fine. But we simply trust 00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:29.279 in the sovereign will of God to be working out 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:32.059 his purposes in our lives. This means that we 00:14:32.059 --> 00:14:37.000 can call sin, sin. And we can call pain, pain. 00:14:37.620 --> 00:14:43.230 And we can call suffering, suffering. We could 00:14:43.230 --> 00:14:45.750 put a name to the things that bring us down and 00:14:45.750 --> 00:14:50.029 yet because of Christ, we have hope. We have 00:14:50.029 --> 00:14:54.850 Thanksgiving. Someone said this, perhaps Thanksgiving 00:14:54.850 --> 00:14:58.509 and suffering then is less about mustering up 00:14:58.509 --> 00:15:01.690 a certain feeling about our suffering than it 00:15:01.690 --> 00:15:05.269 is about reminding ourselves of the truths that 00:15:05.269 --> 00:15:11.600 define it. Truths like, God is good. God keeps 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:16.899 his promises. Jesus saves us from our sin. The 00:15:16.899 --> 00:15:20.980 Holy Spirit indwells. The Holy Spirit helps our 00:15:20.980 --> 00:15:25.899 prayers on the way up. A truth like, hey, Jesus 00:15:25.899 --> 00:15:28.679 died for me. That's what gets us through these 00:15:28.679 --> 00:15:32.820 things. Because everything that I'm saying is 00:15:32.820 --> 00:15:37.860 seen most clearly on the cross of Christ. As 00:15:37.860 --> 00:15:40.799 you prepared to come forward for the Lord's Supper, 00:15:40.899 --> 00:15:44.759 you might have a mixture of emotions at the table. 00:15:44.820 --> 00:15:48.460 Can you imagine being those who watched Jesus 00:15:48.460 --> 00:15:51.820 be crucified? Surely at the time, if you'd have 00:15:51.820 --> 00:15:54.919 asked somebody, is this praiseworthy? Is this 00:15:54.919 --> 00:15:56.620 something to be thankful for? They would have 00:15:56.620 --> 00:16:00.940 said no. Yet are we not most thankful for the 00:16:00.940 --> 00:16:06.230 cross? Of course we are. We must be. We might 00:16:06.230 --> 00:16:08.789 be singing with our voices, but heavy in our 00:16:08.789 --> 00:16:13.269 hearts, yet it was the cross of Jesus that brings 00:16:13.269 --> 00:16:17.090 us to God. And so we can, and we should, and 00:16:17.090 --> 00:16:21.450 we must give thanks to God, even on our darkest 00:16:21.450 --> 00:16:26.309 days, knowing that the day of weeping, the day 00:16:26.309 --> 00:16:32.250 of the crucifixion was the day that brings us 00:16:32.250 --> 00:16:36.620 thanksgiving. Let me read to you one more text 00:16:36.620 --> 00:16:40.779 as I close. This is familiar to you, but listen 00:16:40.779 --> 00:16:45.220 for the grief, the pain, but also listen for 00:16:45.220 --> 00:16:52.379 the thanks. Isaiah 53, four and five. Surely 00:16:52.379 --> 00:16:56.740 he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, 00:16:56.899 --> 00:17:00.279 yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, 00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:04.640 and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. 00:17:05.039 --> 00:17:08.539 He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was 00:17:08.539 --> 00:17:12.740 the chastisement that brought us peace. And by 00:17:12.740 --> 00:17:17.920 his wounds, we are healed. We have it both in 00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:23.339 there. Grief and yet things, the ultimate thing 00:17:23.339 --> 00:17:27.880 for which to praise God. Praising and weeping, 00:17:28.099 --> 00:17:32.450 but in all things, in all things. giving thanks. 00:17:32.869 --> 00:17:33.269 Let's pray.