When God Rebuilds... Ezra/Nehemiah Part 17 Ezra 4:6-23 The Trouble With Weak Leaders

 May 26, 2024

From The Series: When God Rebuilds…

Part 17 The Trouble With Weak Leaders

Ezra 4:6-23

Mountain View Evangelical Missionary Church

Introduction:

The Bible is a most fascinating book to me. It’s not really one book you know. It is more of a library for life contained in one volume. The Bible is a collection of 66 books written by just over 40 different authors that were written over more than 1500 years. It is not just a history book, although it contains historical records. It has many genres of books. It contains poetry, prophecy, biographies, theology, self-help advice, prayers, leadership training, career advice, organizational advice, relationship advice, marital advice, child-rearing help, multi-generational wealth planning, songs of praise and songs of sorrow, advice on how to live together in community, and how to be a church together. While it contains stories and narratives, it is not a storybook, nor is it a book of myths gleaned from surrounding ancient civilizations as some critics claim. It is a fount of information; if you were to study it every day carefully for a lifetime, you would still find something new each day that God is speaking to you. It has one over-arching theme of the redemption of God’s chosen people being returned to the one true God through the sacrifice of the Son of God.

It is called the Living Word of God because the advice and wisdom that you find in it seems to always apply to the exact stage of life that you find yourself in. It has this wisdom because the entire Bible was coauthored by the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God protects it from corruption through the years.

The reason for asking all these questions will become evident when we look at today’s passage in the Bible. We are continuing through our series, “When God Rebuilds…” and we are examining God at work through His people when they returned to Jerusalem after 70 years in exile under Babylonian rule. I hope that we have been finding parallels between the situation of the faithful remnant in Jerusalem at that time and this faithful remnant here at Mountain View Church. I hope you have been finding inspiration and application for our lives today, in the messages we have gone through together since the start of the year.

I mentioned the Bible is historical, but it is not just a history book. It is not arranged as a history textbook is. The information that we read is not always in chronological order. We see this in both the Old and New Testaments. Sometimes, the pericopes are arranged according to themes or lessons that we are to learn, and this arrangement makes it easier to understand the similarities, or more often by reading contrasting lessons side-by-side.

I have said what I said, and asked all those questions this morning as an introduction to the fact, that if you were paying attention, and you should have been, I hope, you should have noticed that as we were progressing through the Book of Ezra, several weeks ago, between the first and second Sunday in March we skipped over a huge piece of text in our verse-by-verse examination of this Book.

On March 3^rd we covered Ezra 4:1-5, and then the following week we jumped down to Ezra 4:24-5:10. The reason was because this passage that we are studying today is out of chronological order. We see suddenly in the middle of chapter 4, the author, who was probably Ezra himself, inserts a pericope involving two kings and opposition from these kings that does not happen for another 49 years after the account in the first part of Chapter 4.

If you just read Chapter 4 from start to finish without any aides it can be very confusing. Look at verse 5 of Ezra 4, it mentions “Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia”. Then in verse 6, it mentions a king named Xerxes or Ahasuerus (a-has-ser-aurus). These are the Greek and Hebrew names respectively for a king whose Persian name was Khashyar Shah. Then in verse 7, we come across another king named Artaxerxes whose Persian name was Artaxsaca, which means “one who rules through truth”. In your quiet time with your Bible, if you came across this verse without any aids, you would probably think, “Who the heck are these guys” and then simply skip over this section without understanding the full picture of what the passage is trying to say to you.

A little more information before we read today’s passage. Verse 6 references events that occur about 486 BC which is about 29 years after the completion of the building of the temple. The section we examined together last week, and then verse 7 occurs 22 years later than verse 6, in the year 464 BC. Now, this is information that is relevant to the understanding of this portion of God’s Word, and it is not something that you are going to glean for yourself from the plain reading of the Bible. Hence, my mentioning the use of aids like commentaries.

READ EZRA 4:6-23

You may have noticed that I gave today’s sermon the title: “The Trouble With Weak Leaders”. This descriptor of leaders is really subjective. From a secular/historical point of view, the kings that we are examining in the Book of Ezra are listed as some of the most powerful kings of the Achaemenian dynasty.

You can see by the map here, that they ruled over one of the most vast empires covering most of the Middle East and stretching from as far east as parts of modern-day Libya and it included Egypt and parts of Sudan. The empire went to the southwest as far as Afghanistan, including parts of modern-day Pakistan, and up to the Indian border and the Hindu Kush Mountains. This Persian empire stretched north through Turkey, Macedonia, and parts of Greece and modern-day Russia.

You can tell by the different colors on the map how each successive king worked to expand the empire and rule over ever larger areas of land and people. But, it wasn’t a steady progression of expansion. There were rebellions in conquered areas such as Egypt, and those pesky Greeks with their independent city nations were a source of battle losses to these Persian kings. This constant state of war that this empire was in will help to give some additional historical/cultural context needed for us to fully grasp what is recorded here in the Bible.

Keep your finger here in this spot of your Bible and turn a couple of pages to the right to Chapter Six, verse 22 of the Book of Ezra. This is where we left off last week and we were still under the rule of King Darius. Notice Chapter 7, verse 1 says, “After these things, during the reign of Artaxerxes” well, during that gap in time between the end of Chapter Six and the beginning of Chapter 7 represents about 70 years and a lot has happened in the world. But Ezra is not interested in those events, he is telling the history of his people and their return to Jerusalem. As I said earlier, the Bible is historical, it contains historical records, but it is not a history textbook.

Look at 6:22 where it says, “²² For seven days they celebrated with joy the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because the Lord had filled them with joy by changing the attitude of the king of Assyria so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.” The Temple was completed in 516 BC, so we can assume that the events described in this verse were happening at that time.

Now, flip back to where your finger is in your Bible to today’s passage, as I said earlier, verse 6 of chapter 4 occurs in 486 BC. So there was a relative period of peace for the people of Jerusalem for about 30 years. That didn’t stop their enemies from continuing to sow seeds of discontent with the ruling class. Verse 6 tells us that “they lodged an accusation”. “They” were the Samaritans the the other administrators in the surrounding area who were accountable to the Persian King.

The way the Achaemenian Kings ruled was that once a region was captured, they would establish provinces within the region and appoint administrators called satraps who would collect taxes, pay tribute to the treasury of the empire, and ensure peace in the region. They would also ensure that the decrees of the king were carried out.

To recap, we have read about King Cyrus in Chapter 1, verse 1 and Cyrus dies in battle while expanding the Empire in the Northern Frontier. A son named Cambyses II inherits the throne but he is not mentioned in the Bible. Cambyses is the unnamed king who called for the halt of the building of the Temple. He ruled for about eight years and his most significant accomplishment was that he conquered the kingdom of Egypt but was seriously wounded in the campaign. Cambyses died from gangrene in 522 BC. Cambyses had two weak sons who were not worthy of the throne, so Darius, who was a General in the Persian Army, ascended from General to King.

Darius is the king who permitted the reconstruction of the Temple to resume. Darius dies while in preparation for another battle with the city-states of Greece to the North. Darius had an older son, but he was born to a wife with a more common ancestry and Xerxes was born to a daughter of Cyrus the Great. So Xerxes inherits the throne in 486 BC.

If you remember the 2006 movie 300 starring Gerard Butler, Xerxes is the Persian King in the movie who was portrayed by the actor Rodrigo Santoro. Please don’t get your history from Hollywood movies, especially movies based on a graphic novel of historical events. They both are loosely based on actual events.

Xerxes was defeated in Greece, but he also maintained a presence in the area and had several provinces governed by local satraps placed by him. You may also know the name Xerxes from the Bible in the Book of Esther, as he was the king who eventually married Esther and issued a decree saving the death of the Jews from the plot of Haman who was a member of the Persian royal court.

These were some of the worldly events which were behind the delays in the rebuilding of the Temple. As Xerxes takes the throne, there is a revolt brewing in Egypt over unfair taxation. This revolt was aided by military support from Greek cities who were also upset with ill-treatment from foreign-imposed leaders appointed by the Kings of the Achaemenian Dynasty. So Greece attacks the Persian Empire indirectly through military support of the Egyptian revolt.

This brings us to the first point of the sermon: Weak Leaders Cause Bad Policy. The Achaemenian Kings were so obsessed with empire expansion that it led to bad policy. The royal treasury needed to be constantly refilled to pay the armies. This resulted in unfair taxation policies, which in turn caused people to revolt, which caused internal problems within conquered territories, which hampered expansion efforts as battles once won, now needed to be refought.

Weak leaders cause bad policy. Take this for example. This week in my inbox, I came across an article that was examining some of the aid that Canada has sent to the Ukraine. According to an article in the Epoch Times, some of Canada’s donations to Ukraine fall under its “Feminist International Assistance Policy”. This “Feminist International Assistance Policy” was to fund a “Gender-Inclusive” demining effort in the Ukraine. What that means in plain English is that Canada is sending money to Ukraine to make sure that the Ukraine Army hires women to clear minefields that are left behind by retreating Russian forces. Even though Ukraine’s women are better educated and are not being conscripted into battle where they could be maimed or killed.

The total aid package announced by our current government to Ukraine is 3 Billion Dollars of which 4 million dollars is to be used for this inclusive mine-clearing operation. It's not bad enough that we send our sons off to be injured or die in war, this government has a policy to send our daughters off as well, all in the name of equality.

The Bible has several things to say about bad leaders. Proverb 29:2 says, “² When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.” A little further in the same Proverb it has this to say to us, “¹² If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials become wicked.”

These are warnings against and identifiers of bad leaders. According to the Bible, one metric that we can use to determine if a leader is wicked is that people groan. Are we hearing any groaning in Canada today? Have we had our leaders listening to lies? Perhaps lies from pharmaceutical companies? Do we have media in this country that is covering for the leaders by lying as well? Or by ignoring the lies? Perhaps in an effort to repay, in some way, the monies that are covering the salaries of the reporters and news editors?

What about our justice system? Have bad policy decisions eroded confidence in the justice system? Has bail reform brought in through the years, resulted in more of a catch-and-release system than a real justice system? I’m not blaming the current government for all of these policies, I’m just noticing the rapid change, and dare I say, decline of Canada in the past 8 or nine years.

Now, I’m not getting political here. I’m not trying to influence in any way who you should vote for. We live in a free country, for now, and you have the right to place your vote for whichever candidate you feel comfortable with. I am just pointing out that policy decisions have real-world consequences. Oftentimes, our leaders are influenced by the voices of a minority who have maneuvered their way into positions of influence over our leaders. Then the views and opinions of the minority affect how everyone lives.

On the whole, have progressive policies made life in Canada better? Are we a more moral country now that we have removed prayer from schools or public events? I was sharing with a friend the other night that I like watching motorsports. NASCAR is one of the sports that I follow and one of the reasons is that before each race they usually have a pastor offer up a prayer to God for a safe event. Public prayer at a redneck event. I’m sure not everyone in NASCAR is a Christian, but they almost all bow their heads in respect while the prayer is being offered. Fox Sports usually broadcasts the prayer as well during the telecast.

That’s just one small example of how far away from God we have drifted as a nation. Do we even consider the faith of the politicians that we elect? If we want a moral country with moral laws, it starts by electing moral leaders. Once a politician is caught lying to us, or found to violate some ethics ruling, they should be recalled and replaced with someone new. Or, at the very least, not allowed to run again in the next election.

Proverbs 16 is a great piece of wisdom for leaders and citizens alike. The Kings referred to in the Proverb are assumed to be righteous and God-fearing. The type of leaders that we should expect to rule over us. Turn with me to Proverbs 16 and let’s look at that together. Proverbs 16 is found on page 524 of the Pew Bible.

READ PROVERBS 16

So this brings us to our second point of the sermon, leaders are still answerable to God. Proverbs 16:5 made it clear that the LORD detests the proud of heart, they will not go unpunished. How many times have we seen leaders ignore the cries of the electorate and still push through policies that benefit the few rather than society as a whole? The most recent example I can think of was a relatively local one. The City of Calgary introduced a blanket rezoning bylaw that would allow all kinds of high-density housing to take place in every neighborhood across the city to take place. Despite several days of public consultation and over 7,000 submissions from the public, the majority of who were against this blanket rezoning, the city council passed the bylaw. I’m not going to say whether it was a good policy or not, but what I am asking is, if they are willing to listen to the public when there is a major mobilization by the public, then who are they listening to?

I know some of you come from a faith background that teaches the church and the world should remain separate. I’m not sure our culture can afford to think that way for much longer. The pendulum has swung almost too far to the progressive left. The church has remained silent on too many issues. We have not let our influence be felt enough with our lawmakers. A lot of this silence was a result of mistaken policies that determined we had to be meek in order to be winsome for the Gospel. This was a man-centered approach to evangelism. It ignored the words that we just read from Proverbs 16 how the LORD works out everything to its proper end. There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end, it leads to death. The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD. I could go on and on with the verses that speak to God’s sovereignty. We must never forget that very comforting thought. When we share the Gospel, God has gone before us and has either opened that person’s eyes and ears to the message, or He has hardened their hearts for a time to reject the Gospel. Either way, we are not responsible for the results, we are only to go forth and obey by sharing the message of Jesus Christ

Now, we have seen this before in history. The very conservative Victorian era was a direct response to the loose morals and injustices of the Georgian era that preceded it in England. The Georgian era was marked by strict class distinctions and unfair labor practices against women and children in an effort to grow the industrial revolution. Unequal justice was dispensed between the aristocrats and the working class. Oftentimes, rights were ignored in favor of individuals with status. The African slave trade operated at its height at this time.

The result? There was mass migration to Canada and the American colonies. People found hope in the new evangelical movements such as the Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, Methodists, and Quakers. Revivalism was a big thing and many came to Christ through revival meetings and traveling itinerant preachers.

I feel we are on the cusp of something similar today in the West. There is revival going on now primarily in Africa and Asia, but I am hearing whispers of discontent from younger people who are waking up to the insanity of the woke crowd. This is a time of boldness for the church. We should be speaking the truth unapologetically into peoples’ lives without being rude, judgmental, or quarrelsome. We can be passionate about Jesus without getting caught up in emotional arguments. Simply present the truth of the Gospel and show what the Bible says about these matters. Show how you follow what the Bible teaches, not just what you think life should be like.

Let’s return to today’s passage and we are going to jump down to verse 20. “²⁰ Jerusalem has had powerful kings ruling over the whole of Trans-Euphrates, and taxes, tribute and duty were paid to them.” In preparation for this message, I did a quick review of all the Jewish Kings that the Israelites had ruling over them from Saul to Zedekiah. Of the 42 Kings and 1 Queen who ruled over the Jewish Kingdoms established by Yahweh, only 9 could be considered good or better than good. 3 were neutral in their ruling, they were either good but not better, non-compliant, or wayward. The rest varied from bad or rebellious, to wicked, evil, or idolatrous. Only 21% of the Kings were considered good which means that 8 out of 10 rulers were neutral or worse. No wonder the people continuously walked away from God. So this begs the question: do the people or the leaders cause the degradation of the culture? In a democracy, we have a bit more control and influence over the direction, provided we do not withdraw but remain engaged with the issues and the politicians.

When we refuse to hold our leaders to account for the ills that they do, they will just continue on the same path unchecked. Even church leaders are to be held to account. This brings us to the final point of today’s sermon: The church is not immune to weak leaders.

The Bible is clear on how church leaders are to function. Jeremiah 23:1 and 2 can apply to both secular and church leadership, but I think it carries a more ominous warning for those who “tend to God’s people”, “¹Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD. ² Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the LORD.” It is a warning to church leaders to not be too contentious or too arrogant in you actions and decisions that could cause divisions in the church.

Church splits are all too common today, and people are quick to be offended while only concentrating on what affects them personally rather than what is beneficial to the church as a whole.

1 Timothy chapter three has some very convicting words. Let me tell you, I am just as convicted by these words as I hope you are. They cause me to examine my life and look to clean up the areas where I am not maintaining the standard that God set here. We don’t have time to go over the whole section, but verses 1 to 12 of Chapter 3 are very convicting. Let’s zero in on what verses 4 and 5 say to us, “⁴ He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. ⁵ (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?).” Paul is referring to those who are the shepherds, the primary leaders of the church, the elders, and pastors. Or what we call board members here at Mountain View Church. God calls us to be good stewards of all that He places us in charge of.

Jesus gives us further insight as to the attitude and approach we are to take when we are in leadership roles within the church. Mark 10: 42-45 says, “⁴² Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ⁴³ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

It is from these verses that the term “servant-leadership” originated. We, who are in church leadership can be bold, but we must also be humble. We are not to “lord it over” those who we lead. Respect must be earned not demanded. Obedience to God’s Word is taught by first modeling it in our lives.

We have the best example of all, in the life of Jesus Christ. A member of the Trinity, a being and a person who was God but also stepped down from Heaven and entered into His creation through time and history. This God also became a man and added human flesh to His perfect Being. He lived a perfect and sinless life as an example for us. But, more than just an example, He lived a perfect life so that he would become the suitable substitutionary sacrifice for our sins.

Jesus lived a perfect life so that He could satisfy our sin-debt to the Father, thus allowing us to once again be in a right relationship with God, based solely on the Righteousness of Jesus Christ alone, who bestows that righteousness on us as a gift we call Grace. The Bible describes our good deeds as filthy rags. These are removed from us and we wear the Royal Robe of Righteousness when we accept the Gift of Grace.

While Shepherds are to be kind and gentle most of the time. There are occasions when the shepherd must defend and protect the flock. The words from Acts 20:28-29 offer us guidance in these instances “²⁸ Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, ^y which he bought with his own blood. ^{a 29} I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.”

The Book of Acts goes on to warn that these wolves will try to draw away disciples after them. They will distort the teachings of Jesus, to gain followers or fame for themselves. Perhaps money is their main motivation. This is why I believe in congregational-led churches. Elders and pastors are important for the care of the flock, but the congregation is to care for the theology of the church. They are to be the ones who act like the Bereans and check to make sure that what is being preached is correct, and they are to guard the doctrine of the church against cultural drift by the denomination as well.

CONCLUSION

What about you? The average guy and gal sitting in the chairs. I’m going to start with the wider picture. What is your obligation towards God? I have been emphasizing obedience and what the Bible says about believers being obedient to God’s teaching, but what other ways are we to be obedient?

Malachi 3:8-10 challenges us with these instructions, “⁸ “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. ⁹ You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” We are to make sure that we are giving to God all that He deserves. When we hit hard times, is when He challenges us to test Him and see if He will remain faithful or not. Giving our tithes and offerings is a form of worship to God and a way that we demonstrate belief in His faithfulness.

The author of Hebrews gives us further counsel in chapter thirteen. We don’t have time to go through the entire chapter 13 of Hebrews but let’s zero in on verse 17, “¹⁷ Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.” Be willing to submit to the decisions of the board and the entire leadership team. Be open to the counsel of your pastor and board members. If they are following God, then they should be listened to.

This next bit is where I will open myself to the most criticism. Because of this possibility, most pastors fail to teach these areas of the Bible because it can be uncomfortable and it opens them to accusations of twisting Scripture for personal gain.

1 Timothy 5:17-18 says, “¹⁷ The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. ¹⁸ For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.” As a way of explanation, I am going to quote a passage from John Piper’s website “Desiring God”.

So I would say 1 Timothy 5:17 — “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching” — probably means, “Be doubly sure that the elders are honored and are paid enough to meet their needs, like the widows.” And the fact that he says, “especially those who labor in preaching and teaching” probably implies with the word labor that this is their job. They are giving themselves to the flock, and the flock should take care of them financially with a double sense of duty that they feel for the widows. Not that the elders are more valuable as human beings than the widows, but that, along with the value of the person, there’s the huge value of the ministry of the word — labor in preaching and teaching — on which the whole life of the community rests.

Pastor John goes on, “So, my counsel to churches would be that the basic principle for pastoral remuneration would be something like this: Let it be a reflection of the honor you put on the ministry of the word of God. And let it be a commitment to lift financial burdens from the pastor so that he can give himself totally to prayer and to the word and to the flock.

And if it comes to mind that we need to safeguard against a pastor’s greed, the answer to that concern is that it should have been taken care of when the church assessed the elder’s or the pastor’s fitness for the office at the very beginning. Because 1 Timothy 3:3 says an overseer must not be “a lover of money.” You don’t even hire somebody who looks like he might be in it for the money. So, the summary, then, is this: don’t call a pastor who’s trying to get rich, and don’t be a church that’s trying to keep him poor.”[i]

If you wish to think about this further, I encourage you to find the Sermon on my blog, the address is on the bulletin and there is a link from the church’s website.

Pastor Paul’s Points:

1) Weak leaders cause bad policy.

2) Leaders are still answerable to God.

3) The Church is not immune to weak leaders.

Questions to meditate on this week:

1.     How far should Christians get involved in politics?

2.     What standards should we hold our leaders to?

3.      How can we help our church leaders be the best that they can be?

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[i] https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/how-much-should-pastors-make#:~:text=And%20here's%20what%20it%20says,7%2C%20calling%20them%20both%20Scripture.

When God Rebuilds... Ezra/Nehemiah Part 16 Ezra 6:1-22 Look What God Can Do With a Few Dedicated Disciples!

 May 19^th, 2024

From The Series: When God Rebuilds…

Part 16 Look What God Can Do With a Few Dedicated Disciples!

Ezra 6:1-22

Mountain View Evangelical Missionary Church

Here we are again in the series “When God Rebuilds…” learning what God’s Word has to say to a church in a rebuilding stage in its life cycle. I think we can all agree that this is the stage that our church is presently experiencing. We are either rebuilding or we are dying, and I don’t think that Jesus is quite finished with this church yet.

It has been a few weeks since we have been back in the book of Ezra. Over the last four messages together, we have added to our main investigation of the teachings in Ezra by examining Psalm 137 which gave us some insight into the emotional struggles of the dispersed Jewish people while they were under the Babylonian rule and were still banished from their homeland.

Then we took a couple of weeks to look at what Yahweh said to His faithful people in Jerusalem through the prophet Haggai. We saw how the LORD reminded His people that He was with them and how the LORD encouraged the remnant to join Him in the work that He was accomplishing there in Jerusalem. Two weeks ago we saw how Haggai reminded God’s people that the LORD keeps His covenants with His people and sometimes Yahweh decides to replace an existing covenant with a new and better covenant. But God never completely abandons His elect.

Last week, we saw how the prophet Zechariah was used by God to tell His people to return to Him. To return in their hearts and in their obedience and through their worship of the One True God. By the way, if you missed any of these messages, you can find the audio recordings on the church’s website as listed in the bulletin and you can find the printed versions on the blog site, again, listed in the bulletin.

With that additional background information in mind, let’s open our Bibles together to the 6^th chapter of the Book of Ezra, and let’s see together what the LORD has to say to us today.

READ EZRA 6:1-12

OK, let’s stop there for a couple of moments and look a little deeper at what we have just read. Now to understand where we are in this great narrative of the temple being rebuilt, we need to back up a few verses to understand what we just read. The context of the end of chapter five is; that so far in the book of Ezra, we have seen that the faithful that had returned from Babylon, a total of about 50,000 people had set up an altar on the site of the previous temple, the one that Solomon built and the group had laid the foundation down according to the dimensions that God had given them.

Then, some of the Samaritan neighbors decided that they wanted to participate, and in an effort to remain faithful to the proper worship of Yahweh, the Israelites rejected their offer of help. This resulted in a stop to the work on the temple for a period of about 16 years and a ruling governor for the area named Tattenai asked for a ruling from the King for someone at court to investigate if these people in Jerusalem had actually been given permission from the first king, King Cyrus, to rebuild the temple.

Look with me now at Ezra, chapter 5 and verse 17.

READ EZRA 5:17

So, that was Tattenai requesting a search of the royal records to take place. We often think of these ancient civilizations as quite primitive and unsophisticated, but some of them were really quite efficient in their administration and meticulous records were often kept by the most successful empires. Imagine trying to rule over a vast amount of real estate inhabited by numerous people groups with almost nothing culturally in common.

 

To give you some perspective of these so-called primitive civilizations. The Gold star on the left of the map is Jerusalem, the purple star in the middle of the map is where Babylon was located and that was the capital of the Babylonian Empire. The red star on the far right of the map is where Ecbatana was located and it was the capital of the Persian Empire. Look at the vastness of this empire. Now what were the records of this decree doing in this far-flung city, one so far removed from the sight of the construction? Well, extra-biblical historical records indicate that Cyrus spent the first summer of his reign in this city, the capital of the Mede province.

We will read in a couple of weeks how it took Ezra four months to travel from Babylon to Jerusalem.

The current king… Darius issues an order for the royal records to be searched for any decree from the previous king regarding the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. They turn up in Ecbatana and the record received back from this inquiry is duly noted here in chapter 6.

A careful comparison of the edict from Chapter 1 and this edict will show that they are not worded exactly the same. Skeptics will use this discrepancy to instill doubt about the trustworthiness and accuracy of God’s Word. The differences are easily explained. The wording from Chapter 1 may have been the script from the official proclamation or from one of the posters that would have been displayed in the region announcing the royal decree. The quote from chapter 6 may have been the wording extracted from the royal minute book of the original decree.

We see from the record that the construction was indeed permitted by King Cyrus. This brings us to our first point in the sermon: The LORD preserves His plans. The LORD’s plans that I am referring to are not just the plans that were given to Cyrus some 16 or 17 years earlier than where we are studying today.

I am not just talking about the record from Ezra Chapter 1, verse 1 where it says, “¹In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:” From Scripture, we can see that the LORD was the one responsible for stirring the heart of Cyrus to allow God’s people to return to Jerusalem, thus ending their punishment from the LORD. But these are not the only plans of God that I am referring to.

If you remember from the message in the first week of January, I showed that Cyrus, the king who would facilitate the repopulation of the ruined city of Jerusalem was first mentioned by the prophet Isaiah, some 200 years before Cyrus was even born!

Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 44 of the Book of Isaiah and let us look together at what Yahweh had to say about Cyrus. Let’s start at verse 24. You will find Isaiah 44:24 on page 592 of the Pew Bible. I know we have read these before, but a bit of review will be good if it allows us to see the sovereignty of God in action. We throw that phrase around, “God is Sovereign” but I think it sometimes doesn’t sink in for us.

READ ISAIAH 44:24-45:6

Remember, 200 years before Cyrus was even born, these words from God to His people were given through Isaiah as a way for God to keep His people faithful to Him and to give them hope to sustain them through the coming days of exile. This prophecy was a way for the LORD to preserve His people during this time. We will see a little later another way that Yahweh preserved His people.

I wonder if anyone in the court of King Cyrus had the courage to read to him the words from Isaiah. I’m sure there must have been some Jewish scholars present there. Cyrus seemed to have been a wise king open to learning from the many cultures contained in his kingdom. He was wise enough to order the return of all the sacred temple objects held in the Babylonian treasury. Items that would have been needed to perform the duties prescribed in the Hebrew texts for the proper worship of Yahweh and the proper offering of the atoning sacrifices.

Turn back to today’s passage in Ezra, and look closer at the instructions in verse 4. “Three courses of large stones and one of timbers”. These large stones were the primary reason for the delay. We will see next week how the use of large stones will once again cause problems for the residents of Jerusalem. Notice, that verse 4 also explains the source for the funding of this project; the funds were to come from the royal treasury collected by the governor of that region. Think of it as local tax dollars going back into the community to fund local infrastructure. It wasn’t going to affect the capital region much, so the King could afford to be somewhat generous.

In verses 8 to 10, we see that the money was also to fund all the needs required to carry out the proper worship of Yahweh and the support of the priests while they were carrying out their duties. The catch? Well. The good King Darius was looking for prayers of well-being for himself and his sons. I don’t think this indicates that Darius was a believer in Yahweh, he was probably just playing the odds and asked for the same thing from all the temples in the empire.

Keep in mind that God’s people were surrounded by cultures that were polytheistic in nature and some cultures worshipped multiple Gods. What Darius was doing here, reminds me of what we see present-day politicians doing when they visit mosques and temples. I’m not saying today’s politicians are seeking the blessings from the many gods, but they are courting the votes of the devotees.

We see that there was also a penalty for those who defied this royal edict. It is not recorded if those Samaritans who caused trouble for the Israelites faced any consequences for the delays that they caused. Some of them seemed to have been skillful leaders who were wise enough to present the delay as a desire for clarification rather than outright opposition to the project. This section is wrapped up with the royal stamp of approval from the current King Darius.

Let’s look at the next section from today’s text and read together what else God’s Word has for us.

READ EZRA 6:13-18

We see here in this section that the very same people from Chapter 5 who sent the letter causing the disruption, were not the same ones who carried out the decree from both the original King and the new decree from the present King. Scripture says they “carried it out with diligence”.

What an encouragement it must have been to the Jewish people to not only have their project confirmed by the authorities but also heartily endorsed through the provision of the funds to complete the project. Praise be to God for the provision of His Work. Do you see how God will provide for those things that are important to Him? The provision of these funds reminds me of how God provides for each of us all that we need and He only asks that we willingly and happily give a portion back to Him through our tithes and offerings. Just as God did not drain the royal coffers to fund His house, God does not ask for much to sustain His work today in this community through the work of this church. This provision acts as an encouragement for those who are engaged in God’s work.

Look at verse 14. It wasn’t just the priestly class that was involved in the temple project. Now the elders of the Jews, the leaders of the community, were getting involved. Look at what God can do with a few dedicated disciples! These types of projects require multiple efforts from numerous people to complete. Once they begin, they will gain momentum as more people see the small successes happening and they will join in.

One example from this church is the men’s breakfast. It first started with just a few men from this body, and now it has become a larger gathering of men from throughout the community. Another example is the upcoming Women’s event. I know it hasn’t happened yet, but Marilyn received a response from someone living in the community who wanted to say that she could not attend because of a scheduling conflict, but she appreciated being invited and was thankful that someone from the church reached out.

Did you know that all of you can be evangelists? There is no excuse for anyone not to be an evangelist for Jesus Christ. The simplest way that you can evangelize to your neighbors, friends, or lost family members is… to simply invite them to church.

In a study referenced in Dr. Thom Rainer’s 2008 book, The Unchurched Next Door, “82% of the unchurched are at least somewhat likely to attend church if invited.” This means 8 of the 10 people you pass on the street, live next door to, work in the cubicle beside, and email on a daily basis are likely to attend church with you if you simply invited them. I know what you're thinking, “that’s just one study from one book somewhere else”.

Nope. This is not a one-off statistic to prove a point. Other studies asking similar or the same question in their surveys consistently show 63%-85% of respondents are likely to attend if only they were extended an invitation.

This is great news... if we capitalize on the world’s willingness while it still exists. The problem is we aren’t capitalizing. According to the same study found in Rainer’s book, "only 2% of church members invite a single unchurched person to church each year." That is how this church will rebuild and grow again, through the invitations that you are willing to extend to someone new each week.

The guest we had last week, was here simply because one of us took a few minutes to introduce himself to a new neighbor and invite her to join us here on Sunday.

Only a couple of hundred years ago, Europe was the largest centre of Christianity in the world where 70% of the population were Christians. Today, only 20% of the continent self-identify as Christians. Today, Africa and Asia are the centers accounting for the majority of the growth of Christianity in the world.

How can we prevent Canada from becoming like Europe? I keep hearing people say, “We need a revival to happen. We need the work of the Holy Spirit to come upon our land once again.” I agree, we need God to be in this work. But God not only decrees the events of the world, He also decrees the means of how it will take place. God chooses to work through dedicated disciples! The church in the West has become complacent, we think that evangelism is the work of missionaries or trained professionals.

In Acts Chapter 1 and Verse 8, Jesus said this to His followers, “⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Notice the pattern here, first, we start local, and then regional and national, and then international. Notice the word “and” not “then” is used. We don’t just start local, and then, move onto regional and national. We add national to our continuing local efforts.

Security in our salvation is fantastic, it is a gift from God. But security is no excuse for complacency. Too many in the church today have developed Christian consumerism. Too many people are only concerned with what they can get from church, rather than thinking, what can I give to the church and her work? How can I serve?

I read a quote this week from the British missionary Hudson Taylor and it went like this, “...unable to bear the sight of a congregation of a thousand or more Christian people rejoicing in their own security, while millions were perishing for lack of knowledge, I wandered out on the sands alone, in great spiritual agony; there the Lord conquered my unbelief, and I surrendered myself to God for this service.” - J. Hudson Taylor, England April 1865.

Let me repeat that, “...unable to bear the sight of a congregation of a thousand or more Christian people rejoicing in their own security, while millions were perishing for lack of knowledge, I wandered out on the sands alone, in great spiritual agony; there the Lord conquered my unbelief, and I surrendered myself to God for this service.”

Praise God that the Lord was able to use this man's restlessness to carry out missionary work in China, but I think Taylor touched on something very profound, “The security of the Christians at home” led to their complacency and they no longer saw the work of evangelism as something that was required of them. Look at all the empty churches and cathedrals in Europe today as the fruit of that mindset.

The instructions in Acts Chapter 1 were given to a small number of disciples, who went out against terrible odds and endured terrible hardships, all to spread the Good News of the Gospel to a lost and hurting world. A few dedicated disciples grew the church and spread the word to a point where almost everyone on the planet has heard the name of Jesus.

These people spread the good news of how God sent His only Son, to take on human form and add that humanity to His perfect Divine form and to walk among us and live a perfect and sinless life. Not just to be an example of how we are to live and treat each other, but more importantly, Jesus became the perfect lamb of God and He became the only acceptable sacrifice that could pay our sin-debt to the Father.

Aren’t you glad that Jesus didn’t complain about being burnt out or overburdened with the work that the Father had given Him? Aren’t you glad that Jesus didn’t quit before He got to the cross? Thank God that He didn’t recant all that He had done after being dragged before the Sanhedrin at midnight and beat and spit on. Thank God that Jesus didn’t act like Peter and deny the work that He was sent to do.

I know you think that it’s not easy to talk to someone about Jesus.  But, let me tell you it is not hard. How difficult is it to invite someone to come to church? During times like we are going through right now, don’t tell me you don’t know anyone who could use a little good news and a little hope in their lives right now.

Is this church guilty of the habits that so upset Hudson Taylor in his day? For some time now I have watched my wife live out her motto, “Once you are saved, it’s not about you anymore”. In other words, “Once you are on Team Jesus, it’s your duty to scout for the next player to join the team”.

The easiest way to do this is to simply invite someone to church. Only 2% of Christians are willing to do that this year, while 60 to 85% of people asked would be willing to attend. Do you want to know what the mission of this church is? That right there is the mission of the church, invite a friend!

Return with me, if you will, to verse 14 of today’s chapter. “¹⁴ So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah,”. You will notice an extra insert in the middle of the bulletin this morning. On that insert is some of the teaching that Zechariah was sharing with the people of Jerusalem.

We don’t have time to go through the entire Book of Zechariah right now, so I put together a bit of a teaching tool to help you understand the visions contained in the first 6 chapters of the book. Your homework this week is to read through to the middle of the sixth chapter of Zechariah. These were eight visions that Zechariah received from the LORD and then he shared them with the faithful remnant there in the city.

Notice that the first vision affirms that the building of the temple was from God, and it was His plan for this to be completed. Look at the fourth vision. Zechariah confirms that Joshua has been chosen by Yahweh to be the High Priest of the completed temple. Joshua is the one who is to re-establish the proper worship of the LORD among the Jewish people.

We see in verse 15 of chapter 6 of Ezra that the Temple was indeed completed in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. This was four years after the work was halted by the enemies in the region. This temple was completed in the year 516 BC which was exactly 70 years after Solomon’s temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC. The seventy years predicted in the Book of Daniel.

So the LORD preserved His people through the exile, through the delays of the reconstruction and we see how He even preserved His practices for His people. Then they dedicated the temple and offered up sin offerings first for the priests and then for the people of Israel. Notice in verse 17 that they took it upon themselves to offer up sacrifices for the people of all twelve tribes of Israel. Even though, the Kingdom of Judah was mainly comprised of the people from the tribe of Judah and Benjamin as well as the priests from the Levites. Even though the southern region of the divided kingdom only accounted for a small minority of the entire nation, nonetheless, sacrifices were offered for them all.

Read with me the final portion of today’s passage that we will look at this morning.

READ EZRA 6:19-22.

We see in this section how the LORD preserved His practices as well, during the exile of His people. Arguably, one of the most important feasts on the Jewish religious calendar is the observance of the Passover. This was so important, that our Lord Jesus Christ returned to Jerusalem to observe it with His disciples the week that He was crucified.

We see here in verse 19, on the fourteenth day of the first month, that the exiles celebrated the Passover. This would have been the first time in seventy years that they would have been able to properly observe these rituals. The Passover required Temple sacrifices in order to complete it properly. From the time of Moses until the time of completion of Solomon’s Temple, these Passover sacrifices were carried out at the site of the Tabernacle. Then they shifted to the newly built temple. Now, they could resume at the freshly completed reconstruction of God’s House.

Look at verse 20, where it says, “The Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their relatives the priests and for themselves.” Almost 600 years after this event, the people of Jerusalem would slaughter another innocent for the sins of others. That is why Jesus is referred to as the Passover Lamb. Jesus fulfilled this ritual once for all.

These were the very sacrifices that the author of Hebrews is talking about in Chapter 10, when he wrote,  “¹ The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.” Then verse 4 makes it completely clear, “⁴ It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”

Several times in the Old Testament, God uses the observance of the Passover Feast to try and gain the attention of His people.

The prophet Jeremiah was sent to the people to warn Judah before the fall, and this even happened after the fall of the Northern Kingdom to the Assyrians. We read in the seventh chapter of his book how Jeremiah warned the Judeans, “²¹ “ ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! ²² For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, ²³ but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you. ²⁴ But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.”

We see from this passage in Jeremiah why Yahweh did not just abandon His people when the temple was destroyed in 70 AD. It is our obedience that the Lord desires most from us. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey my commands”. Our obedience to the shedding of blood and the burning of animal flesh is not what God desires from us. It is the obedience ot the new covenant, to the teachings of Christ.

CONCLUSION

Let me conclude by asking these two questions from the bulletin, and I ask that you meditate on them this week:

First, What must we do, to be considered “His people”? To be considered Christian, we must put our faith in the completed work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. We must believe that He and He alone paid our complete sin-debt and that He was who He said He was and proved it by rising from the grave three days after His burial. He was God. Second, we show that we are His people by the way that we live our lives. I don’t mean that we live perfect lives, but rather we live lives in obedience to His teachings and commands. One of the greatest commands that He gave us is known as the Great Commission, to spread the Gospel, and this morning I think I showed you the easiest possible way to be in obedience to God, invite someone to church! If one comes, then invite another, then another until we fill this sanctuary for His Glory.

Now I’ll ask the last questions on the bulletin. Based on how I live, would the LORD consider me one of “His people”? I’ve mentioned Galatians chapter 5 and the fruit of the Spirit several times. That is my go-to verse to judge whether someone is following the Lord or not. We should be able to see evidence of God at work in our lives.

Finally, What would the world think? If the world can not see a difference in the way that you live and the way your lost neighbor lives, then my friend, you need to spend more time in the scriptures and in prayer and ask the Lord to search your heart and your life and to show you what He is asking you to change.

Let me send you off with these words:

From Romans 11:36, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.”