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Wielding the Sword By Rev. Jonathan Gale Sunday 17 July, 2011 Nehemiah 8: 1 – 4a, 8 - 12 81all the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate. They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. 2Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. This was on the first day of the seventh month. 3He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. 4The scribe Ezra stood on a wooden platform that had been made for the purpose; 8So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. 9 And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, ‘This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.’ For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. 10Then he said to them, ‘Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’ 11So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, ‘Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.’ 12And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them. John 17: 13 – 19 13But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. 14I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 15I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. 16They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 17Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am holding in my hand 3 books. Here they are. They don’t look very impressive, do they? Dull on the outside and certainly no pictures on the inside. And yet, these 3 books changed my life: profoundly. The 1st was given to me for Christmas by my mother when I was about 9 yrs old. It is a copy of the New Testament in what was then a brand new translation – The New English Bible. It was a second present, so right off I knew not to expect too much. I could tell it was something she thought I ought to have, rather than something I might want. I opened it, started reading and almost instantly got bored. It meant nothing to me. Nothing, that is, until I met Christ. When I was almost 18 yrs old Jesus came into my life and turned it upside down. I related some time back how I emerged from a particularly rough spiritual period in my life which coincided with my time in the army. I was praying at my bedside, calling out to God and wondering if I had any faith at all, when I read this translation of Romans 10: 13 – 14a: “For everyone, as it says again –‘ everyone who invokes the name of the Lord will be saved’. How could they invoke one on whom they had no faith? That Scripture unlocked for me an overwhelming experience of God’s love and acceptance. The 2nd, complete with a photograph of Faith stuck on the inside – which as you can see has been folded in half (by a young girl I lent it to who decided Faith’s image needed altering) – is the King James version. This is the Bible of my university years and I read it from cover to cover a number of times. It was at this time, when my faith grew exponentially, that I really engaged with the Word of God and began to experience God speaking to my heart as I meditated on the Scriptures. This is what God loves doing; speaking to us through his Word, and allowing it to search our hearts. The 3rd was the first edition of the New International Version and was published in the year I first started working – 1978. It took me a while to wean myself off the King James, but this is the Bible I have used for most of my life. It was only this year that I began to use the New Revised Standard Version. No book on the planet has had a greater impact on Western culture than the Bible. It was written over a 1,500 year time-span by over 40 authors from every walk of life, including kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, shepherds, soldiers, poets, statesmen and scholars. Nevertheless, from beginning to end, its authors spoke on hundreds of controversial subjects with harmony and continuity, outlining one unfolding story: God's love for humankind! The Bible has been read by more people than any other book! It has out-sold every book that has ever been written and it still sells more copies every year than any other book in the world! But of course in the best-sellers lists they seldom acknowledge that. Another unique and related fact is that the Bible was the first major book ever to be printed, on Gutenberg's press. The Bible has been translated and published in more languages than any other book in existence! As far back as 1966 the whole Bible had appeared in 240 languages and dialects, and one or more of its books appeared in 739 additional ones! The Bible, compared with all other ancient writings, has more manuscript evidence than any piece of classical literature. Although originally written on perishable materials, having to be re-copied by hand for thousands of years before the invention of the printing press, its style, correctness and accuracy has been preserved as no other book in all history! The Bible has survived attempts to annihilate it, its historicity has been corroborated by archaeological finds, and it has played a central part in the life of the Church and believers all over the world for many, many years. In short, the Bible is a remarkable book. You’ve probably heard similar diatribes before. They are useful but don’t impress us anymore. Our world is so full of well-spun sound bites on this, that or the other matter. In our consumer society we have products subtly and skilfully sold to us all the time, and we’ve grown hardened to attempts to sell or promote product. The Governor-General, the Rt Hon Sir Anand Satyanand, gets closer to the nub of the matter in words he wrote recently: “The format, type and language might have changed, but God’s written word has not. God is still changing the world through it.” It’s this ability to change human beings that we see in our Old Testament reading from Nehemiah. The Jews have returned from the Exile in Babylon a defeated and depleted people. Their former pride has been knocked out of them and they are gathered (remarkably men and women together – no stratification when the chips are down) before a wooden platform to hear Ezra read the Scriptures. There are no airs and graces here. A straightforward people who, having made a muck of things, are prepared to listen to God: Vs 3 “so the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.” And honestly; if we’re even to begin to engage with the Bible, we need a sense of humility and expectation which brings us to a place where we are prepared to be attentive. God is in no hurry. If we rush in hoping for a quick fix, we won’t, generally, get one. This requires a genuine confession before God that we don’t have the answers, and that we believe he does. It’s useful to notice that the people are both worshipful (in Vs 6 it says “they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground”) and dedicated to the job of listening: (Vs 3 says “he read from it from early morning until midday.” You’ve got to be dedicated to survive that! In this space of humility, worship and dedication where the Scriptures are taught (Vs 9 says “Nehemiah, Ezra and the Levites taught the people.” And Vs 8 mentions “with interpretation, they gave the sense so that people understood the reading.”) – so where humility, worship and dedication to the task of interpreting the Scriptures are present, the Holy Spirit touches the hearts of the people. We read that they were so moved, the Levites had to tell them, “do not mourn or weep. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.” (Vs 9) and “do not be grieved” (Vs 11). You see it is the task of the interpreter or preacher to listen to God for the “rhema” - the lively, relevant, particular, Holy Spirit-charged message of God - to the people of God for the time. As Nehemiah, Ezra and the Scribes are faithful in that task, very soon the people are rejoicing and we read those well-known words in Vs 10, “For the joy of the Lord is your strength”, and they’re off home to share food and drink, because, say the leaders (and they repeat this 3 times!) – “This day is holy to the Lord.” It is a day set aside (holy) by God. This experience of openness to the preached Word, leads to people being moved to tears and then rejoicing. The Word engages them. Soon there is revival: national repentance, a restitution of Mosaic festivals, a renewal of the covenant and the flourishing of Jerusalem. In that sequence is a world of good news!! When the Jews set themselves aside to take in God’s word (God’s message) to them, they rediscover their identity as the people of God. If we take on the task of taking in God’s word with humility, worship and dedication (those qualities exhibited by the Jews in Nehemiah and Ezra’s day) we too will experience revival and rediscover our identity as followers of Christ. In order to do so effectively we need God’s message to us on a daily basis. Like those Jews we need humility: to be prepared to allow God’s Word to search us. The sentence for the day from Hebrews 4: 12 reads 12 Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. The Word feeds us, but just as importantly, it is a sword that cuts through our self-deception and examines us deeply. This is so important because progress in God cannot take place if self-deception is present. As we engage with the Scriptures in an intentional manner, waiting in patience and humility upon God, he will speak to us, he will reveal all manner of things to us - hopefully we will weep too, and God will comfort us with those wonderful words of old, ‘This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.’ And we too will go on our way rejoicing: with one major difference: the Jerusalem we are building does not consist of stone walls, but of people who have received the Good News. You see, the Scriptures play a vital role in forming us as believers for the main task of living and speaking the Good News. As Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3: 15-16 “from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” Everyone – not just the preacher, or the God-botherer in the work station across the way from you, or Auntie Flo who’s always been so religious. You too. “So that EVERYONE who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” I pray that the Scriptures will become part of your daily delight. If like me when my mother gave me my first bible you find the Scriptures boring, there’s no time like the present. Make a start. Charmaine and I would love to share with you the experiences of Christians who have learnt to hear God in the Scriptures. That’s the most important thing. · I’ve shared with you how the word of God had a transforming effect on my life as I grew to love the Scriptures through these 3 bibles. · We’ve seen how the Jews who returned to rebuild Jerusalem after the Exile in Babylon were transformed by the Scriptures as they were read to them by Ezra. · Right here and now there are 3 clear opportunities for getting to grips with the word of God: the 1st is learning to hear God in the Scriptures in your own individual time of prayer the 2nd is the Christian Basics Course which starts in August, and where we will discover, through the scriptures, the essentials of the faith the 3rd is the opportunity to join a Home Group which is centred around bible study These are wonderful ways to learn, in a safe and supportive environment, how to engage with God through the Scriptures. We’d be only too happy to help you. Come and speak to either Charmaine or me! God bless you. |
