September 29, 2024

Rejoice Together

Pastor: Kit Johnson Series: Nehemiah Topic: Expository Passage: Nehemiah 12:27–47

 

Introduction

Our text for this morning is 12:27–47. I decided to pass over 11:1–12:26 because it consists almost entirely of lists, numbers, and genealogies. It would be really challenging to turn it into a meaningful sermon.

But just to fill in the gaps remember that we covered parts of chapter 11 several weeks ago when we were in chapter 7. One of the challenges Nehemiah had to address after finishing the wall was that hardly any people were living in Jerusalem. They were all on their farms out in the country. So, there weren’t enough people in Jerusalem to man it’s defenses or to make it the strong and holy city Israel desperately needed.

Chapter 11 says Nehemiah recruited 10% of the people to live in Jerusalem. Then most of the chapter is something of a census. It details where everyone lived and how they worked together to build a strong community and to advance God’s purpose.

12:1–26 is a genealogy of the priests and Levites since the first returnees had come home almost 100 years prior. All those names don’t mean much to us, but they mattered to Israel. They deeply cared about continuity with their past because they were committed to being the pure people of God. So should we. Obey God’s Word meticulously and strive for holiness.

There’s value and significance in every word of Scripture, including genealogies and lists. But I’m going to jump ahead to next major event in Nehemiah—the dedication of the wall. We’re going to see that Israel gave glory to God through an elaborate, detailed ceremony. It’s a fascinating window into OT worship, and it challenges us to consider our worship. What should our worship look like? What is your role in our worship? What should your attitude be toward worship? These are important questions because you are not a spectator in worship; you are a vital participant. So, my central challenge is this, play your part in corporate rejoicing. I hope you’ll leave with a better appreciation of your role and motivated to fulfill it. The story begins with…

I.  Preparation for Worship (vv. 27–30)

Nehemiah has been a busy man because a lot has happened in only about 3 months’ time. He rebuilt Jerusalem’s wall in 52 days. Only a week or two later, he led Israel in observing the Feast of Trumpets, then the Feast of Booths, and then the covenant assembly of Nehemiah 9–10. Now, he’s leading another major event, probably only a few days later.

You might be wondering why all the religious events of Nehemiah 8–10 come before the dedication of the wall. Why not celebrate the wall right away? Nehemiah clearly prioritized the feasts and getting the people right with God over the dedication ceremony. Dedicating the wall could wait. Obeying God’s will, and getting right with God could not.

I hope you share his passion. You have a lot on your plate. But none of it is worth compromising your obedience and walk with God. Make sure you keep the first things first.

That said, finishing the wall was a big deal. God did something incredible. So, Nehemiah was right to make sure Israel stopped to reflect on what God had done and to worship him for his grace. And the fact that this was a dedication ceremony assumes it was ultimately God’s wall, not theirs. They wanted to use it for God’s purposes more than their own.

So, just the fact that they had this dedication sets two important examples for us. First, take time to celebrate God’s works. When God answers prayer, someone gets saved, or you enjoy a special blessing, celebrate God’s grace. It glorifies God, and it is good for your soul.

Second, remember that everything we have ultimately belongs to God. This building is not here for us; it’s for the Lord. Your home is not your castle; it’s a place to foster godliness. Your car is not a status symbol; it’s an ambulance for helping others. This whole story should cause you to consider how to dedicate the things God has provided to his service and his glory.

Nehemiah wanted to make these things plane, so he planned an elaborate, God-centered dedication ceremony. First, he prepared for elaborate…

Music: I don’t think we generally appreciate how important music was to OT worship. We pay attention to the sacrifices and all the ceremonies, and they are central. But Nehemiah connects this ceremony a couple times to the elaborate music program David and Solomon had established for the temple.

They understood that music is a valuable teacher. It helps people memorize and rehearse truth. Good songs inspire appropriate and powerful affections in keeping with the truth. For example, it moves you from just knowing that God is holy to being in awe of his holiness. Music also gets everyone involved in worship, responding to God and affirming his truth to each other.

Nehemiah wanted music to play a big role in this dedication. Verse 27 says he planned to “celebrate the dedication…” I hope you love singing passionately and joyously to the Lord. God is awesome, he saved you from sin, and his grace flows daily. Yes, preaching his the main event, but music is vital to healthy worship. Get in your seat. Make sure you are fully engaged. And sing passionately.

But making all this happen took some planning. First, Nehemiah had to organize the Levitical singers. Many of them were living in villages outside Jerusalem so they could partially support themselves. Nehemiah called them together. I’m sure they had to tune the instruments tuned. They rehearsed their music. They wanted this to be a symbolic moment that would honor God and make a lasting impression. They prepared to make it excellent. They also prepared to make it holy.

Holiness (v. 30): This purification is not primarily about sinful behavior. Rather, the Law required all sorts of purification rituals, some of which had nothing to do with sin. For example, a priest had to abstain from his wife for a time before entering the tabernacle. And the tabernacle, its furniture, and other objects that cannot sin had to be purified.

These rituals reminded Israel that God is holy and approaching God is a big deal. And God was at the center of this dedication. Nehemiah wasn’t just planning a party. It would be a worship service. So, everyone who attended had to be purified. They probably abstained from certain pleasures, they took ritual baths, and did other things so they would be ready to approach God. The priests even purified the gates and the walls they would dedicate.

God is our Father, and Jesus is our friend, because the gospel has brought us near. But always remember that God is holy. We want our worship services to be happy, warm, and friendly. But always remember that we are approaching a holy God. He deserves your highest respect, a pure heart, and your complete attention.

I’m glad God doesn’t require us to go through a ritual purification before worship, but Jesus said we must worship in spirit and in truth. Get your mind in the right place. As much as possible, deal with sin beforehand. If you are struggling, come begging for mercy. We are in God’s presence. We must treat him as holy.

So, Nehemiah prepared. Then the actual dedication involved two main events—a procession around the new wall and a celebration at the temple. Verses 31–39 describe…

II.  The Procession (vv. 31–39)

The dedication began with a musical procession around the new wall. It’s like a big parade where the marching band is at the center of everything. But since the wall is long, Nehemiah split the route in two and organized…

2 Processions: These are impressive processions. Verse 31 says that “two great choirs” were at the heart of each one. The literal idea is that they were thanksgiving choirs. Their job was to sing psalms of thanksgiving. They probably sang some of the psalms we have in our Bibles. Maybe some of them were written for this occasion. A likely example is Psalm 48 (read).

Remember that the glory of Jerusalem was to glorify God in the earth. Boasting in Jerusalem was boasting in God. So, the choir probably prepared to sing this psalm and psalms like it during their march.

But the choirs had company. The processions included Israel’s political leaders. Nehemiah walked in one of them. And there were instrumentalists. 7 priests blew trumpets in both parades, and others had cymbals, harps, and lyres.

So, this wasn’t some half-baked celebration. These parades were well-organized, excellent musical productions. Israel was determined to give proper glory to God for all he had done. The text also tells us that these 2 processions followed…

2 Routes: Based on the gates Nehemiah mentions, we can trace the parade routes with quite a bit of certainty (slide). Pretty much everyone agrees that that both processions began at the Water Gate.

There they climbed up the wall and both processions marched on top of the walls. Back in 4:3, Tobiah the Ammonite had mocked the builders by saying, “If a fox should jump on it, he would break their stone wall down.” Tobiah obviously underestimated their skill and determination. The walls were strong enough to have large groups walk on the top. In fact, the sections of Nehemiah’s wall that archaeologists have uncovered are 9’ thick!

So, they started on top of the wall at the Water Gate, and one procession went south toward the Refuse/Dung Gate. They all wished they were in the other group. Then the text says they circled around (v. 37) to “steps of the city of David” and then up to the Water Gate.

The other group also started at the Water Gate, but they turned north. Nehemiah says they passed the Old Gate, the Fish Gate, and the Sheep Gate. They stopped at the Guard Gate. So, the two processions circled almost the entire wall. The entire time, the choir is singing, the trumpets are blasting, and the instruments are playing. The whole time, the rest of the people are lining the parade route singing along and reflecting on what God had done.

It’s a highly organized and excellent ceremony. That’s good because American evangelicals are often highly skeptical of ritual, formality, and excellence. We assume they are synonymous with cold legalism and that spontaneity and casual are more genuine. Certainly, there’s a balance. Our worship must be warm, sincere, passionate, and relatable. But God is holy, and worshipping God is weighty business.

I hope you appreciate the hard work our music team puts in. I hope you love excellent music with rich lyrics because you fear the Lord, and you want to worship him worthily.

Returning to the story, the two processions have circled the city. Then the second stage of the dedication is that everyone marched to the temple for a unified time of…

III.  Singing and Sacrifice (vv. 40–43)

This is a massive assembly. Both choirs and all the instrumentalists met in the temple courtyard. and the rest of the people packed in around them for a mighty time of worship in song. Two themes especially jump out. The 1st is…

Joy: Consider the fact that only 3 months prior, Jerusalem was in ruins, a terrible blight on Jewish pride. The people were poor and suffering abuse at the hands of foreigners, some so desperate that they had sold their children into slavery. More importantly, their religion was in shambles, and the people were biblically illiterate and living in sin.

But God had done great things. Jerusalem was recapturing her glory, and they had taken a strong stand against their enemies. Men had hope that they could provide for their families and feel like respectable men again. The temple was getting organized, and the people were getting right with God. Sure, they still had to overcome many great challenges, but God had done great things.

So, the temple courtyard was surely buzzing with joy and anticipation. Then Jezrahiah the choir director introduces the first song. The choir roared, and the entire assembly joined in. Verse 43 says they “rejoiced because God had given them great joy.”

They probably sang a few songs, and then stopped to offer sacrifices. These were thank offerings, not sin offerings, so the people would have been able to eat from them. Then they sang some more. It was a hearty time of joy.

In fact, v. 43 says they were so loud that “the joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar.” I imagine Sanballat and Tobiah sitting at home stewing over what God had done. Then they hear this rumble in the distance. They are so frustrated when they realize what it is.

Remember that 8:10 said, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” There’s a time to mourn and a time to be somber. But joy is a fruit of the Spirit, and the joy of the Lord gives strength.

So, learn from Nehemiah’s example. Notice God’s blessings and celebrate them. For example, when someone says, “How was your week,” where does your mind go? It goes wherever you have chosen to meditate. So, if your answer is always (always is important because some weeks are truly bad, and we must be honest about the burdens) to complain about how busy it was and about all that went wrong, you aren’t choosing joy.

Our God is good. He wants you to be full of joy. And he gives strength through joy. That’s awesome. So, choose gratitude. Celebrate God’s blessings. Be joyful.

Let’s make this church and our worship a consistent time of joy also. We serve a good God. We know the hope and peace of the gospel. We swim in a sea of grace. Sure, we aren’t in glory yet, so bring your burdens too, and let us help you bear them. But wake up on Sundays excited that Jesus is alive and that you get to celebrate it with your family. Tell people what God did in the past week. Be eager to give thanks and to talk of the goodness of God.

The central challenge of this text is, play your part in corporate rejoicing. One of the best ways you can do that is to come with joy and share that joy with others. The 2nd theme that stands out about this assembly is…

Unity: Nehemiah emphasizes the fact everyone was there from political leaders like himself to the priests, to the Levites, and even “women and children.”

Isn’t it interesting how often Nehemiah has noted the inclusion of children in all the various feasts and assemblies of chapters 8–12. He’s mentioned it quite a bit. Children can understand and participate in mature worship. Don’t discount how intelligent they are, what they can absorb, and how well they can behave when trained to do so. Sundays are just as important for their growth as for yours.

That said, Nehemiah emphasizes the united praise of God’s people. It’s a big part of their joy. Their neighbors would not have heard the celebration if Israel were splintered. But their united voice made a mighty impact.

So often, we tell ourselves that pursuing peace within the church doesn’t really matter, that I can hold a grudge against this brother over here or maintain a wall of separation and it doesn’t hurt anyone. It’s simply not true. Every ounce of strife in the church dampens the power of our worship.

Don’t tolerate it. Make it your ambition to help us live Romans 15:5–6, “Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The gospel has made us one. We must glorify the Lord with one voice.

Then be a team player in worship. Embrace your role. Don’t grasping for someone else’s. And don’t pick and choose your passion based on when we are following your preferences. Do everything heartily as to the Lord. Sing heartily. Listen attentively. Love passionately.

That’s what Israel did. The result was a mighty dedication service that honored the Lord and impacted his people. How I pray that we will embrace their spirit and worship with the same team spirit and passion.

But the day isn’t quite done. Rather, passionate worship inspired…

IV.  Planning for the Future (vv. 44–47)

Last Sunday, we saw that one of the commitments Israel made was to give generously to make sure the Levites, the priests, and the temple worship were well-supplied. Now they follow through with that commitment. Verse 44 says they appointed people to collect the tithes, to store them, and to distribute them.

And the people did what they had said they would do. Verse 47 says they brought their tithes based on what the Law required and God’s servants needed.

Why did they make this a priority? Again, vv. 44b–46 say, “For Judah rejoiced…” They understood the value of biblical worship. They treasured the worship God had instituted in the Law and that David had developed. And as they saw the priests and Levites faithfully carrying it out, it brought them joy, and they gave sacrificially to see it continue.

Sunday is the best day of the week. We get to worship Christ together as a family. Get excited about worship and thank God that we get to do it together.

In particular, get excited about biblical worship. Sure, some of the aesthetics are different because we live in a different time, but how awesome is it that we are doing today the very same thing that Christians have been doing since Pentecost. Just like Acts 2:42, we devote ourselves “to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread (LS) and to prayer.” The basic ingredients haven’t changed in 2,000 years.

Conclusion

So, see the significance of what we do every week. Treasure it. Then play your part in corporate rejoicing. Give what God requires just like the Jews did. But even more importantly, come filled with the Spirit, in a spirit of unity and joy. Love people. Sing from your heart. Respond to God’s Word. It will change your life, and you will impact others.

other sermons in this series

Oct 27

2024

A Holy Nation

Pastor: Kit Johnson Passage: Nehemiah 13:15–31 Series: Nehemiah

Oct 13

2024

Godliness Requires Maintenance

Pastor: Kit Johnson Passage: Nehemiah 13:1–14 Series: Nehemiah

Sep 22

2024

Committing to Change

Pastor: Kit Johnson Passage: Nehemiah 9:38 Series: Nehemiah