FBC Morning Light – March 28, 2022

Well, a good Monday morning to you.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend, and thank the Lord for the opportunity to gather together with God's

people on the Lord's Day.

As I mentioned last week, I wasn't going to be in the service yesterday.

I had a little bit of vacation time, and actually I'm recording this while I'm supposed to be on

vacation, but don't tell anybody, okay?

I just appreciate the opportunity to provide these devotionals, and

it doesn't take that much time out of the vacation schedule to do this.

But anyway, it was glad for Gordon Taylor to come to our church yesterday and to preach the Word and

appreciate his ministry of the Word.

And today we're looking forward to a new week of service, and we're focusing in the book of

Nehemiah today in chapter 8.

And this chapter really provides a wonderful template for

the gathered worship of God's people.

Now this is, of course, in the Old Testament context, and just to set the stage for what's going on in chapter 8,

of course, the book of Nehemiah, the big thrust of the book is Nehemiah has gone to

Jerusalem and he's rallied the people to rebuild the wall around the city of Jerusalem, only

taking about six months.

And so you get to the end of chapter 7, and you have a record of

what's taking place after the wall was completed.

So that was near the end of the end of the sixth month.

And the last verse of chapter 7 says, when the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their cities.

So after the wall's completed, a lot of the Israelites, they left the building

of the wall, they went home to their cities or their villages outside of the city of Jerusalem

at the end of the sixth month.

Well then, in the seventh month, they're all in their cities, and then there's been this call for an

assembly of the people of Israel to gather together in Jerusalem, and

the purpose is for the hearing of the Word of God.

In chapter 8 through the next chapter and a half, actually through chapter 9 and beyond,

records what took place during that time.

And what I want to look at in chapter 8 today is just several characteristics

that should be the goal of our gathered worship as we

gather together on the Lord's Day, and we have time set aside for the

worshiping of our God.

What should be involved in that?

Well, notice first of all that there should be a unified desire among God's people for that

time of worship.

So verse 1 says, now all the people gathered together as one man

in the open square that is in front of the water gate, and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of

the law of Moses which the Lord had commanded Israel.

So this is something that everybody wanted, and what a blessing it is on the Lord's Day

when the heart of God's people as a whole, as a unit,

have come together and what they want to do more than anything else is hear God's Word.

Oh sure, they want to sing, they want to praise the Lord, they want to offer those sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving,

but really their heart is, I want to hear what God has to say.

So this is true in verse 1 of chapter 8.

They have this unified desire, and it's a unified desire that centers secondly on the

Word, on the Word of God.

So at the end of verse 1 they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law

of Moses.

And so in verse 2, Ezra brought the law before the assembly of men and women and all who could

hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month.

So they've gathered together on this day because as a whole, as a unified group, because they

want to hear the Word.

So it's a unified desire, and it's a Word centered desire.

And by the way, just a little note, at the end of verse 2 it says that the men and women and all who could

hear with understanding gathered on the first day of the seventh month.

And I think that's an important thing to note, that

in the last several years, for example, I've heard some criticism among

some well -meaning godly people of having things like children's church.

And the criticism has been, you know,

families should be together in the worship service.

They should all be together.

You should teach your children how to sit and sit through a worship service and so forth.

It doesn't matter how old they are from infancy on up.

Well, believe me, I understand that sentiment, and I am appreciative of

parents who want to train their children to sit and listen in the

course of a worship service.

But I don't think you can claim that as an absolute demand of Scripture, that

parents do that.

I think this passage gives us some indication that it's justifiable to have the

worship service where God's Word is opened and it's explained to the adults and those

who can really understand what is being said.

And, you know, it could be argued that young children, you know, most of what's being said in the preaching

service of the Word, most of what is being said, is going to go over their head.

And that should go without saying.

But again, I don't think this is a biblical basis to demand that children not be a

part of the morning worship service, that they go to a children's church.

But I do think it gives us some justification for having a children's

church where the children can hear the Word of God on a level of their

understanding as young children.

And they can, so much more of what is presented is understandable at their age.

Well, anyway, that's just a sidebar.

So, unified desire, a word -centered desire, and then a third quality here is there's a focused

attention, a focused attention.

Verse 3 says, Then Ezra read from the law in the open square that was in front of

the water gate, and he did so, get this, from morning until midday, from

morning until midday.

Again, before the men and women and those who could understand.

And the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.

There is this focused attention.

Everybody's got laser -focused attention on hearing God's Word and hearing what God has to say.

Focused attention.

And then a fourth quality, you see in verse 6, is unified worship.

So, there's unified desire, a word -centered desire, focused attention

on the Word, and then unified worship.

Verse 6 says, Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God.

Then all the people answered, Amen, Amen, while lifting up their hands.

And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

Now, some of the details of this in terms of the expressions of worship,

they're not prescribed, they're described.

So, what did the people do?

They lifted up their hands, they answered Amen and Amen to the

blessing that Ezra offered.

They worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

I'm not suggesting that in our worship services we have to raise our hands.

I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with that, but I don't think it's a prerequisite.

And I don't think it's a prerequisite that we also, you know, increase the spacing between our pews

so that we can all get down on our faces before the Lord.

Now, this is certainly an expression of the heart of humility and a heart of adoration

of our God.

And all the people are doing that.

Unified worship.

And oh, that we would have that in our churches.

That as one, we are offering up our

praise and thanks to our God, and we are bowing our hearts in

humble adoration of our God.

And then next, in verses 7 and 8, there is deliberate, clear

instruction.

So, as the Word of God is opened and it's read, it isn't left there.

So, look at what I mean.

In verse 7, there's this list of people who are different Levites.

At the end of verse 7, it says, they helped the people to understand the law, and the people

stood in their place.

So, they read distinctly from the book in the law of God, and they gave the sense

and helped them to understand.

Now, this is a good case for expositional preaching of the Word.

And this is the methodology that I use in our church, in

almost every service.

I'll open the Word, we'll read the text, there'll be an explanation of what the text means, and

then an application of that to our everyday life, so that we understand the significance of this

passage of Scripture.

This is what's going on.

There is an expositional treatment of the Word of God, so that everybody actually

understands what is read.

In verse 9, as God's people come together, they hear the Word of God, they're understanding what God has to say.

You also see that their heart is sensitive to what they hear.

Verse 9 says, Nehemiah has to speak to the people and say, this day is

holy to the Lord your God.

Do not mourn nor weep.

So, their response, when they heard what God had to say, was

to weep and to mourn over their failure to live up to the

demands of the law.

And so, he says, for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.

And verse 10, he goes on to say, go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, send portions

to those for whom nothing is prepared.

For this day is holy to our Lord.

Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

There's a heart sensitivity to the Word, and there ought to be on our part.

When we hear the Word of God preached and taught, when we realize

just how far short we fall, we ought to respond with a sense of grief and

sorrow and repentance.

And that's what's going to come, by the way, in chapter 9, confession and repentance.

But at the same time, our hearts should rejoice that God has given us the blessing

of hearing His Word, hearing what He wants, what He likes, what He

desires, hearing what He is like, that we might live accordingly.

And verses 10 through 12 show us the next quality of our assembled worship, and that is joy.

Nehemiah tells the people, you know, the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Don't be grieved.

And verse 12 says, all the people went their way to eat and to drink, send portions, and to rejoice greatly.

Why?

Why were they so filled with joy?

Because they understood the words that were declared to them.

Oh, that we would leave God's house on the Lord's Day, joyful

that we've been able to hear the Word of God, understand what it says, and

be able to respond to that clear declaration.

And that all leads, in verses 13 to 18, we'll take the time to read it, but that all leads to

a ready obedience.

When they heard the law of God, one of the things they heard was that we need to keep the Feast

of Tabernacles.

And in verses 13 to 18, that's exactly what they did.

They respond with ready obedience.

So when you think through that list, reflect back on your gathering on the Lord's Day

with God's people.

How was your heart?

How was your heart as you gathered?

Were you one with God's people and a desire to hear God's Word and to

respond to it with joy and rejoicing, eager to hear with understanding

what God had to say?

If so, I trust that at the end of the service and you were able to walk out of

the auditorium, that your heart was rejoicing

because you heard, you understood, and God blessed you with the gift of

responding to it.

So may that be the objective every Lord's Day when we gather together, to have that

kind of worship.

Our Father and our God, thank you for this very practical instruction from your Word, and may

these thoughts, these ideas, serve as

objectives and to fill us with a desire for the right kind of worship

services in our church.

And this we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

All right, well have a good rest of your Monday and hope your week gets off to a great start.

Good day and God bless.