foundation 31

It has been a rough couple of weeks at work. The kind of weeks where everything just keeps piling on you and you lose track of everything else And so I found myself waking up at 5 this morning without a sermon – to busy and too tired to have even thought about what was going to go on here today. Well, that’s not exactly true I did think about it I just didn’t have the time to put the words down on the page. It topped off with a funeral yesterday – a funeral that for me was the epitome of our culture. It was an young girl who had become a star for cancer. She had song written about her. She became a tv celebrity when one of those make a wish tv shows came and re decorated her room. She always had a smile on her face. Everybody talked about the good things. They were positive. But just like the world of tv and radio they only told part of the story. They told you want they wanted you to hear. You see in the midst of this child’s with cancer the original family self destructed. There was divorce. There was remarriage. It became us against them. The last few weeks of the child’s life the father wasn’t allowed to see his own daughter. On the surface everything was sad but ok. We will put on a stiff upper lip and pretend that everything is ok so that we can give our daughter a celebrity send off to heaven where she will become an angel and get her wings. Yes, they actually said that- and it broke my heart. The whole thing reminded me of the shallowness of our culture. There’s a song by a guy named Peter Himmelman that says: My worlds’ a million miles wide but it’s one inch deep. There’s so much to desire but so little to keep. We have fashion, and trips in limousines, smiles for the camera and jokes while just behind the film production there is brokenness all around us. We don’t want to talk about the way things really are. We don’t want a god that will deal with those things and make them better. We want a god that will let us cover that stuff up, bury it in the back yard somewhere and live our lives as if everything is hunky dory. We prefer to live in Disney land than the real world. That breaks my heart because as long as we refuse to live in the real world God will refuse to bring us real healing. God will let us pretend all the way to the grave if we want to. He has made celebrity the king of our land because that’s what we’ve been doing in our families for decades: Putting on a happy face for all those that are watching while we’re dying on the inside. We have become so good at acting the part that when it comes right down to it we don’t think we need a savior anymore. Or if we want to play that game we will create a celebrity Jesus to pretend along with us one that doesn’t expect much of us, one that will turn us into angels when we die because we’re all going to heaven anyway: no matter who our savior is. You see most people don’t think they really need a savior. We’re really not that bad as long as you can look good on the outside then everything will be ok in the end. We live our little self centered lives expecting everything to work out in the end regardless. Just toss up a few prayers and you’ll get your angel wings. Maybe you can’t see it; I don’t know. But when I stop and get off the merry go round it becomes clear to me that we live in a clueless world where everyone just wants to be numb until their bodies are in the ground. We will serve whatever idols we can think of just so we don’t have to deal with reality. I caught a glimpse of the idolatrous nature of both the church and the world this week and at first it broke my heart but then I realized that given the pitiful condition of the world and the church there is a great opportunity to advance the kingdom of God when God gives the word. Everything around us is built on a foundation of sand and a single word from God and it will all come crashing down. Why hasn’t God given the word? Because his people are not ready to pick up the reigns and advance the kingdom. We’re still clueless. But I think he is stirring hearts and laying the ground work to begin to build. I am excited about that while at the same time realizing that means there is much repentance, much change that has to take place in the process. You see in a world without a foundation people who are rooted and grounded upon the solid rock will begin to shine forth like the light of day. I believe that God has called us to be that people. Just like the people of Nehemiah’s time we have been called out of our captivity. I don’t know if you noticed or not but it took around thirty years after they were sent back home before they began to be instructed in the law of God. Now I’m sure they had been getting bits and pieces every week at Sabbath school but now here in chapter 8 of Nehemiah they are finally being extensively taught the law of God. They spent one whole day listening to the law of God be read and “Then on the second day the heads of fathers' households of all the people, the priests and the Levites were gathered to Ezra the scribe that they might gain insight into the words of the law.” 14They found written in the law how the LORD had commanded through Moses that the sons of Israel should live in booths during the feast of the seventh month. 15So they proclaimed and circulated a proclamation in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, "Go out to the hills, and bring olive branches and wild olive branches, myrtle branches, palm branches and branches of other leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written." 16So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim. 17The entire assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in them. The sons of Israel had indeed not done so from the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that day and there was great rejoicing. I want you to notice that this part of the law, which is a picture of Christ being our shelter in the wilderness and some would say a picture of the rule and reign of Christ, had not been observed in a long, long time probably 4 or 5 hundred years. All throughout the time of the book of judges, through Saul, and David and Solomon’s time, and completely through the time of captivity this law had been ignored. Why? Well, probably for much the same reason as we don’t keep some of the laws: Oh it’s not important. God doesn’t want us to do that and so bit by bit the law gets laid aside. Now I want you to understand that I do not expect us to keep this law because it as well as all the other feasts and ceremonies and sacrifices were pictures of the work of Christ. Now that Christ has come those sacrificial and ceremonial observances have been fulfilled in Christ and we are called to remember the work of Christ through baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Notice in the passage that during the time of that feast Ezra read from the book of the law of God daily, from the first day to the last day and they celebrated the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly according to the ordinance. They set aside time to study the law and get familiar with it. They were taught the law and it was explained so that they could understand it and apply it. That is something that is sorely lacking in the church today. Ministers, and I am probably guilty of this as well are talking about the word of God but not in a way that allows the people the ability to apply it to everyday life. Much like we did back in January they called a solemn assembly. Let me read chapter nine to you: 1Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloth and with dirt upon them. 2The descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3While they stood in their place, they read from the book of the law of the LORD their God for a fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the LORD their God. Then the preachers cried with a loud voice to the LORD their God: "Arise, bless the LORD your God forever and ever! O may Your glorious name be blessed And exalted above all blessing and praise! 6"You alone are the LORD You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them You give life to all of them And the heavenly host bows down before You. 7"You are the LORD God, Who chose Abram and brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees, And gave him the name Abraham. 8"You found his heart faithful before You, And made a covenant with him To give him the land of the Canaanite, Of the Hittite and the Amorite, Of the Perizzite, the Jebusite and the Girgashite-- To give it to his descendants And You have fulfilled Your promise, For You are righteous. 9"You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their cry by the Red Sea. 10"Then You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his servants and all the people of his land; For You knew that they acted arrogantly toward them, And made a name for Yourself as it is this day. 11"You divided the sea before them, So they passed through the midst of the sea on dry ground; And their pursuers You hurled into the depths, Like a stone into raging waters. 12"And with a pillar of cloud You led them by day, And with a pillar of fire by night To light for them the way In which they were to go. 13"Then You came down on Mount Sinai, And spoke with them from heaven; You gave them just ordinances and true laws, Good statutes and commandments. 14"So You made known to them Your holy sabbath, And laid down for them commandments, statutes and law, Through Your servant Moses. 15"You provided bread from heaven for them for their hunger, You brought forth water from a rock for them for their thirst, And You told them to enter in order to possess The land which You swore to give them. 16"But they, our fathers, acted arrogantly; They became stubborn and would not listen to Your commandments. 17"They refused to listen, And did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You had performed among them; So they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt But You are a God of forgiveness, Gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness; And You did not forsake them. 18"Even when they made for themselves A calf of molten metal And said, 'This is your God Who brought you up from Egypt,' And committed great blasphemies, 19You, in Your great compassion, Did not forsake them in the wilderness; The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day, To guide them on their way, Nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go. 20"You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth, And You gave them water for their thirst. 21"Indeed, forty years You provided for them in the wilderness and they were not in want; Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell. 22"You also gave them kingdoms and peoples, And allotted them to them as a boundary. They took possession of the land of Sihon the king of Heshbon And the land of Og the king of Bashan. 23"You made their sons numerous as the stars of heaven, And You brought them into the land Which You had told their fathers to enter and possess. 24"So their sons entered and possessed the land And You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, And You gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, To do with them as they desired. 25"They captured fortified cities and a fertile land They took possession of houses full of every good thing, Hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive groves, Fruit trees in abundance So they ate, were filled and grew fat, And reveled in Your great goodness. 26"But they became disobedient and rebelled against You, And cast Your law behind their backs And killed Your prophets who had admonished them So that they might return to You, And they committed great blasphemies. 27"Therefore You delivered them into the hand of their oppressors who oppressed them, But when they cried to You in the time of their distress, You heard from heaven, and according to Your great compassion You gave them deliverers who delivered them from the hand of their oppressors. 28"But as soon as they had rest, they did evil again before You; Therefore You abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they ruled over them When they cried again to You, You heard from heaven, And many times You rescued them according to Your compassion, 29And admonished them in order to turn them back to Your law Yet they acted arrogantly and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your ordinances, By which if a man does them he shall live And they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen. 30"However, You bore with them for many years, And admonished them by Your Spirit through Your prophets, Yet they would not give ear. Therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. 31"Nevertheless, in Your great compassion You did not make an end of them or forsake them, For You are a gracious and compassionate God. 32"Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness, Do not let all the hardship seem insignificant before You, Which has come upon us, our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers and on all Your people, From the days of the kings of Assyria to this day. 33"However, You are just in all that has come upon us; For You have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly. 34"For our kings, our leaders, our priests and our fathers have not kept Your law Or paid attention to Your commandments and Your admonitions with which You have admonished them. 35"But they, in their own kingdom, With Your great goodness which You gave them, With the broad and rich land which You set before them, Did not serve You or turn from their evil deeds. 36"Behold, we are slaves today, And as to the land which You gave to our fathers to eat of its fruit and its bounty, Behold, we are slaves in it. 37"Its abundant produce is for the kings Whom You have set over us because of our sins; They also rule over our bodies And over our cattle as they please, So we are in great distress. I want you to understand that we are in a position much like they were in. They are believers, they have the law of God. They have humbled themselves before God but they are still captives they are still slaves to the Babylonians. God has given them favor but they have not yet been given complete freedom. And so they are in great distress. It is time that we began to get distressed over the bondage that we are in. It is time that we began to pray that God would give us eyes to see the shallowness of our own lives and the way that captivity has us tied up into knots so that we can’t advance the kingdom. I believe that God has begun to move here in Immanuel in a new way. I believe he has started letting us rebuild his church. I believe he is in the process of growing us up while at the same time letting us see just how much growing up we have to do. I know in my own life he is causing distress over the captivity that I am in. He is letting me see that captivity more clearly every single day. The result is that I have begun to cry out to him like never before for deliverance. I have begun to long for the responsibility of freedom for the first time ever in my life. I’m tired of being a comfortable slave. I want to embrace the risk of freedom for the first time ever in my life. That is scary but at the same time it is exciting. I want to reap the rewards of freedom instead of receiving the meager rations of slavery. It is my prayer for all of you that God would open your eyes to see your own captivity and stir up your hearts to break free and embrace the risk and responsibility of freedom. Let’s pray. Oh father, grow us up. Save us from ourselves. Deliver us from our captivity. Give us a taste of real freedom so that we may hunger and thirst for it with all our heart, mind and soul. Be our God and let us be your people. In Jesus’ power and authority I beg of you these things. amen. We come now to the covenant table, the feast of the new covenant. The last verse of our passage today reads like this: "Now because of all this We are making an agreement in writing; And on the sealed document are the names of our leaders, our Levites and our priests." They were signing a covenant with God. And that is what we are doing when we take communion we are renewing our covenant commits to our covenant Lord.