Latest / Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons / Praising and Weeping (Ezra 3:8-13)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple

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Praising and Weeping (Ezra 3:8-13)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple · Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons

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  Ezra 3, 8 through 13. Today I was wondering when's
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  the last time we were in Ezra. I scoured our
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  website to look and we haven't had a website
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  with sermons on it for all that long, maybe 10,
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  15 years, but no sermons on there from Ezra.
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  So if this is your first time in Ezra or perhaps
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  you just haven't been there in a long time. You
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  can find Ezra in the Old Testament. If you run
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  into Nehemiah, you've gone too far. Going to
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  Esther, gone too far. You're going to find it
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  after Samuels and Kings and Chronicles. And I'll
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  give some historical background on this as we
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  go along. We're going to look at Ezra 3, 8 through
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  13. And it reads in this way. Now, in the second
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  year after the coming to the house of God at
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  Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel, the
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  son of Shealtiel, and Yeshua, the son of Jezodach,
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  made a beginning, together with the rest of their
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  kinsmen, the priests and the Levites and all
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  who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity.
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  They appointed the Levites from 20 years old
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  and upward. to supervise the work of the house
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  of the Lord. And Yeshua with his sons and his
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  brothers and Kadmiel with his sons, the sons
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  of Judah together, supervised the workmen in
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  the house of God, along with the sons of Hananadad
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  and the Levites, their sons and brothers. And
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  when the builders laid the foundation of the
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  temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments
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  came forward with trumpets, and the Levites,
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  the sons of Asaph, with cymbals to praise the
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  Lord, according to the directions of David, king
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  of Israel. And they sang responsively, praising
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  and giving thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
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  for his steadfast love endures forever toward
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  Israel. And all the people shouted with a great
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  shout when they praised the Lord. because the
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  foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.
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  But many of the priests and Levites and heads
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  of father's houses, old men who had seen the
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  first house wept with a loud voice when they
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  saw the foundation of this house being laid.
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  Though many shouted aloud for joy so that the
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  people could not distinguish the sound of the
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  joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping.
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  For the people shouted with a great shout, and
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  the sound was heard far away. This is God's holy
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  word. Let's pray. Father, on a night when we
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  give you thanks, we certainly give you thanks
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  for this word. We thank you for a holy word,
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  an inspired word, an infallible word. Father,
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  the word is what we need. I ask that you would
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  guide us through it tonight. We pray in Christ's
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  name. Some of you who have known me for a long
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  time know that prior to seminary and during seminary,
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  I had a different career. I was a newspaper reporter
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  for several years. I was a young reporter right
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  out of college, and if you know anything about
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  young reporters, they don't get the most scintillating
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  of stories all the time. They don't always get
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  the front pagers or the six o 'clock news. One
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  of the stories I had to cover often as a young
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  reporter was the opening of a brand new business
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  or the opening of a brand new nonprofit organization.
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  There would usually be some sort of groundbreaking
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  on new buildings that were made. And as a reporter,
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  all you really had to do when you went to such
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  a story was get the photograph. That's all people
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  wanted. There's a photograph that is taken, I
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  think, of every groundbreaking, and it's always
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  the people who are involved in the organization,
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  the leadership, some dignitaries from the community,
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  maybe the mayor, maybe a county council person,
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  maybe a congressman even. And you've seen these
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  pictures. These people have their shovels, and
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  they're dug in slightly into the ground. And
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  then they look up and smile real big for the
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  camera. It's the same thing every single time.
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  Nothing controversial about that kind of a story,
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  about that kind of a photograph. It's just all
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  shovels and smiles. Well, with the groundbreaking
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  for this new temple in Ezra 3, it's not all smiles.
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  There are tears that are shed just as there is
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  praising. There is also weeping. And you know
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  this. This is life. This is life under the sun.
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  Even during our best moments, there is still
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  something within us that tells us something's
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  not right here. How can anybody believe that
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  this life is as good as it gets? And so what's
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  the key? What's the key to living life? With
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  the smiles and the tears, the praising and the
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  weeping, how do we do it? We must maintain thanksgiving.
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  This text here, you might remember some of the
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  history behind what's happening. The Jewish people
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  were allowed to go home. You remember that? There
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  was a time when the people of God were split
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  into two countries. You had Israel and you had
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  Judah. Israel falls to Assyria in 722. Judah
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  falls to Babylon. The Babylonians, they come
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  in around 586. They take people captive out of
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  Jerusalem like Daniel, taking them to Babylon.
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  But then something happens around 539 that And
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  the king of Persia decrees that the people can
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  go home, the Jews can go home, but when they
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  go home they find that their hometowns, their
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  homes have been destroyed and the temple itself
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  was destroyed. And so they get there and after
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  a short time they begin work on the temple and
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  that's exactly what's happening here in our text.
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  Around that 536 time period look in verse 8 It's
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  the second year and they make a beginning and
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  you might say they made a beginning of what they
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  were making a beginning to the foundation of
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  the temple the place where they will worship
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  But we know from other books other texts that
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  as they sought to do this they experienced trouble
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  They experienced enemies coming upon them. They
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  experienced a lack of resources, but they press
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  on with all hands on deck. You see the text says
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  that everyone, everyone 20 years or older, the
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  Levites were supervising this work as the foundation
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  is laid. And as it is laid, as that foundation
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  is accomplished, what do they do? They take time
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  to stop and to worship, to give thanks. the thanks
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  that they give. This is not lukewarm worship
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  by any means. You see the priests are properly
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  clothed. They've got the trumpets in hand. The
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  Levites, the sons of Asaph, have the cymbals
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  and they sing this incredible song, this incredible
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  refrain that echoes throughout Scripture. For
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  he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
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  You might remember this is in many of the Psalms,
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  including our call to worship from Psalm 107.
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  It's also in Psalm 136, where throughout 26 verses
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  of that Psalm, the refrain is this, his steadfast
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  love endures forever. And this song that they
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  sing, this is like when King David built the
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  original temple, Solomon's temple. Hundreds of
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  years before, there was worship then, and there's
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  worship now. There's this great loud worship
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  that is happening. But amidst that, as great
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  as it sounds, something was off here. Something
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  was off. And if you were just listening to it,
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  perhaps you wouldn't be able to tell because
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  all the noise, it all kind of blends together
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  in a mixture of shouting. But if you were there,
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  When this foundation was laid, if you were there
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  in this worship service, if you happened to be
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  standing next to an older priest, an older Levite,
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  an older head of household, you would have seen
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  something. That not everybody was praising God.
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  Some were weeping. Is this not the experience
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  of the Christian life? That we do have joy, but
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  it's oftentimes mixed with sorrow. sorrow over
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  sin, sorrow over the sins of others, sorrow over
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  the effects of sin. The apostle Paul captures
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  this brilliantly in Second Corinthians chapter
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  six, verses two through nine. Listen to this.
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  Paul writes, behold, now is the favorable time.
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  Behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no
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  obstacle in anyone's way. So no fault may be
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  found with our ministry, but listen for the contrasting
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  words. But as servants of God, we commend ourselves
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  in every way by great endurance, in afflictions,
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  hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments,
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  riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger, by purity,
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  knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit,
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  genuine love, by truthful speech and the power
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  of God. With the weapons of righteousness for
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  the right hand and for the left Through honor
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  and dishonor through slander and praise we are
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  treated as imposters and yet are true as unknown
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  and yet well known and listen to this as dying
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  and behold we live as punished and yet not killed
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  as sorrowful yet always rejoicing as poor yet
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  making many rich as having nothing yet possessing
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  everything. That's the Christian life, friends.
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  That's life under the sun. Psalm 34 says, many
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  are the afflictions of the righteous. And so
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  living the Christian life, living for Jesus doesn't
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  eliminate the trouble. It doesn't eliminate the
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  sorrow. It doesn't eliminate the pain. Being
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  a Christian helps us through it. It helps us
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  see beyond it. that because of the sovereignty
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  of God, Jesus saved us from our sin and Jesus
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  went to prepare a place for us without tears,
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  without tragedy, and without turmoil. Because
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  of Christ, we're able to look beyond our pain
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  and beyond our loss and beyond our circumstances
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  and still give thanks. You remember that we studied
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  First Thessalonians recently. What does that
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  book tell us? Among many things, give thanks
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  in all circumstances. Jesus makes it possible
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  to give thanks even when things don't seem so
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  thankful. And this is the problem. This is the
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  problem for the people of Ezra's time. Those
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  who knew of the splendor of the old temple. They
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  knew this new temple would not compare and so
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  what do they do they weep over it now if they're
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  weeping because Sin was the thing that led to
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  the destruction of the temple and sin was the
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  thing that led to the destruction of Jerusalem
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  and if sin was a thing that led them to Deportation
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  then they were right to weep But if their mourning
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  was simply over a lesser temple then they were
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  wrong Matthew Henry said, let not the remembrance
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  of former afflictions drown the sense of present
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  mercies. Friends, this week, this Thanksgiving
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  may not be your favorite. Time has passed. People
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  have passed. Smaller gatherings might happen.
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  You might miss people. You might miss the old
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  days. There's something about a holiday designed
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  to give thanks that because of our losses, we
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  feel it more acutely, don't we? Sometimes things
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  just don't measure up. Sometimes the new building
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  goes up, but it was never intended to amount
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  to the former one. That's the thing about the
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  Christian life, though. No matter the circumstances,
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  We give thanks to God. It's a mark of maturity
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  to be able to give thanks in difficult situations.
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  And this doesn't mean that we have to masquerade
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  as though everything is fine. But we simply trust
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  in the sovereign will of God to be working out
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  his purposes in our lives. This means that we
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  can call sin, sin. And we can call pain, pain.
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  And we can call suffering, suffering. We could
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  put a name to the things that bring us down and
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  yet because of Christ, we have hope. We have
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  Thanksgiving. Someone said this, perhaps Thanksgiving
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  and suffering then is less about mustering up
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  a certain feeling about our suffering than it
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  is about reminding ourselves of the truths that
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  define it. Truths like, God is good. God keeps
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  his promises. Jesus saves us from our sin. The
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  Holy Spirit indwells. The Holy Spirit helps our
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  prayers on the way up. A truth like, hey, Jesus
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  died for me. That's what gets us through these
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  things. Because everything that I'm saying is
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  seen most clearly on the cross of Christ. As
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  you prepared to come forward for the Lord's Supper,
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  you might have a mixture of emotions at the table.
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  Can you imagine being those who watched Jesus
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  be crucified? Surely at the time, if you'd have
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  asked somebody, is this praiseworthy? Is this
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  something to be thankful for? They would have
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  said no. Yet are we not most thankful for the
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  cross? Of course we are. We must be. We might
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  be singing with our voices, but heavy in our
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  hearts, yet it was the cross of Jesus that brings
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  us to God. And so we can, and we should, and
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  we must give thanks to God, even on our darkest
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  days, knowing that the day of weeping, the day
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  of the crucifixion was the day that brings us
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  thanksgiving. Let me read to you one more text
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  as I close. This is familiar to you, but listen
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  for the grief, the pain, but also listen for
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  the thanks. Isaiah 53, four and five. Surely
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  he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows,
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  yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God,
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  and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions.
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  He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was
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  the chastisement that brought us peace. And by
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  his wounds, we are healed. We have it both in
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  there. Grief and yet things, the ultimate thing
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  for which to praise God. Praising and weeping,
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  but in all things, in all things. giving thanks.
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  Let's pray.