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Nehemiah #6 "Revival Begins with Us" Nehemiah Chapter 8

by Clancy Nixon

November 11, 2006

Church of the Holy Spirit

Broadlands, Virginia

www.HolySpiritAnglican.org

Happy Anniversary! Today we celebrate five years of public ministry here in

Ashburn. Five years of loving Jesus and our neighbors; five years of making disciples

who make disciples; five years of conversions and immersions, and missional excursions!

Five years of making friends and sending them out to minister in the world. Today we

celebrate what God has done in the past, and we look forward to what God is going to do

among us in the future. The people in Nehemiah's day experienced joy and revival as

they listened to the word of God, his love letter to them. Let's dive into the Word with

joy this morning- the joy of the Lord is our strength.

As we continue our study of the book of Nehemiah, we jump ahead to the time

immediately after the completion of the wall around Jerusalem in 54 days. Chapter 8

describes a thoroughgoing revival of the people of God, on page 479 of your blue pew

Bibles. That is a time of celebration after the completion of a great task, much like we

are experiencing today as we celebrate our first five years of ministry. You see, the wall

was not an end in itself; it was simply a means to another, more profound end. The wall

provided security for the more central task of the display of the glory of God - in worship,

in holy community, in the fulfillment of their destiny.

Nehemiah played a necessary part in this drama of revival. For the first time in the

book that bears his name, he leaves center stage. Instead, in Nehemiah chapter 8, verse 1,

Ezra comes onto the scene. Nehemiah is a leader in government, an organizer in the

material world who can do what Ezra could not accomplish in his thirteen years since he

has returned to Jerusalem. The people call on Ezra, because they know that he is skilled

in handling the word of God and teaching the people. Ezra is a priest and scribe, the

foremost religious leader of the people. Now that material needs have been provided for,

the people call on Ezra to meet their spiritual needs by gathering to hear the Word

preached. Notice verse 1 - not Nehemiah, not Ezra, but the people call these revival

meetings. They saw their spiritual need they thirsted for the word of God.

The meeting takes place, of all places, at the Water Gate! Why are they gathered

there? Perhaps the gate itself acted as a sounding board for the reading of the Word. But

why that gate of all ten gates? In the Bible, water for washing is a symbol of the Word of

God (John 15:3, Jesus said, "You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to

you.") Water for drinking is a symbol of the Spirit of God. (John 7:37, Jesus said, "If

anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.") These thirsty people gather at the

water gate.

This is a revival meeting, and notice that it focuses on the reading and preaching

of the word of God. Let's look at four things about how this was done. The Word was

read publicly; there was respect and reverence for the Word; the Word was explained so

all could understand; and the Word was applied to their lives.

First, the word was read aloud publicly. There is something that happens when we

read the unadulterated, unexpurgated, un-interpreted Word of God! The Kingdom of God

comes in power, because the Word of God is a two edged sword, cutting to separate bone

from marrow. These people in Jerusalem 445 B.C. evidently had not heard the law of

Moses read from a scroll in some time. They were hungry for the word and reverent in

how they received it. They stood for the reading of the law, even as we stand for the

reading of the gospel, because they knew that this was not the words of mere men they

were hearing, but the word of God. The difference between us and them is that they

stood for four hours! You think our meetings are long? And they did this every day for

seven days. These were revival meetings. Verse 3 says they listened attentively to the

public reading of the scriptures. Friends, we are no different in our need. We need to be

immersed in the Scriptures for days every once in a while. I just returned from four days

in Harrisburg at the Global Awakening conference, and I heard preaching, bathed in

worship and received ministry morning, noon and night. I am filled to the brim again

with the word of God and the Spirit of God. It's great to learn more about what God is

doing in the earth, and to receive power for ministry from those teachers you admire.

The third thing to notice is that the truth was explained to them so that all could

understand. It needed to be translated for many, because the word is in Hebrew, and

many of them spoke only Aramaic, the language of Babylon. Verse 8 says that the

Levites made the law clear to people and gave the meaning. We are not sure what is

happening here precisely, but it appears that the Levites had fanned out into the crowd

and gathered the people in small groups to ensure that everyone had understood what was

read. There would be a break in the public reading so people could discuss what was

read, and ask questions. This is an early cell-celebration model of church! This is still

needed today. If we are going to experience revival, we need to discuss what we have

heard, and learn how others are applying it to their lives, so you can better apply the

Word to your own lives. Are you in a small group? About 2/3 of you are. Don't miss this

blessing! Join a small group this week. If you'd like to join a group but there is no group

that meets your needs, call me and we will discuss what is best for you.

The fourth thing to notice about this revival is that people responded to it with

their whole hearts. At first, many responded in grief, verse 9, because learning the

requirements of the law brought godly sorrow over how they had not obeyed the Lord's

commands. They mourned their disobedience in tears of grief. This is a healthy response

to being brought up short by the Word. The psalmist says that a broken and contrite heart

God will not despise. But then in verse 9, the leaders tell the people not to grieve, but to

rejoice! What is up with that? Are the leaders telling the people that they can't have

their emotions? No, they are saying that this is not the time to grieve, but a time for joy.

Just a few days earlier, they had celebrated the Day of Atonement, where they confessed

all their sins. So this was the time to rejoice in forgiveness. The movement is from guilt

to grief to peace to joy. This was the time for joy! The feast of Booths, also called the

feast of Tabernacles, was the harvest feast held in October, a time to remember God's

provision for them now, and God's provision of fresh manna every day in the Wilderness

for their forefathers. You see, as God's children, we experience resurrection power that

transforms sorrow into joy. If we delight in God's word, if we prefer His word to our

comfort, to our food, to our sleep, then God will delight in us, Psalm 119. Verse 10, Do

not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is our strength! God does not give us joy instead of

sorrow. He does not give us joy in spite of sorrow. He gives us joy in the midst of

sorrow. It is not substitute but transformation. Jesus spoke of this when he told of a

mother in childbirth who has pain. Her pain is not replaced by the joy of having a child,

but it is transformed by joy.

As we look back on what God has done among us, there can be a temptation to

grieve over what God has not done in five years, rather than rejoice in what God has

done. After all, we are still setting up and tearing down; many of our friends have moved

away or moved on to other churches; we are not a large church, we have not grown in

numbers as some few other local churches have. I think there are important learnings for

us in all this in the ways of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not measured in

terms of the size of your church. The Kingdom is measured in terms of the love that is

poured out, and the power of God that exists among us. Whenever we dwell on what

God has not done, it can give cause for an offence perhaps even anger at God. That is

one reason why we are to dwell on what God has done, so we dwell in thankfulness and

faithfulness. The Kingdom does not permit us to accuse God for why he does not answer

all our prayers. God is good, all the time. Whatever problems we have, the problem is

not with God. I don't know why every person is not healed when we pray for them, or

why other prayers that we pray are not all answered. I have some ideas about those, but

that is a subject for another day. I don't know for certain why our church has not grown

in numbers since 2003, but I do know that God is teaching us that it's not about us. If we

had continued to grow quickly as we did at first, we might have thought that this was our

work, and not the work of God. Jesus said He is going to build His church. God is good,

all the time. God does not have darkness hidden up his sleeve.

Our perspective, our attitude, how we think about what God is up to, is

everything. You can look at your lack and it is possible to have "building envy." You

know, you drive by the building that is going up on Waxpool and Shellhorn, and you

think, we should have one of those. Friends, it is the same with the size of your home.

When you drive by tract mansions every day, you can begin to think that you are

deprived if you don't have one, too. You can feel poor, even though by every objective

measure, you are rich! That is a trap of our consumer culture, with media inputs

continually urging us to be discontent over what we lack. Today is a day to celebrate our

blessings but then again, every day is a day to celebrate our blessings. God calls us to

be people who are thankful for what we have, not ones who are disappointed by what we

lack.

We are people of the Kingdom of God. It's all about God, not about us. The

kingdom is bigger than our congregation, bigger than our movement, bigger than we can

imagine. We want to be a blessing to this region, to this community. As a sign of the

Kingdom, I want to take up a special offering today to mark us. As I prayed about this

celebration, it became clear to me that God wants us extend ourselves beyond ourselves,

beyond our ministries, beyond our name. God has told us to be a blessing to Christ

Community Church as they seek to obtain a permanent facility nearby. I know the pastor

well, Jeff Good, he is a Bible-believing man with a Baptist background. Now I have not

discussed this with them, but I believe that God wants us to bless them more abundantly.

Over and above your regular giving to CHS, would you consider making a one-time gift

today for our anniversary to benefit Christ Community Church? That would be a sign to

our brothers and sisters that we are about the Kingdom, about glorifying God, not about

advancing our own cause. Let the joy of the Lord be our strength as a community.

Let's pray: