1. These are the final chapters in the story of Nehemiah and the restoration of Jerusalem after the return from Exile.  You’ll remember from the first lesson that Nehemiah heard about the plight of the returned exiles when his brother returned from a trip to Jerusalem.  First, he wept, then he prayed and fasted for days before doing anything.  He evaluated his capacity (cupbearer to the king) and then waited for four months before doing anything at all except pray.  He grew increasingly committed and it became obvious to people around him. After four months he recruited a partner (the king) who had resources.  Then, for five years he prepared a plan before he left for Jerusalem.

Last week we looked at his walking into a classic turnaround and how you do that with a dispirited and intimidated organization.

You get out of the office and figure out what “reality” is.  As Max DePree said, “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.”

You stop the bleeding.

You identify your biggest problem.

You focus on common goals.

We also looked at Nehemiah’s treatment of those who had been taking advantage of the poor.  He was not advocating for charity or philanthropy or government subsidy but for the restoring of ownership.

2. This morning we are looking at chapters 8-13 and the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah.

This is the first we have heard of Ezra.  He had been sent by the king 13 years before the king sent Nehemiah.  His role was not to restore the wall of the city but to teach the law to those who had been in exile and returned.  The people who were left in Jerusalem had completely forgotten the law and had not practiced it for generations.  This was probably true long before the Exile.  In fact, we learn a little later that one of the major festivals had not been observed for at least 800 years.

So, after Nehemiah completes the rebuilding of the wall he and Ezra convene the people to re-teach them the fundamentals.  Remember Vince Lombardi?  Every year at the beginning of the first practice he would say, “This is a football.”  People need to be reminded of the fundamental truths over and over again.  There is no substitute for it.  Our tendency is to drift.  Not to overtly rebel but to forget and be distracted by other things.  It’s a slow process. “It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one–the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

So, Ezra and Nehemiah assemble the people and they stand for six hours a day for seven days listening to the Law being read.  They do not simply read the Law.  They have Levites scattered throughout the people making sure they understand what is being heard and making it clear.  It’s not enough simply to tell people the fundamentals but there need to be others who make it clear they understand.  All this while standing.

3. Then Ezra and Nehemiah reinstate the Festival of Booths – or Succoth.  It was one of the three major festivals of the Law.  It was held in the time of harvest right after the crops had come in and the people brought their offerings to the temple.

There is no substitute for traditions in the life of a community.  In fact, a community that has no traditions and what the Hebrews called “in-gatherings” is not a community – just a group of individuals and families living in the same place at the same time.  What brings us together are the regular celebrations that we share.

It’s hard to find seasonal celebrations today because we are no longer an agricultural economy.  Today, these words would make very little sense:

“Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home;
All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied;
Come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.”

In fact, the word season is left to describe fashions, sports, and television programming for the most part.  In earlier times in this country families would come together to have reunions and visit the cemetery.  I read a newspaper account of the Kennemer family in Alabama from the 1930’s.

“The dinner was spread on two long tables with enough food to satisfy two thousand people. No words of mine could fully describe the provisions as prepared by the hands of the fair women of the clan. Surely we are traveling in chariots of ease down the valley of plenty.

The first speaker was Elder John L. Kennamer of Dalton, Georgia. He made a good speech which was most appropriate. Next on the program was Federal Judge F. E. Kennamer of Tulsa, Oklahoma. He made the chief address. I shall make no attempt to outline it, for it was so good it may appear in print in full later. He spoke on the subject “That the Nation that forgets God shall be turned into Hell.” It should be printed in gold, framed and hung in every home in America.

Customarily, on these annual get-to-gethers, they make their display of family ties, kiss babies they’ve never seen before, shake hands with young men who “weren’t out of their rompers hardly, last year,” and then settle down to a day of eating and talking.”

It was more than a reunion, wasn’t it? It was a time to remember who they were and how they were connected to each other and to certain values. I am sure every young person dreaded the annual event but it was a way to remember the fundamentals and to feast.

That is what the Festival of Booths was. They came together once a year for a week to celebrate and remember. Part of the requirement was to build small shelters to live in for the week in order to remember the way they lived in the wilderness. They had very little and what little they had was provided by God. But they also came together to remind themselves of how much they had now compared to then.

It’s two different things but they are closely related. The first is recognition of how much we have and to celebrate our gratitude. The second is recognition and remembrance of how little we need.

Paul has it right when he calls it the secret of contentment in Philippians 4:
“I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

Paul could live with little and not be weighed down by nostalgia or regret about better times. He did not live his life comparing it to others. And he could live with plenty without pride or the fear of losing it. I think that is why he says it requires a particular kind of strength to live in plenty. Those who live with little are tempted with bitterness. Those who live with plenty are tempted to pride and fear of losing it.

I’ve been reading a great book this week on raising unspoiled kids. The final chapter is titled “How Much Is Enough?” For me, the answer is in Proverbs 30:7-9

Two things I ask of you, Lord;
do not refuse me before I die:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.

4. At the end of the reading of the Law the people make three commitments.

The first is the commitment not to intermarry with foreign women. At first, that might not seem like a problem for us today but in a sense it is. For us, it is a commitment not to marry what philosophers call “the Spirit of the Age.” The spirit of our age is finding a religion that is comfortable and accommodating and eases our minds. I read last week a statement by Rob Bell, once the pastor of a very large church in Grand Rapids and now a personality making the rounds with Oprah. I am not saying he is a bad person. He’s not. But, I think he in some ways represents the spirit of our age.

“Rob Bell, the widely popular and controversial former megachurch pastor, is now convinced that a church doesn’t support same-sex marriage will “continue to be even more irrelevant.”

Bell made the comments on an episode of Oprah Winfrey’s “Super Soul Sunday,” where he appeared with his wife Kristen to talk about religion and spirituality.

“One of the oldest aches in the bones of humanity is loneliness,” Bell said. “Loneliness is not good for the world. Whoever you are, gay or straight, it is totally normal, natural and healthy to want someone to go through life with. It’s central to our humanity. We want someone to go on the journey with.”

Bell notes that Christianity is evolving and that many Christians have already opened their hearts to the idea that two people of the same sex would choose to journey together.

In fact, he says the church’s acceptance of gay marriage is “inevitable.”

“I think culture is already there and the church will continue to be even more irrelevant when it quotes letters from 2,000 years ago as their best defense, when you have in front of you flesh-and-blood people who are your brothers and sisters, and aunts and uncles, and co-workers and neighbors, and they love each other and just want to go through life,” he said.”

The second is the commitment to observe the Sabbath. For us, that means figuring out what it means to actually rest and to trust. It means stopping our work in order to focus on things that matter just as much as our work.

The third is a commitment to the upkeep of the Temple. I read an article this week where the author was comparing the church to a restaurant. We have fine cooks, great waiters and a wonderful atmosphere in which to dine but people still manage to find flaws in the menu, the service and the presentation of the food. They have become connoisseurs of church. And then, when we ask them to sweep the floors or wash dishes they are surprised. Church is just another service provider and we too often find ourselves looking for a better experience, more choices and more attentive service. It is what happens when we become customers to be satisfied instead of a congregation to serve others.

5. It is hard to be a Jew and so easy to be a Gentile. It is hard to live up to these responsibilities and requirements. Try marketing standing six hours a day for seven days, living in a tent, confessing sins, sacrificial offerings, dedication of your first born, multiple tithes, difficult travel to Jerusalem three times a year and a host of other requirements.

No wonder they didn’t grow.

But that was the point. It was not about growth. They were, from the very start, a peculiar people and a special treasure. Treasures are treasures because they are rare. They are not commodities. Peculiar people are exactly that. Out of the ordinary and even odd.

Many, many times God says to Israel, “You will be my treasured possession. Out of all the people on the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession. You are his people, his treasured possession. If you obey you will be my treasured possession so that you will be a blessing.”

Deuteronomy 7:6-7. “The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples…but it was because the Lord loved you.”

They were not elite with no purpose. They were not royalty to be supported by others. They were special in the same sense we describe special forces in the military. They were given more requirements and harder assignments and more discipline than others for particular reasons. They were not being trained for personal fitness but for the most difficult missions. They were being trained and prepared to be lights in the darkness.

Numerous psychological studies have been done of Navy SEALS. This is how one described them. “They appear to be calm, hardy, secure, and not prone to excessive psychological stress or anxiety. They are level-headed, practical and collected even under very stressful or dangerous situations. They are rarely impulsive and have strong control over cravings or urges. Active and assertive, they are usually energetic and optimistic. They seek excitement and stimulation and prefer complex and dangerous environments. They are very competitive, skeptical of others’ intentions, and are likely to aggressively defend their own interests, but are not hostile. Finally, they are purposeful, well- organized, persistent, and very reliable.”

I wonder if that is how people perceive us. Calm, secure, not prone to anxiety, reliable and not hostile.

Three times in Nehemiah the people say, “We assume responsibility” and that is exactly what it is. Yes, it is joy and celebration. Yes, it is a sense of being part of something special. But, it is also a responsibility and not merely a fine dining experience.

But the loss of a mission leaves you with ceremonies without any purpose. It is a ritual without life. Peculiarity becomes pride and election becomes elitism. Someone years ago told me that the further you are from the front lines the more ornate is the uniform and nicer the surroundings. That is why Nehemiah and Ezra do what they did. What is a football? What is a Jew? What is a Christian? What is our purpose? Who are we?

The Apostle Peter puts it this way:
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”

6. Then there is the final test of leadership. Nehemiah leaves for two years and then returns. What does he find when he returns? They have fallen back into the same habits. They are intermarrying, they have abandoned the Sabbath and have become lax in their support of the Temple. They are not, perhaps as he had hoped, self-managing. They still need someone to rehearse the fundamentals over and over again.

So, he does. He brings them back to the basics. Why? I suspect for the same reason Paul says to the Thessalonians: “For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy.”

In the end, it is the great reward. Not acclaim or influence or wealth but peculiar people. You are our glory and joy.