Pastor Tim Patoka Build On The Rock Week 10: August 5, 2018 The Second Temple Ezra 3:1-13 1) God’s forgiveness for sins is great 2) Our joy is seen from far away We’ve come to a time in our summer worship series that may not be as familiar to you as earlier weeks were. It’s the time of what Israel did after their exile in Babylon, specifically when they built the 2nd temple. And since I’m guessing you may not know the details of what led up to the 2nd temple, allow me to share them with you. In the 400 years following King David, things got worse with every passing generation. The nation’s leaders turned to idols and themselves instead of the 1 true God who brought them out of Egypt. And their people followed suit. They went through the motions of worship with hearts that were far from it. Now there were some exceptions like Kings Hezekiah and Josiah. And there was a faithful remnant of believers through all the years. But by and large, the nation fell away from God. So the Lord, in an act of fatherly discipline for his children, allowed the pagan Babylonian nation to conquer the Israelites around 600 B.C. and to carry them into exile for 70 years. Yet God did not abandon his people while they were in exile. It’s in the city of Babylon that we meet the prophet Daniel who let his light shine in the highest levels of the government with his God-given intelligence, accuracy in interpreting dreams, and his miraculous safety in the lions’ den. It’s in the city of Babylon that we marvel at how God saved 3 men in a fiery furnace – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It’s in the city of Babylon we learn about how God blessed a courageous woman named Esther with both the beauty to capture the king’s eyes and the bravery to stand up for her people even if it meant an untimely death. It’s in the city of Babylon that we see how God uses the institutions of our society like the government to bring about his will through King Cyrus. It was King Cyrus who authorized the Israelites to return to Jerusalem’s ruins and gave them the supplies to rebuild the temple. And this is when we get to our verses for this morning in Ezra chapter 3 with the Israelites building the altar and foundation for the 2nd temple. 1)
God’s Forgiveness For Sins Is Great
The building of the 2nd temple was a big deal for Old Testament Israel. It was the source of great joy and celebration as we’ll talk about in a little bit. But it was also a bittersweet reminder of how low Israel had sunk and how great God’s 1
Pastor Tim Patoka Build On The Rock Week 10: August 5, 2018 forgiveness is. As our verses tell us, “And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. 12 But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy.” (Ezra 3:11b-12) The gray hairs who remembered what Solomon’s temple was cried when they saw the foundation for the 2nd temple. Why was that? Well, first of all, they knew this new temple would never be as luxurious as Solomon’s Temple. In Solomon’s Temple everything literally glittered with gold. This new temple was simply not going to be as aweinspiring. But more than that, this 2nd temple was a reminder of Israel’s past sins. It was their fault that God allowed the Babylonians to destroy Solomon’s temple and bring them into exile. And whenever the grey hairs looked at the new foundation, all those feelings of guilt and regret came back. They wept because the realized how great their sins had been. I find that whenever I look back at Israel’s history and see the depths to which they had fallen, I often find critique them. What were they thinking? They had God’s Word. They knew better. And it’s in that same moment I realize how the same could be said of us today. We too have God’s Word. We too know better. And yet, how quickly do we sin as Old Testament Israel did? So easily we place our trust in things and people that are not God. Our money and its peace of mind. Our strength to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. Yet once another recession comes or a crippling health problem, we see how foolish we are to trust in those things. We look to the unexplainable forces of our world and grab on to ideas like karma. Wishful thinking that if I do good things, good things will come back to me. Or if I’ve been through a bunch of bad times, karma is going to even out my cosmic balance with good things. And not once is our trust in God the first place we go. But it’s not just between us and God where we see our great and many sins. Look at the people in your life. Do we love our neighbors as ourselves? Do show them the light of Christ shining in our hearts through faith? Sometimes yes. But not every time, not as often or as well as we should. Do we take care of the bodies that God has given us? Or do we indulge that sweet tooth and feed that unhealthy habit? Like the Israelites of old, we sin in a great number of ways. Like the Israelites of old, those feelings of guilt and regret bring us to the point of sorrow before God. But if you remember from our verses, what were the Israelites’ reactions at the foundation laying of the 2nd temple? As it says, “And all the people gave a 2
Pastor Tim Patoka Build On The Rock Week 10: August 5, 2018 great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. 12 But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy.” (Ezra 3:11b-12) There was weeping, but there was also joy. Joy because the 2nd Temple was more importantly a continual sign of why God brought them back to Jerusalem. It’s because of his great forgiveness for their great and many sins. The Lord was done disciplining his children. Their exile in Babylon was over and they had a clean slate before God. And while they would remember their sins when they looked at the 2nd temple’s foundation, there would also be joy in God’s great forgiveness for them. For he was again in their midst with his great forgiving power. Interestingly enough, 500 some years later the 2nd Temple would be a part of God’s forgiveness for all people when Jesus Christ came to it. Now the temple looked pretty different since King Herod had done some massive renovations to win political favor. But it was this same foundation, the same place where people cried and shouted for joy in Ezra chapter 3, where Jesus would walk to win for us God’s great forgiveness once and for all (Haggai 2:6-9). From boyhood on, he came to the temple for all the prescribed religious festivals. He taught in the temple courts about what God’s Word really said and corrected the teachers of the law. He pointed the people to himself to show that the Messiah had finally come, the promised Savior from long ago. And it would be in one of the side rooms of this temple were the Jewish ruling council would find Jesus guilty of death even though he was perfectly innocent of every sin. And while Jesus did not die on the temple grounds, there was something that happened when he died on his cross. The curtain that guarded the Holy of Holies was torn in two. There is no more separation between God and sinful people. For we have God’s great forgiveness given to us through faith. We have Jesus’ clean and perfect slate given to us so that it is as if we’ve never sinned in God’s sight. And that includes the great sins that bring you to sorrow and regret. The sins that make you relate to the nation of Israel’s sinful history. So that we can know without a doubt that our God is with us wherever we go with his great forgiving power. 2)
Our Joy Is Seen From Far Away
Remember those shouts of joy the Israelites did at the laying of the 2nd temple’s foundation? Well, now we’ll talk about them. The Israelites wasted no time in reinstating their worship life. As we see in our verses, they rebuilt the altar
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Pastor Tim Patoka Build On The Rock Week 10: August 5, 2018 and did all the sacrifices and sacred festivals that were written in the Law of Moses. They paid the workers to bring in the cedar wood and stone for the temple’s foundation. They appointed the Levites, the tribe of Israel charged with all things regarding worship, with the supervision of the building and the music celebrations. And what was the central theme of their celebrations? As it says in our verses and in a number of Psalms, “He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.” (Ezra 3:11) And the people made so much noise, between the rejoicing and the crying, that the sound was heard from far away. The reason why the Israelites made such a great noise was because of what the 2nd temple meant to them. It was proof that, even though they had committed some great sins in the past, God had forgiven them and was now visibly with them again. That’s all captured in the central theme of their celebrations – God is good; his love endures forever. God’s love is not just for Old Testament Israel. It is also for us today. God is good to us with his great forgiveness for our great sins. His love will always be around and it will never leave us. And so we too, like the Israelites of old, can have the same joy that they did. We too can sing praises to God and shout for joy. For he is good; his love endures forever. And I would like to challenge you to show that joy so that others may see it from far away. Let the joy of God’s great forgiveness for your sins guide how you talk and interact with others But if you’re at a loss of how you can do that, let me share with you some suggestions from our verses this morning. Our verses from Ezra chapter 3 mostly show us things involving their worship life. So I would like to encourage you that when you come to worship, you remember why you coming. It’s not to get your church in or check something off your list. It’s to hear God’s Word, to apply it to your life so that your faith may grow, and to build up your brothers and sisters in the faith. Whenever I talk about Grace Lutheran Church to other people, I always describe it as a church family. We have a connection with each other that’s unique. Even though we may not everyone’s name or what blessings and challenges they’re going through in life, we stand on the same faith and confess the same creed. We are one in Christ. As a church family, we have a church home where we can use the skills and abilities that God has given to us. For those who have an interest or ability in the fine arts, look to the musical and artistic venues within our church to enhance them. For those who have a friendly face and a strong handshake, brighten someone’s day by talking with someone you don’t know. Make a difference by sharing a few hours of your time by volunteering and carrying out the Great Commission. If God has 4
Pastor Tim Patoka Build On The Rock Week 10: August 5, 2018 blessed you with organizational or handy man skills, consider how you can help keep your church home in order and with a pleasing curb appeal. And in addition to all those things, you can always give back to God by offering him a portion of the blessings he has given you. In the Old Testament those blessings were measured in part with animals for sacrifice. Nowadays we measure our wealth with dollar signs. But either way, when we offer God our time, our talents, or our treasures, we are then building up our church home as one united church family so that, together, we can share with others what God’s Word says to all people. But I want to be clear, the point of all these things is not to gain popularity or to get on pastor’s good side. We do all things because of the joy that God has given us, the great forgiveness he lavishes on us for our great and many sins. Just as God has freely given to us, so we can freely give back to God in thanksgiving and joy. And it is then, at least in my opinion, that we have one of many ways of letting our joy be seen from far away as the Israelites let their joyful shouts be heard from far away. The 2nd temple and its historical setting is often overlooked for one reason or another. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t any less important. It’s true that rebuilt temple would always be a sad reminder of the depths to which Israel had fallen. They had sinned greatly and were disciplined greatly. But God had not left them. In fact, he had forgiven them of their great and many sins and led them back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. And whenever they looked up at the temple, they could be reminded of how God indeed is good, his love endures forever, and so will his great forgiveness. That forgiveness brought joy to the Israelites which was heard from far away. A joy they showed by building the altar, doing the prescribed sacrifices, laying the temple’s foundation, and having a big worship service for that special event. We have the same great forgiveness they did. We have the same joy they did. God is good; his love endures forever. And that’s the joy we get to embody as we give back to God through our church home and our church family with our time, our talents, and our treasures. Amen.
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