Well, good morning.
As many of you know, I'm a huge fan of Les Miserables, the novel by Victor Hugo, and even more so, the musical.
The novel's great.
It's a long slog, though.
But in the musical, one of the beautiful characters in the story is that of Eponine.
Eponine is the woman who grew up in a terribly broken home.
Who then, in the second act, you find her again on the street.
She's living with her parents, who are her father's basically become a thug, who is seeking to rob people.
But she has met the dashing young Marius, the student, the idealist, the dreamer, the one who hopes that the world can be a better place.
And she has, in her own heart and mind, attached herself to him and put her dreams in being with him and living in the world that he imagines.
And in a beautiful song, On My Own, she confesses how much she's invested herself into that dream, and yet how much she also knows that it's not really real.
That she had hopes that her life would be going in a great direction.
But she lives with doubt.
She walks along the river, says she dreams that the lights are these beautiful symbols of love and relationship and being with him.
But later in the song, she says,
And in the morning, the river is just a river.
Do you ever wonder if that's true in your life?
If there are dreams that you have, but they're not real?
That nothing's going to happen?
You face this, especially when you go through times of transition.
Typically, you move to a new place.
And you wonder, what am I here for?
What am I doing here?
It comes when we face times of disappointment.
We get laid off of work.
We don't get the thing that we had hoped for in our lives.
And of course, it faces us in times of real tragedy.
When we face loss that dramatically changes the landscape of our lives.
And I think that there's a spiritual question in the middle of it.
Which is, is God really in this life with us?
Or are we, like Eponine, on our own?
Is God's power, is God's presence, is the reality of God with us or not?
And I think that as we continue in our reading of the book of Ezra this morning, that we will see an answer to this question.
Or at least we'll get a view into how we might answer that question as we look at it.
If you want to look with me in Ezra, we're in Ezra chapter 8.
I need someone to tell me what page it is.
367.
So if you're using the Pew Bible, 367.
Ezra chapter 8 is where we're going to be this morning.
We are not going to start by reading the whole passage like I usually do.
Because I'm going to spare you a genealogy.
So we're actually going to read it as we go through it.
And we'll read it along the way.
But if you remember, if you haven't been here, if you're visiting,
remember that in the book of Ezra,
the big picture of this book is that God is rebuilding His people
after sending them off into exile in the discipline of judgment.
The nation of Israel had been conquered by the Babylonians and been scattered.
The temple in Jerusalem had been razed to the ground.
The city walls had been broken.
And now, 70 years later, God is bringing His people back
and rebuilding His people.
And as He's rebuilding them, what we saw in chapters 1 through 6,
is God is rebuilding them by rebuilding the temple
and reestablishing their worship the way He had intended
for the Old Testament nation of Israel to worship Him in Jerusalem
with an altar and with a temple.
And that's what we see in chapters 1 through 6.
Chapters 7 through 10 now, the end of the book of Ezra
is going to be the establishment of His people
and some of their spiritual characteristics.
We saw last week the establishment of God's Word.
And we'll see next week the establishment of God's people in holiness.
And this week we're going to look at how God establishes His people
in their faith that God is truly with them.
If you have your Bibles open, you can look with me at what I see as a key phrase.
And it's actually both in chapters 7 and 8.
And what we're actually seeing is chapter 7 is a decree of the king of Persia, Artaxerxes,
saying, we're going to send you, Ezra, with a group of people
to go back and take the next step in really reestablishing the kingdom.
And chapter 7 is mostly about this decree
and how he's putting his hand on Ezra to say,
you're going to go and bring the Word of God
and establish your people under the Word of God.
Chapter 8 is the story of this actually happening.
But throughout this all, there is this phrase.
Look with me in chapter 7, verse 6.
Ezra went up from Babylonia.
He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses
that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given.
And the king granted him all that he asked
for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.
The end of verse 9 of chapter 7.
For the good hand of his God was on him.
If you skip to the end of chapter 7, you see it again.
I took courage for the hand of the Lord my God was on me.
And again, we see this through the narrative in chapter 8,
repeated three times in verses 18, 22, and 31,
that the hand of the Lord was on Ezra.
Now, what does this mean?
It's obviously an image.
It's a hand.
What is this hand doing?
This hand is holding.
This hand is providing.
This hand is protecting.
It is one of controlling even, right?
In the Bible more broadly,
to be given over into the hands of your enemy
is a terrible thing
because they're now in control of you.
But here,
what the writer is reminding us
about what is going on in this chapter 8
is that the hand of the Lord
was with Ezra
and with his people
as he was going.
Provision, protection,
holding on to and not letting go.
What we see in this chapter
is that when God's hand is with his people,
it evokes faithful courage in them
to take the initiative
and it is proven
by God's faithful provision.
So we're going to see
those two aspects
of faithful initiative
and God's provision
throughout two problems
that emerge in the story.
In verses 1 through 20,
the problem is the people.
What are the people
that are going to go with Ezra?
And then in verses 21 through 36,
it's going to be
the journey itself
and the protection on the journey.
And how is that going to happen?
So these are the two things
we're going to look through
and we're just going to talk through it.
What we see in verses 20,
1 through 20,
is that God's hand
in providing,
we see God's hand
providing for the,
providing the right people
to accomplish his purposes.
So remember,
we've seen the story.
The king of Persia has said,
Ezra, you may now go,
collect people.
And so in verse 8,
in chapter 8, verse 1,
you see,
now Ezra is gathering people.
There's been some sort of summons
or call that's gone out
and these people have responded.
And in verses 2 through 14,
we have a long list of people
and I'm not going to read their names.
But here's the really cool things about them.
One is that it's listed by,
starts with the priests.
The first two people in verse 2,
the sons of Phinehas
and the sons of Ithamar,
those are in the line of the priesthood.
So at the very beginning,
as they're returning,
there's a reminder,
God is providing people
to continue the worship
in the temple
that has already begun
that we saw established
in chapters 1 through 6.
So God is doing that.
But then we see 12 tribes,
basically 12 families.
If you break it down there,
there's a list of 12 different people.
And what is going on there?
Well, interestingly,
if you take these names
and you map them back onto the list,
in chapter 2,
the people who went with
Joshua and Zerubbabel
in the first migration,
these people are of the same families.
It seems that,
particularly in the way
that Ezra's recording this,
God raised up people
from 12 families,
not necessarily from the 12 tribes,
but from 12 families
to continue to really spearhead this
and to be the centerpiece of it.
And it's possible
that there are only 12 families listed
because that's a picture of completeness,
indicating the wholeness
that Israel was returning to its land
and returning to its people.
As the story goes on,
what you realize,
and we'll read this in just a second,
as the story goes on,
you realize they get out a few days
and they stop
and they kind of take stock.
I don't know if you,
when I did campus ministry,
when we had a big trip
that was going down to Panama City Beach
to do a spring break missions project,
we often didn't know
who was on the bus
until the first stop that we had.
Then we finally figured out
who was actually on the bus
and who we were responsible for
for the rest of the trip.
This is what happened to Ezra.
They got out of town,
stopped at this place along the river,
and then they said,
okay, who's here?
And a problem arose
because of all the people
who had responded,
all those families,
there was not a single Levite
among them.
Now, it's not clear why that is.
The Levites would have typically
taken up about one-twelfth
of the people of Israel
because that's kind of how it works.
And it's possible
that there were fewer Levites
because there were just fewer in number.
It's not clear.
It's also possible.
One commentator suggested
that the Levites weren't really keen
to go back to Israel.
In the exile,
they had become normal people.
But when they went back to Israel,
God would ask them
to play the special role
of serving in the temple.
They had a highly regimented
and a highly ritualized life.
It would be like you
and your family saying,
hey, thanks for living your life,
but we're going to relocate you
back to your hometown,
and it's time to join the monastery.
You don't get to do your job anymore.
You now have a new job
because that's what the Levites did.
And it's possible
the Levites didn't show up
because they were thinking
life in exile
might have been pretty sweet.
And maybe they weren't so excited.
This is speculation.
But whatever the problem was,
it was real.
And Ezra thought,
what am I going to do?
So read with me now,
starting in verse 15.
We'll pick up the narrative
and read the text.
I gathered them to the river
that runs to Ahava,
and there we camp three days.
As I reviewed the people
and the priests,
I found there none
of the sons of Levi.
And then I sent for Eleazar,
Ariel, Shemaiah,
Elnathan,
Jerib,
Elnathan,
Nathan,
Zechariah,
and Meshulam,
leading men,
and for Joerib
and Elnathan,
who were men of insight,
and sent them to Ido,
the leading man
at the place,
Kasipiah,
telling them what to say
to Ido and his brothers
and the temple servants
at the place,
Kasipiah,
namely,
to send us ministers
for the house of our God.
And by the good hand
of our God on us,
they brought us
a man of discretion,
of the sons of Molly,
the son of Levi,
the son of Israel,
namely,
Sherabiah,
with his sons
and kinsmen,
also,
Hashabiah,
and with him,
Jeshiah,
and the sons of Merari,
who,
with his kinsmen,
and their sons,
twenty,
besides,
two hundred and twenty
of the temple servants,
whom David
and his officials
had set apart
to attend the Levites.
These were all mentioned
by name.
Okay.
We didn't get to avoid
all the names,
did we?
But here we go.
What happened?
Ezra looked at this problem
and he said,
this is not good.
As we go back
and as we continue
to build the people,
we need Levites.
We need to have those
who are specially tasked
by God
to serve in the temple.
And so he delegated,
he chose twelve men
and he sent them
as a delegation
to a place
that historically has,
we have no corroboration
or understanding
of what this place was,
except that it seems
that it was a place
where probably
there was a bunch
of Levites.
or some contact
with the tribe
of Levi.
So he sent
this delegation
of twelve leading men
plus two others
who were particularly
interpreters of the law.
That might be a way
to describe men
of insight
would also be those
who particularly
knew the law.
And he sent them
and asked for them
to come.
Send men,
ministers
of the house
of Levi,
the house of God.
Send us provision.
Now look,
these men
already hadn't
showed up.
They already
hadn't responded
to the call.
It would have been
very easy to think,
hey,
they knew the call.
They're not coming.
Why are we even asking?
But Ezra believed
that the hand
of the Lord
was on him.
You see that
in verse 18.
By the good hand
of our God
on us,
they brought us
response.
He took a step
of faith to say,
I can't make anyone go,
but I'm going to take
a special step.
I'm going to step out
in faith and say,
will you come with us
to serve
in the house of God?
And as he was doing that,
he asked the Lord
to provide.
And the Lord did.
Ezra was intentional.
He was thoughtful.
But he was also dependent.
And God showed up
and responded.
And as these men,
Sherebiah and his sons
and Hashabiah
and others,
38 Levites
and 220 temple servants
were provided
to go with the people
and to serve
in the house of God.
What a great thing.
God provided
the people.
Ezra couldn't do this.
Ezra had the decree
from the king,
go and take anyone
who wants to go.
But Ezra couldn't
make anyone go.
And yet God
raised up these people
to repopulate
the place
that God had intended
for his people
to dwell
and to continue
the worship
in the temple
that God had rebuilt
in Jerusalem.
So what do we think
about this
today?
Well,
in the church
we don't need
Levites anymore.
Thankfully.
We don't have a temple.
We don't have an altar.
The Old Testament system
was meant to point us
not to the way
that the church
now should worship
but to point us
to Christ
and all that he had done
has done for us.
All that he
it pointed ahead
to what he would do
and now for us
we know what he has done
so that we might
truly be the people
of God
and so that we might
truly worship him.
And yet
God is still
raising up the people
to do the work
that he wants to do
among us.
Is he not?
This is what Paul
refers to
in Ephesians
or in 1 Corinthians
chapter 12
where he says
the church
is the body of Christ
the relationship
the group of people
who are in Christ
and every single one
of them
God has raised up
not simply
to be a member
but to be an active
participant
in the body of Christ
that each person
has a particular role
that God has designed
for them to play
in his church.
And some may have
greater honor
and prestige
and some may be
more behind the scenes
and less visible
but everyone
has one.
Have you found yours?
And are you being faithful
to respond?
We also see
that in Ephesians
chapter 4
God raises up
men and women
in leadership roles
particularly
who may have
these abilities
apostles
prophets
pastors
and teachers
particular gifting
to build
the church
so that we may
all do the work
of the ministry.
As I was praying
and just thinking
about this passage
I just want to say
how thankful I am
for the elders
that I get to serve with
for the deacons
that we get to work
together with
and even more broadly
than that
for the godly people
that he has raised up
in this church
to do the work
of ministry
and to train others.
What a privilege
it is
to be in this
with you
and to see God
continue to do this.
I pray that we might
be thankful to God
for his provision.
I pray that we might
be active
in faithfully
playing the role
that he has called us
each one to play.
And you know
finally
I pray that we'll be active
in asking God
to continue to provide
that we would be a church
that prays hard
that prays consistently
that prays dependently
that God would continue
to provide
for this church
the people
to do
what he wants
to do
in us
and among us
and through us.
So God's hand
has raised up
the people
to do
what he wants
to do.
We see in the rest
of the story
that God's hand
protects them
while they're
on their journey.
Look with me
at verses 21
and following
in chapter 8.
Then I
and that I
is Ezra
then I
proclaimed a fast
there
at the river
of Ahava
that we might
humble ourselves
before our God
to seek from him
a safe journey
for ourselves
our children
and all our goods
for I was ashamed
to ask the king
for a band
of soldiers
and horsemen
to protect us
against the enemy
on our way
since we had told
the king
the hand of our God
is for good
on all who seek him
and the power
of his wrath
is against all
who forsake him.
So we fasted
and implored
our God
for this
and he listened
to our entreaty.
So the second problem
having now
provided the Levites
in a record time
by the way
it takes a total
of about 12 days
for them to
get out of town
realize their problem
send this delegation
and have people
can you imagine
that call
people just picked up
their lives
and said sure
we'll move to a place
we've never been
and live our lives there
but they did.
So anyway
so God provides his people
and now
they're about to embark
and they realize
okay this is a large
group of people
probably thousands
of people
and they're carrying
a lot of stuff.
If you look at the story
if you look back
at chapter 7
and then if you look
in the next section
chapter 8
verses 24
and following
I'm not going to read
all the details
but goodness gracious
the king of Persia
was saying
as I'm sending you
I'm going to send you
with a lot
of supplies
basically a lot
of money
and a lot of
a lot of valuable
things for you
to use
in the service
in the temple.
Now historically
one of the interesting
things we know
is that Artaxerxes
was ruling over
the Persian Empire
at this time
when it stretched
all the way
from Greece
to modern day India.
So it was
Greece
to modern day India.
There we go.
And it
was a huge empire
and we know
that Artaxerxes
had just gone
through a time
where there had been
multiple rebellions
against him
and it's very possible
that God
in overseeing
all of this
had moved
Artaxerxes
to want to
reestablish
or strengthen
his ties
with a strong
ally
in the middle
of particularly
the Greece
and Egypt
part
where
they were actually
where the
rebellions were happening.
And so
this may have been
the motivation
behind
some of the support
that Artaxerxes
was giving
and yet God
using the global
movements
of socio-political
power
to provide
for his people
and so
he was sending
them with all
this stuff
so that they
might be
well established
and flourish
in Jerusalem.
but they didn't
want to take
soldiers with
them.
Did you see
how interesting
it was?
Verse 22
for I was ashamed
to ask the king
for a band
of soldiers
and horsemen
and ashamed
is an interesting
word.
I'm not sure
if English
has the right
connotations
for what's here
because do you
see what he did?
He went to the king
and he said
listen
we serve
a God
who is able
to protect
his own
that those
who God
has favor
with
that God
is a powerful
force
and he might
have said it
to say
hey we're going
to be a good
ally to you
if you honor
our God
we're going
to be a good
ally to you.
However he said
it
he said
very strongly
we believe
in a God
who is going
to take care
of us
who will
protect us
against
our enemies
and in light
of that testimony
he didn't feel
like he could
then say
hey our God
can protect us
and oh by the way
can you send us
some soldiers
to protect us
while we go?
He said
no
I think we need
to step out
in faith
and so he called
the people
to fast
and to pray
one side note
this is not
the way
we must
always respond
to such situations
we'll find out
in just a few
chapters
in the beginning
of Nehemiah
when Nehemiah
brings another
delegation back
he has an escort
from the king
of Persia
there might be
good reasons
for that
Nehemiah's mission
is a little more
political
Ezra's is a little
more religious
but
I want you
to see
that it's
not a given
that this was
the only way
to act in faith
but it was
very clear
for Ezra
this is the way
that we ought
to do it
and so he
stepped down
in faith
and he called
the people
to fast
and pray
that they would
recognize
their dependence
on the Lord
that they would
reaffirm
their allegiance
to the Lord
after
remember
part of the
reason for
the exile
was that
rather than
trusting in
the God
who had
called them
and established
them in Israel
to protect them
they ran after
all sorts of
political alliances
to try to save
themselves
and so Ezra
was stepping in
saying no
we are going
to trust God
so he called
the people
to this
act of
consecration
to this act
of dependence
and this bold
ask
God will you
keep us safe
and in verses
24 through 34
we see
basically
they arrived
they made it
God
protected them
all
the way
through
Ezra
took a big
step
by not
asking
for that
protection
and by
calling the
people
to fast
and pray
God
showed up
and delivered
his people
to Israel
with all
the stuff
and those
Levites
that had been
raised up
they were the
caretakers
of the riches
and they had
to count it
at the beginning
and then count it
at the end
to make sure
all of it
was there
that not only
was it not
taken by
bandits
and thieves
but it wasn't
taken by
people
internally
God
brought
them
through
and God
brought
this second
wave
then
of people
to Israel
to establish
his people
again
and to
rebuild
them
I think
the question
you know
as I think
about
the writer
of this
why was
this being
written down
it was being
written down
so that
the future
generations
of Israelites
would hear
the words
the hand
of the Lord
was with us
and God
was faithful
and because
God was faithful
we took
great steps
of faith
to honor
him
and to pursue
him
and to be
his people
and to be
to do
what he called
us to do
and we saw
him provide
and the question
that I think
this chapter
puts before
us today
is do we
believe that
God will
be the same
for us
are we
willing to
take bold
risky moves
of faith
with the
spirit of
Jonathan
and his
armor bearer
let's go up
and maybe
the Lord
will give
them into
our hands
we don't
have to
have this
arrogant
faith that
says we
know what
God is
going to
do
and he
we don't
have to
be arrogant
in it
but the
question is
are we
willing to
be faithful
even when
it seems
risky
even when
it seems
unsafe
it's very
easy
to both
be impetuous
and assuming
on God
but it's
also very
easy for
us to
shrink back
in self
dependence
and in
fear
and you
know one
of the
things that's
striking in
this is that
when they get
there in
verses 35
and 36
what do
they do
they worship
God
they bring
the offerings
they bring
the sacrifices
they carry
out some
other things
they distribute
some of
the notices
to the
local
believers
but they
came and
they worship
God
and I
think they
worshiped
God
because they
had trusted
God
and I
know
Greg did
this just
a few
weeks ago
so I'm
not going
to recount
the whole
story of
this church
but this
church has
seen seasons
of real
real faith
stepping out
beyond what
would be
humanly
reasonable
whether it
be a
pastor moving
from England
sight unseen
to help a
struggling small
group of
people
whether it
be buying
a large
building that
was beyond
the church's
budget to
buy and
seeing it
paid off
in five
years
whether it
be stepping
into a
co-pastorate
which everyone
has said
won't work
and us
working
together
this church
has taken
risky steps
at times
and it's
been beautiful
to see
God's
hands
when people
ask me
about this
church
and what
have you
done to
make it
so successful
I usually
just shrug
my shoulders
and say
you know
I just
feel like
God is
going ahead
of us
and we're
just trying
not to
mess it
up
because I've
seen God
provide
and I've
seen God's
hand
and we do
need to
continue to
be humble
to be
dependent
and we
need to
continue to
be faithful
to the
gospel of
Jesus Christ
and what
God has
called us
to
that we
would continue
to make
the good
news about
Jesus
central
gospel
not only
what we
do
here
as we
gather
and as
we
interact
with
one
another
but as
we
live
in this
city
that we
would
continue
to make
the gospel
known
do you
believe that
God's hand
is on us
and are you
acting in
faith as a
result
and let me
be really
clear on
this
because I
can do
this today
especially
well
this does
not mean
that I'm
asking you
for more
money for
our capital
campaign
if that's
in your
brain
just please
remove that
that is not
what I'm
saying
we just
heard a
report that
Sarah gave
about how
God has
provided
for us
in an
amazing way
to move
ahead
and praise
the Lord
for that
right
what looked
honestly to
me two weeks
ago like
I don't know
if we're gonna
make it
I don't know
if this is
really gonna
work
and God
just said
oh no
I am here
with you
what we
as the
elders have
prayed from
the very
beginning
as we've
thought about
this building
campaign
and in
our hopes
that by
doing it
it might
establish a
base of
ministry
for 50
100
200
years
in this
city
but that
most of
all that
our
congregation
would see
the
see the
hear the
call to
be taking
up the
mission
of our
church
in this
city
and around
the world
that we
would be
saying
God
how do
you
want
to
use
me
what's
my
place
in
this
how do
you
want
me
to
step
out
in
faith
to
get
involved
in
what
God
is
doing
in
Trinity
and
through
Trinity
in
this
world
how does
God
want
me
to
reach
out
to
one
another
and
getting
involved
in
the
ministry
to
one
another
within
the
church
how does
God
want
me
to
take
a
step
of
faith
and
talk
to
my
co-worker
my
neighbor
about
Jesus
how does
God
want
me
to
step
out
in
faith
by
being
more
regular
in
praying
and
fasting
and
asking
God
to
bless
and
continue
to
multiply
the
ministries
of
this
church
not
that
Trinity
would
be
seen
to
be
great
but
that
Jesus
would
be
great
among
us
for
you
know
friends
this
is
the
good
news
of
the
gospel
and
this
is
how
we
know
that
God's
hand
is
with
us
as
his
children
it
is
because
God
himself
has
come
to
be
with
us
in
the
person
of
Jesus
and
this
is
our
great
confidence
and
you
know
what
we
may
build
a
building
and
it
might
fall
down
tomorrow
and
think
okay
well
that
wasn't
what
God
was
with
us
in
but
God
is
always
with
his
people
because
he
has
come
in
Jesus
he
said
that
he
will
build
his
church
on
the
rock
of
Jesus
Christ
that
he
will
build
his
church
on
the
proclamation
of
what
he
has
done
in
Jesus
that
Jesus
by
his
life
and
death
and
resurrection
has
established
a new
people
by
taking
the
pain
and
the
penalty
of
our
sin
upon
himself
by
rising
from
the
dead
to
defeat
sin
and
death
he
is
able
to
establish
a
new
people
who
will
be
his
forever
and
this
Jesus
now
calls
us
to
be
those
who
live
with
great
faith
that
he
who
is
able
to
save
us
from
our
sin
will
he
not
be
able
to
deliver
us
from
all
things
that
he
who
did
not
spare
his
son
but
gave
him
for
us
all
will
things
all
the
things
that
he
wants
so
that
we
might
glorify
him
all
the
things
that
he
wants
so
that
we
might
worship
him
and
be
to
the
praise
of
his
name
let's
pray
Lord
thank you
for this
encouragement
this
reminder
of how
you
have
been
faithful
to
your
people
in
the
past
Lord
thank
you
for
the
ways
that
we
have
seen
your
faithfulness
in
our
lives
God
I
pray
this
morning
that
you
would
Lord
help
us
to
be
women
and
men
of
faith
who
believe
and
trust
that
you
are
with
us
that
we
are
not
on
our
own
in
this
but
that
you
are
with
us
and
that
because
you
are
with
us
we
can
step
out
in
faith
and
trust
you
we
pray
these
things
in
Jesus
name
Amen
let's
stand and sing
together
let's
stand and sing together
round
put
gé Jegja
ней
10
ene
Marshall
1
annon
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2
3
2
de
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3