God's Hand Upon Us

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.

Ezra 8 · chapter mention

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.

Ezra 8 · chapter mention

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,

Isaiah 7 · chapter mention

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

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

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

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

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

10

ene

Marshall

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