The Public Reading of Scripture

I'd like you to open your Bibles again, the book of Nehemiah chapter 8 on page 492, and

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

I would like to draw your attention particularly to words which we find at the end of verse

3, the last sentence of that verse, and all the people listened attentively to the book

of the law.

So, the scene that is presented to us here in this chapter is of life in Jerusalem in

the mid-fifth century before Christ.

And what we have recorded for us in this chapter is an example of a congregation engaging with

the Bible as it is read in public.

The book of the law here is the Torah, or the five books of Moses, the Genesis, Exodus,

Leviticus, and Numbers.

And what we have here is an example of reading scripture publicly out loud.

Now, reading scripture when we gather together to worship is very important.

Paul wrote to Timothy, a young pastor in the early church in Ephesus, and he said, devote

yourself to the public reading of scripture as well as to preaching and to teaching.

And so, an important element in any act of worship is the public reading of scripture.

Now, sometimes, occasionally, I have attended churches where the only scripture that is read

is the text on which the preacher is going to focus.

But in our tradition, our Presbyterian Reformed tradition, here in Scotland and throughout other

countries in the world, the reading of scripture has a place in its own right in the service.

And it's very important that we preserve that.

And we see that the pattern for that in this chapter.

Now, Ezra ensured that the scripture was not only read, but that it was explained.

We read that the Levites read from the book of the law of God, making it clear and giving

the meaning so that the people understood in verse 8.

So, we find Ezra was helped by the Levites.

There was a large number of people present.

They were gathered in the open air.

And the service went on for six hours, which is slightly longer than we're accustomed to

here in Buclue.

Probably, the scriptures would have been read in sections.

And between the scripture readings, the 13 Levites present, named in verse 7, would explain

the meaning to the people.

Perhaps the people would have been gathered in smaller groups.

So, let's for a moment try to imagine the scene that is presented to us here.

This was an important event.

It's an example of a congregation engaging with scripture.

Now, one of the problems that the churches in the Western world face is that Christians

are not engaging with the Bible as they used to.

And in contrast with the church, the churches in Africa, the churches in Asia, the churches

in Europe and in North America, we don't really take as much interest in the scriptures in

terms of reading them privately and personally.

Remember the first time I went to Ghana many years ago, the person who greeted me told me

that he was brought up on a phrase which said, NBNB.

And I said, what does NBNB mean?

He said, no Bible, no breakfast.

And there's a kind of biblical anorexia which is blighting the churches here in the Western

world.

And so, quite a considerable amount of research has been done into why Christians are not

regularly reading and meditating scripture.

And that research has been helpful.

But as far as I'm aware, very little of any research has been done in how we engage with

the Bible as we gather together.

A lot of research has been done of what we do as individuals, what we do when we close the

door, when we're in our homes.

But how do we interact with the public reading of scripture, the explanation of scripture, as

we gather together here.

It's difficult to know, really, how we do that.

But I think Ezra will help us to discover, because what we find here is that there are

six key features of this public reading of scripture.

So Ezra provides us with a template which will help us to evaluate how we respond today and

each Sunday to the reading and preaching of scripture in public worship.

Now the scene that is presented to us here is described in verse 3 in summary and then

in detail in verses 4 to 12.

And in this description we find Ezra's open-air congregation interacting with the Word of God

to its public reading and exposition in six key ways.

And this event, I believe, is recorded in the Bible in order to challenge us to examine the

way in which we are responding to God's Word this morning and every time we gather here in

church.

As we now go on to note briefly the six key features of Ezra's congregation, let's evaluate

whether here today we are reflecting them.

Let's examine each of these in turn.

The first is that we find that Ezra's congregation was in step.

The phrase all the people occurs ten times in twelve verses, in the first twelve verses of this chapter.

And so we find the congregation standing before God's Word as a community.

All the people were together.

They were not a series of individuals.

They were a community.

They were anticipating Paul's metaphor of the church as a body in which each member of the body interacts with the others.

So that as we gather here this morning, God is calling us not simply to come as individuals.

He's calling us to come as a family.

He's calling us to come as a body.

He's calling us to be concerned not only about what we think and how we react,

but how those around us are responding to God's Word.

So that we pray not only for ourselves, but we pray for them as well.

And so the first question we need to ask ourselves this morning,

are we conscious of being here as a body of people?

Or are we simply here as a bunch of individuals?

There's a lot of individualism in our society.

And perhaps we need to counteract that

by becoming much, much more conscious of the communal dimension of spiritual worship.

God has called us to worship together

as different instruments in an orchestra.

They all blend together.

And there's a sense in which we are being called to worship the Lord

like the musicians in an orchestra blend together.

So we need to be in step with one another.

The second feature is that Ezra's congregation responded on cue to the call to worship.

Read at the beginning of verse 6 that Ezra praised the Lord, the great God.

Now in effect, that was a call to worship.

Similar to the verses that James reads before,

calling us to worship the Lord each week.

Or the verse we used this morning from Psalm 100.

Sing to the Lord all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness.

Come before him with joyful songs.

Now we find that not only did Ezra praise the Lord

as the great God,

but immediately the people responded and said,

Amen, Amen.

They were ready to go.

They wanted to be involved.

They wanted to respond.

The word Amen is repeated for emphasis

to show just how keen the congregation was.

And this is a reminder that

we are all active partners in the worship of God.

It's not just that the person who's leading the worship

is active and the rest of the people are passive.

God is calling us all to be active,

to be participants rather than spectators in the house of God.

He's calling us to say our Amen.

We don't need to say it out loud.

You can if you wish.

But we should be saying that in our heart.

Amen really comes from the Hebrew root to believe.

And it's an expression of faith.

And so as soon as Ezra said the equivalent of let us worship God,

the people say Amen, Amen.

They want to get involved.

They come in on cue.

And it's so important that we do that.

Someone who is perhaps reading the news

or doing a program on video

will find symbols such as we see on the screen at the moment.

And when he or she see that,

they've got to be ready to go.

They've got to come in.

And that's important.

That's so important before we come to church

that we prepare, that we come prepared

and that we're ready to jump in, as it were,

ready to participate,

ready to say our Amen.

Amen.

So again, we need to ask ourselves this question.

How keen are we to become active participants

in the service from the very beginning?

And so often we tend to think of the beginning of the service

as preliminaries.

But in a sense, perhaps they are.

But the service is important from the very beginning,

from the moment that the preacher says,

let us worship God,

or quotes a verse calling us to worship.

We are called to participate.

We're called to respond.

We're called to get involved.

The third feature of Ezra's congregation

is that we find it was all ears.

We read in verse 3,

in the second part of the verse,

all the people listened attentively

to the book of the law.

They were eager to hear the reading

and to understand what it means

and implies for them.

This explanation was given

not only to the people,

but also to those

who were able to understand that as children.

And they were taking,

they were in part of this open air service.

The people wanted to understand

what the reading meant

and what it implied for their lives.

Remember how Jesus tells us

that we need to consider carefully

how we listen,

how we hear.

And that's a word,

surely for us today.

It's so easy for us to drop off to sleep,

metaphorically at least.

It's so easy for us to lose attention.

We need to listen carefully

because God is speaking.

God is speaking when the scriptures are read

and when they're expanded.

But we hear as we listen.

If we're not listening,

we won't hear.

Just as in this atmosphere of this church

there are many radio signals

passing at the moment

that we're not receiving

because we don't have a receiver.

Or we have a receiver,

it's not switched on.

And it's like that.

God is speaking

as his word is proclaimed,

as his word is read and proclaimed.

And we need to be ready to receive it.

We need to be switched on,

as it were,

and ask God to give us that faith

which will say,

yes, Lord, speak,

for your servant is listening.

So the church is an acoustic community

and a community that listens,

that hears the word of God.

The reformers said that

the great mark of the church

was not only the preaching of God's word

but the hearing of God's word.

And so for a church to be the church,

not only must the gospel be preached,

it must also be heard.

And it's so important that those of us

who spend most of the time

in church in the pews,

I now do,

that we are switched on,

that we're listening

to what God is saying to us.

The fourth feature of Ezra's congregation

is that they are awestruck

by the Lord's presence

in their midst.

We read in verse 6

that after responding with their amens,

they bowed down and worshipped the Lord

with their faces to the ground.

They became conscious

that God was present with them,

that God was in their midst.

As in Corinth,

centuries later,

any stranger

entering the square

before the water gate

would feel compelled

to explain,

to exclaim,

as Paul said,

God is really

among you.

And our great desire

as we come to worship God

is that God

would reveal himself

to us

and that we would become conscious

of the presence of God.

This church is the house of God.

Only when God's word

is being read and proclaimed

and when his people are at prayer

that it becomes the house of God

and we are here as God's guests

and he wants us to hear

what he is saying to us.

And as we hear him,

we are struck

by his majesty,

by his greatness,

by his

holiness.

And again,

we ask ourselves

this question

as we come to church,

do we ask and expect

to have a sense,

to experience a sense

of God's

presence?

In church,

the

screen, as it were,

we call it a screen

between time and eternity

is very thin.

And here in the house

of God,

as God's word

is read and expanded,

we can become conscious

in a unique way

of the eternal reality

that surrounds us.

We live not only

in a universe

of space and time,

we live in an eternal universe

that is in,

with,

and under

our universe

of space and time.

And it's so important

that we sense

that spiritual universe,

that we sense

the presence

of God,

that we sense

that spiritual

reality

of eternity.

The fifth

feature

of

Ezra's

congregation

was that their

heartstrings

are pulled.

We find

that the people

respond

emotionally.

They weep,

first of all,

at their failure

to meet the high

standards of the

scripture they're

hearing,

in verse 9.

But then

lamentation turns

into joy

when Nehemiah

reminds them

that the Torah

communicates grace

as well as law.

Let's read again

verses 11

and 12.

The Levites

calmed all the

people saying,

Be still,

for this is a

sacred day.

Do not grieve.

Then all the

people went away

to eat and to

drink,

to send portions

of food and to

celebrate with

great joy,

because they now

understood the

words that had

been made known

to them.

And so,

as God's word

was made known

to them,

their first

reaction is

to weep,

because they're

ashamed,

because they

become conscious

that they failed

to meet the

high standards

of God's law

and of God's

word.

But then

Nehemiah and

Ezra remind

them that the

Torah mentioned

God's grace and

God's love and

God's mercy.

And so their

weeping turns

to joy.

They learn to

rejoice in the

goodness and

grace of God.

When we worship

God, when we

come to church,

it's very easy

for us to put

up our

sort of

psychological

defenses,

and we have

a barrier

between, you

know, what

is being read,

what is being

said, what

is being sung,

and our

inner being.

But the

people in

Ezra's

congregation

obviously

lowered that

barrier.

And they were

willing to allow

God's word to

impact their

emotions, to

impact the

deepest part

of their

lives, to

stir them, to

pierce their

conscience, and

to rouse the

heart.

Now, sometimes

we can be

rather suspicious

of emotion, but

the Psalms are

full of emotion.

And emotion is

an element, an

important element

in worship.

It's not the only

element, as we

shall see, but it

is an important

element.

And it's so

important that we

are willing to

allow God's

word to

penetrate right

into the depths

of our

consciousness.

And finally, the

sixth feature of

Ezra's

congregation is

that it gets

in sync with

God's will,

because they

are moved to

obey the

scripture in

their lifestyle.

We see this in

the second part of

the chapter in

verse 13 onwards.

They hear in

the word that

the Feast of

Booths or the

Feast of

Tabernacles has

to be celebrated

at that time,

and they're

willing to do

it.

They're willing

to take part in

this festival, an

annual festival in

the Jewish

religious year,

when the people

would live for

one week in the

year in temporary

shelters made

from tree branches.

This was a

reminder of the

40 years pilgrimage

of their

ancestors in the

wilderness following

the Exodus from

Egypt.

And we find here

that they are

moved to obey

this command in

verses 13 to

18.

And so not

only were their

emotions impacted,

but their wills

were moved.

And they took

decisions.

And they did

things differently.

It wasn't just

that they felt

different, but

they behaved

differently.

And that is the

way that God's

word works.

It impacts not

only our emotions,

important as these

are, but even

more important is

that it would

impact our will

and our

behaviors, and

that we would

become doers as

well as hearers

of God's word.

His word, as the

psalmist says in

Psalm 119, is a

lamp to guide us

a delight for

our path.

So we need to

ask ourselves this

question.

When we leave

this service or

any other service,

what have we been

persuaded to do

differently that we

wouldn't have done

otherwise?

That's a hard

question.

It's a question we

need to ask.

Because God's word

impacts our

behavior.

It impacts how

we live.

And we need to

ask ourselves that

question.

What am I going to

do differently as

a result of hearing

what God has said

to me today?

So we ask

ourselves the

question, has

today's service or

the service of any

Sunday persuaded

us to do

anything differently

or to do

something you

otherwise might

not have done?

So these six

features of a

a congregation

interacting, engaging

with the word of

God.

And I believe that

God has caused

this incident to

be recorded in

order that we

might learn from

it.

It's not simply

there as a

historical piece,

it's there to

guide us.

Paul tells us that

the scriptures were

given to help us

and to encourage us

and to give us

hope.

And so we might

ask ourselves this

question, have we

been encouraged as

we've read God's

word together today?

So we need to ask

ourselves the

question, how are we

responding?

Are we as a

congregation reflecting

the six features of

Ezra's congregation?

Are we conscious of

being in step with

others around us?

Are we concerned

for our neighbor,

for the person

sitting beside us

or in front of us

or behind us?

Are we concerned

for them as well as

for as much as for

ourselves?

Are we at the

beginning of each

service ready to go?

Are we ready to

come in on cue?

Are we willing to

say our heartfelt

Amen?

Are we all ears?

Are we listening

attentively to what

God is saying?

Are we all struck

by the glory of God?

By a sense of his

greatness and how

majestic and how

wonderful he is that

we bow down before

him and acknowledge

him as God.

And have our

heartstrings been

pulled by being

stirred to weep for

our sins and to

rejoice in God's

wonderful grace?

So will we leave

this service with

our lives more in

sync with God's

will and willing to

be doers as well as

hearers of the word?

from...

Thank you.

Let's try to

keep it

forward.