We are God's builders | Ezra 3 | Adrian Reynolds

Most people, it seems, have an article of furniture

from Ikea. We're not to call it Ikea anymore,

are we? If you've ever seen the television adverts

or the radio adverts, you'll know that it's to

be called Ikea. I can't quite get used to that.

It feels like it should be Ikea. Anyway, there's

an awful lot of Ikea around. Forty five billion

pounds worth of Ikea is sold every year, which

is a lot of Billy bookcases. Some of you may

have a Billy bookcase. The most important thing

when you open IKEA furniture, which is all flat

pack, by the way, the most important thing when

you open the furniture is the little instruction

sheet that lies across the top. And of course,

there are a certain group of people, talking

to men here, really, there are a certain group

of people who just put that to one side and think

they know what they're doing. But actually, especially

if it's a complex piece of furniture, you need

the instruction sheet, don't you? You need to

know which peg goes in which hole. Otherwise,

your bookcase, as happened to me famously, ends

up being upside down or the wrong way round or

there's a bit missing you're left over with.

Flat pack everything, but you need the instruction

sheet. Now, here are the people of God returned

from exile. There are quite a lot of them. There

they are in verse. 64 of chapter two, 42 ,360.

That's how many exiles have returned. And they're

here to build the temple. If we were to go back

into chapter one, we would see that was the edict,

the law that the king Cyrus gave them. That was

their desire to come back, a desire that God

had put into their hearts to come back and to

rebuild the temple that had been destroyed. But

how do you build a temple? It's kind of a once,

it's not even a once in a lifetime or once in

a generation thing, is it? That the previous

temple had been built 420 years ago. So although

they had lists of material and all that kind

of stuff, some dimensions, that there's no one

in this crowd of 42 ,360 people who'd done it

before. No one who said, yeah, I've done 10 Billy

bookcases. I can do the 11th. No problem. It

was all new. So how are they going to build?

Well, chapter three describes how the building

begins. And as such, I think it's got lessons

for us. We are builders. There's a direct correlation,

I think, I'm pretty sure, between that the temple.

And the work of the church in the New Testament.

The New Testament writers, all of them, Paul,

Peter and Jesus himself, it draws these links

together. I hope I don't have to persuade you

about that. So wherever you're serving right

now, perhaps you're out in a placement or you're

in a church longer term, wherever you're going

to be in the future. To use Paul's analogy in

1 Corinthians 3, we are. god's builders of course

god is the builder overall but he uses us even

dare we say using that language of one corinthians

he partners with us so that we are not only the

building itself part of the church but we are

god's builders And as such, I think we can look

at chapter three of Ezra and we can see lessons

for how to build. This, if you like, is the little

piece of paper that when you open up your IKEA

package is just there on the top. Of course,

we have to do a little bit of work. It's rooted

in the Old Testament. It's rooted in the Old

Covenant. But nevertheless, there are lessons

there for us as we seek to build. As we do that,

of course, we want to remember that God is over

all. And as you read through the book of Ezra,

by the way, you can't forget that. You constantly

see in Ezra and Nehemiah, these two books that

are really one book. You see the hand of the

Lord on everything. You see God stirring people's

hearts. You see God at work. You can't forget

that he is sovereign over everything. But neither

can you see the part that we are called to play

in this great building. It's a privilege, of

course, to be in that position. It's a privilege

to be a builder. It's a privilege to serve others

who are seeking to build to God's glory. And

so actually, this chapter suddenly becomes really

quite important, not just an interesting interlude

in the history of Israel. But actually something

that's really key for us as we think of how to

serve. The various places that God has called

us to serve. So I want to show you four things

from this passage. There are more, of course,

we haven't got time, but four really that jump

out. Here's number one. First things first. First

things first. Let's have a look at how the passage

begins. When the seventh month came and the Israelites

had settled in their towns, the people assembled

together as one in Jerusalem. Which, by the way,

as an aside, is a remarkable thing to happen.

These 42 ,360 people had returned. And at the

end of chapter two, we hear how they all went

to their own places. And if you were to read

through chapter two, you would see that they

come from a variety, quite a wide variety of

locations. And here they are, having gone back

to their places, no doubt found their farms and

their fields and their houses in a pretty poor

state of repair. And when the bugle sounds, when

the message comes round, they come, all of them

as one in Jerusalem. I was watching the Olympics

this summer. I do love the Olympics. And it reminds

me that I lived in East London during 2012. when

the Olympics were in London. And because I was

a resident, we got free tickets to some of the

various things. I had a free ticket to the dress

rehearsal of the opening night. It was good fun.

I had a free ticket to the closing ceremony,

free tickets to other things. So I went to some

of these different events, and it was amazing

to hear the crowd all cheering as one. As someone

came round the home straight in the athletics,

and it was David Weir in his wheelchair, and

he was miles out in front, the crowd all rose

to their feet and cheered together. It was remarkably...

exhilarating moment. And it's that same sense

here. They assemble together as one in Jerusalem.

But look what they assemble to do. Then Joshua,

son of Josedach, and his fellow priests, and

Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and his associates,

began to build the altar of the God of Israel,

to sacrifice burnt offerings on it in accordance

with what is written in the law of Moses, the

man. of God. It's a topsy -turvy building project

in some ways. You know, the altar is just outside

the front door of the temple, it's just in the

court. If you've ever been to a building site,

you'll know that it's a complete mess, isn't

it? Until everything gets erected and put up,

then you can worry about all the bits around.

I live on a new housing estate where I am, and

they're constantly building houses. And it's

strange to see these houses being built. They

kind of rise up out of the foundations and everything

around them is just junk. Bits of equipment lying

around and mud churned up and piles of cement

and gravel and bricks. And that there's no way

that you'd start landscaping the garden before

you finish the house. It's the last thing you'll

do. You need the space. And yet here are the

people who are about to construct this extraordinary,

ginormous building. They've been away for 60

odd years in exile. 42 ,360 of them, the Lord

has put it into their hearts. They come back.

What do they do? The very first thing they do

is they offer burnt sacrifices on the altar.

Now, I don't know about you, but I would be itching

to get on. Give me the shovel. Tell me where

to put stuff. What job can I have? And yet when

they return, these two great leaders, I think

they are great leaders. Joshua, who's the high

priest and Zerubbabel, who is the governor. They

figure largely in the story up to chapter seven,

really, that they know what's what. And they

know that what comes before the building. is

a right relationship with the God of heaven.

And so they offer these burnt offerings. The

phrase burnt offerings is repeated again and

again and again and again. You can't miss it

there in chapter 3. And of course, as you know

from Leviticus 1, these burnt offerings, they're

offerings for sin. These are offerings that acknowledge

the people's guilt and sinfulness and what has

gone wrong. They've been in exile. They've been

rebellious. They've come back. And now they want

to get it right. Or to put it another way, what

matters actually more than the glory of the building?

What matters or what comes first is that the

people have a living, vibrant, real relationship

with the living God. That he is their God. They

are his people. He is holy. They are not. They

need to acknowledge that before him. That counts

more than anything. You've heard I've been in

ministry three lots of eight. Is that 24? I think

that's 24. Mass was never really very good. Something

like that. 24 years I served as an elder before

then. And, you know, when I wake up in the morning,

I always want to check my emails. I always want

to get on with stuff. Sometimes the nature of

the work can be overwhelming. Always things to

do. And perhaps in academic terms, there's always

essays to write. Or indeed, Mark. There's always

something to be doing, isn't there? That seems

important. That seems mission critical. And yet

here they are gathered as one man. What do they

do? They say the most important thing is that

we're right with our God. Same theme, I think,

in slightly different languages picked up by

Paul. Very importantly, at the end of 1 Timothy

4. And he is telling Timothy, young pastor Timothy,

what's your life and doctrine? For by these things

you will save both yourself and your hearers.

There is a sense in which Timothy's walk with

the Lord, as well as his gifting, is integral.

It's key to his ministry life. So, friends, there

is always stuff to be done. And you will find

if you've not found already, there is always

25 hours of work in any 24 hour period that could

be done and more. There are responsibilities

and duties in all kinds of different places.

Those of you who have families in families, those

of you who have deep friendships, cultivating

and nurturing deep friendships, preparing the

next sermon or the next Bible study or whatever

it may be. There's always something to be done.

But as we build, let's hear the words of Scripture,

which say to us, first things first. So a day

that doesn't start with the Lord, a day that

is not given to dependence on his grace and his

mercy and his empowering, is a day where we can't

really build. It's a day which ultimately won't

bring him the glory he deserves. First things

first. Second, trust, then obey. You know the

hymn, don't you? Trust and obey. I mean, the

words are in the right order. Trust first, obey

next. But I'm just amending the hymn slightly.

It's out of copyright. I can do that. Trust,

then obey. So first things first, trust, a living

relationship with God. But what flows out of

that actually is obedience. Or if you want to

put it in slightly more New Testament language,

make every effort to please him. I think obedience

has a bit of a dirty rap these days. People worry

that obedience can quickly move into legalism.

And by the way, it can. We'll come to that in

just a moment. But there is a place in the Christian

life for saying we trust. Then because we trust,

we delight to obey. Just look down at the passage.

You'll see that the language of obedience is

very strong. They've been away from the land

because they've abandoned God and they've abandoned

his law. So now the focus is on keeping the law.

Do you notice that at the end of verse two? In

accordance with what is written in the law of

Moses, the man of God. And then it's repeated,

verse four, in accordance with what is written.

Different kind of language, but the same idea.

The required number of burnt offerings, end of

verse four, prescribed. for each day. Do you

see? Here are people, and you get, by the way,

this same pattern in chapter two and on into

future chapters. Here are people who recognize

that they've been in exile because they've been

rebellious and they've moved away from the Lord.

Now they must give themselves to him, which means

not only trusting him, making themselves right

with him through the way that he has given them

through this offering, but then saying, we will

do all that the Lord has commanded. Now, take

care. It's not obedience, then trust. And by

the way, those of you, and I include myself in

this, who teach children regularly, we can often

make that the gospel, can't we? We reduce the

gospel down to obedience. It seems to me that

scriptures are very clear. That's not the gospel.

That's self -righteousness, ultimately. But neither

must we major so much on grace and mercy that

we think the gospel doesn't place a demand on

us. I don't mean a demand in a kind of tit for

tat way, sort of like Trump saying, I'm going

to put, you know, I'm going to put tariffs on

you. I'm going to put tariffs on you then. Not

that kind of demand. No, but he is the one who

has saved us. He's rescued us. He's given us

everything. He's given us his son. Make every

effort to please him. I wonder what obedience,

gospel obedience, looks like in your life. We're

all wired slightly differently, aren't we? And

we all have challenges, different challenges,

perhaps different besetting sins. But as we seek

to honour God, glorify him by building for him,

it's not enough to come to the beginning of each

day and say, Lord. Thank you for the forgiveness

that is offered me in Jesus Christ. Thank you

for his wonderful sacrifice. Thank you that I'm

right with you through him. That's the first

part of the gospel of the good news. But the

good news is also that he gives us his spirit

and he plants in us a desire to live for him.

And so that prayer carries on. Thank you that

you've given me your spirit so that I know I'm

your child. And thank you that he helps me to

live for you. Help me today, Father, to live

for you. I give you my words. I give you my actions.

I give you my rest. I give you my relationships.

I want to trust, then obey. Thirdly, we need

to learn to sing for the holes. Seems a rather

strange thing to say, but let me explain what

I mean. Sing for the holes. Verse 7, the work

begins. See that? They gave money to the masons

and carpenters. They gave food and drink and

olive oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre. And

by the way, they're following the same pattern

of the first temple 420 years previously. So

they do have some instructions that are carried

through in scripture. They get the material from

the same place. It's the same group of people,

the Levites, the priests and the Levites who

are working on the work. And they even start

at the same time of year. It's kind of a parallel

with what's gone before. And here's the remarkable

thing. Verse 10, when the builders laid the foundation

of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their

vestments and with trumpets and the Levites,

the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, took their places

to praise the Lord as prescribed by David, king

of Israel. With praise and thanksgiving, they

sang to the Lord. He is good. His love towards

Israel endures forever. Now, this is not just

the covenant song. This is the song that has

been sung through history, really, Israel's history

as a nation, starting with King David. But especially

it was the song that was sung when the first

temple was built. You can look that up, 2 Chronicles

7. This is the song that was sung when the first

temple was built. So same material, same location,

same workers, same song. And yet here is the

thing. All that's happened so far is the foundation

has been laid. There is a difference, and I think

we read scripture with scripture, don't we? We're

supposed to see the difference. But back in 2

Chronicles 7, it's when the temple is completed

that the song is sung. That's the moment of joy.

That's the moment of celebration. And it's quite

a celebration. Go and read it. So here, what

are they doing? They've built the foundations

and they stop and they pause and they sing. Or

in fact, they shout. Now, it's intriguing to

me that just around the corner from where I live,

they're building a new Audi. The old Audi wasn't

big enough, so they're building a new one. It's

massive. And they've been clearing the site.

It's taken them about a year to clear the site

and to dig down. Well, they haven't been digging

down, really. They've been driving piles down.

And as you walk past it, I walk past it on the

way to work or sometimes cycle past it. And then

once a year I run past it, just to sound a little

bit virtuous. As you walk past this site, there's

not much to see. I've got a sense of what it's

going to be because there's a board with an artist's

impression of what the final thing's going to

look like. So I can look at that and say, that's

nice, new Aldi. But as you look out across the

muddy patch, there's really not much to see.

They've put the steels up now, so there's a kind

of structure. But even so, it's difficult quite

to visualize what it's going to look like without

the picture next to it. It's kind of, it's work

in progress. And one day I'll walk past and say,

wow, new Audi. When's it going to open? But right

now it's kind of, yeah, it's quite interesting

to look at, like looking at the diggers. Take

my grandson along, he likes the diggers. But

it's not much more than that. And yet here they

are. The foundation is laid. And their response

is one of praise and thanksgiving. You know,

I wonder if perhaps you think I'm pushing this

too far. That's fine. You can you can pick me

up over lunch. But I think we are supposed to

contrast this with what happened before. That

people of God have been at a very low point.

They've been far away from home. They've been

rebellious. By God's grace, they're able to return.

They give themselves to building. And right early

on in the process, when just the foundation has

been laid, it stirs up in them praise and thanksgiving.

So I think the point here, this is my application,

if you like, is sing for the holes. And this

is what I mean. A lot of Christian work appears

to be at that foundation level. In our great

sweep of biblical theology, we know that however

glorious the church looks, however rewarding

and happy it is, we're not there yet, are we?

There is a moment to come where all sin and stain

will be removed. There is a new time coming when

the bride will be beautifully presented by Christ.

To Christ. And you don't have to spend very long

in church ministry of any kind to know that's

not what this is at the moment. Church for us,

where we are, feels a bit fragile at the moment.

Yeah, we had nine baptisms last year. That was

wonderful news. But we've had some setbacks this

year. It feels fragile. We've had to move building

for complicated reasons. People have left for

complicated reasons. People have sinned. Relationships

aren't quite what they should be. Sometimes churning

out a sermon a week or even two doesn't quite

have the joy it seems to. It just feels like

a weary burden. Friends, I think if we're going

to build for the Lord, we need to recognize that

much of ministry is digging holes. I think Paul

talks about that in 1 Corinthians 3. He talks

about laying a foundation that other people can

build on. And yet he still rejoices in that foundation,

doesn't he? You read his prayers. He still rejoices

in that. And I think if you're going to be set

for a lifetime of ministry, we've got to learn

to rejoice in every tiny step forward. So perhaps

someone might say to me, I know I had a conversation

with a mum at the toddler group this week. I

was able to talk about Jesus. You didn't seem

very interested. So, yeah, but you were able

to talk about Jesus. Or, you know, we normally

have 20 kids to the youth group this week for

some reason, only 12. You talk to 12 kids about

Jesus. Great. I think we tend to think about

what we're not doing rather than what the Lord

is doing through us. We have to learn to sing

for the holes. And then fourthly, we have to

look to a bigger day. It's a very intriguing

end to this passage. Verse 12, 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. No one could distinguish

the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound

of weeping because the people made so much noise.

The sound was heard far away. These aren't tears

of joy, by the way, you can see that can't use

a contrast. And while many others shouted for

joy, these are tears of sorrow. So the million

dollar question is, what are these older people

crying about? Some people think it's a question

of size. I'm not sure I buy that argument. If

you look at the dimensions that we have in Scripture,

it's not exactly possible to work it out because.

The first temple is described in two dimensions.

The second temple is described in two dimensions

also, but two different dimensions. So it's not

quite easy to spot, but it looks as though it's

about the same size or even a little bit bigger.

So it's not a size thing. They haven't looked

at the foundations and thought it's not as big

as the old one. Like someone who's downsizing

from a four bedroom house to a bungalow. It's

not that kind of thing. But I think these older

folk understand. that there will be something

missing. I think Haggai is quite helpful here.

Haggai was a contemporary. He pops up in chapter

five and he talks about this a little bit. There's

a very famous verse in Haggai that people remember,

who of you is left who saw this house in its

former glory? How does it look to you now? But

I wonder actually if even more helpful, chapter

one, verse nine, you expected much, but it turned

out to be little. What are the people who went

before remember? Or perhaps stories from dad

or granddad or great granddad. They remember

the ark. They remember the ark, which represented

the presence of God. No ark now. Nothing to put

in this new temple. It's going to be empty. Perhaps

they'd sat and listened to Ezekiel and those.

Last chapters of Ezekiel, they wouldn't have

called them the last chapters of Ezekiel, of

course, but they'd listened to that prophecy

and they'd heard Ezekiel saying that this new

temple is going to be just, it will blow your

mind, basically. That's my summary of the last

eight chapters of Ezekiel. It will blow your

mind. They're thinking it looks just like the

old one. There's a sense in which that they know

the story, these older folk, they know the story.

And this doesn't seem to be it. We're really

glad to be back. We're delighted that the foundations

have been dug. Perhaps they even joined in that

song. But as they reflect on it and they look

at what was and what God has promised, they think

this isn't it. This is not going to be it. Of

course, perhaps whether they realize it or not,

they're looking forward. To something that God

has promised through the prophets and from long

ago, they're looking forward. Perhaps they wouldn't

use this language, but they're looking forward

to the serpent crusher. They're looking forward

to the Messiah. We understand now, don't we,

that that's the bit that's missing. The true

temple is going to come to his people. And yet

we still live in this kind of in -between age,

don't we? That however much joy there is in church

life. However much progress, however much glory

we feel. There is a sense or there ought to be

at least that this is not it. So we want to be

triumphant. We want to be full of praise at every

little hole that is dug. And yet at the same

time, hold intention. But actually, this life

is hard and wearying and there is a great day

still to come. Or to use a phrase from the New

Testament, we're sorrowful yet rejoicing. And

I think these last couple of verses of Ezra 3

basically encapsulate Christian life and Christian

ministry. That at the same time, there is the

sound of joy, the shouts of praise as weeping.

As we realize this is not yet the moment. We're

still beset by sin and difficulty. There are

still letdowns and disappointments. We weep over

those at the same time as we're rejoicing at

the things God is doing. And we're looking to

a better day. We're looking to a better day.

Ministry can be so consuming. The work of serving

in church can be so consuming that we forget

not only ourselves, but what is to come. If we

want to build for God's glory, here's what we

need to see. First things first, our relationship

with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords matters

more than anything. I'm not sure if I'm allowed

to say this in college, but it matters more than

the next essay. It does. It really does. It matters

more than what job title I'm going to have, what

size church I'm going to be in. But then having

trusted, God calls us to obedience. So, by the

way, you've got to do the essay. That's part

of your Christian obedience. You know that, right?

Trust flows into obedience. And teaches us to

sing for the holes. Every little step forward

is a little step nearer the kingdom of God being

completed. Praise him. And yet we weep what we

don't have. For what is not right. For relationships

that go sour. But for the fact that we just feel

the weight of today. And we long for tomorrow.

Let's pray before we sing our final song. Father,

we thank you that your son Jesus said, I will

build my church. And we thank you that's exactly

what he's doing. And we praise you for the privilege

of being called to be part of that work. We long

to do it with our eyes fixed on him, our great

sacrifice. We long to do it as his spirit works

in us, in obedience, living to please him. We

long to see in all that you're doing, your great

hand at work. Please forgive us, for we're so

caught up in ourselves that we fail to see every

step forward. And we look forward to that great

day when Jesus will return and make all things

new. And the temple will come down. The city

will come down. The bride, all these different

languages describe this beautiful thing that

you are doing, Lord Jesus. So we happily give

ourselves to this work and pray that you'll be

at work in us. In Jesus name. Amen.