Worship that is costly

When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.

Daniel 6:10

There was a very real culture war for Daniel that would cost him when he chose to take sides. The document in reference deified the king of Babylon, with a special 30 day “celebration” in which no other type of worship could be done except bowing to the king. Most Babylonians probably saw it as insignificant. Daniel know the unjust and ungodly law was scheduled to be signed by the king. And he knew that his daily practice would not change. The law went into effect, and Daniel kept his spiritual disciplines three times a day, in his home, praying to the Lord.

No unjust law, no persecution of the people of God, no pressure from culture should keep our hearts from worship. Daniel was thankful even as expressing that thankfulness to God was a crime punishable by death. He would not bow to any other god of this world. He would not agree that a man should be worshiped. He would continue in the king’s court, but he would only worship God.

Fast forwarding to the end of this conviction at the end of the chapter and we see it was rewarded. Daniel was indeed punished under the terms of the unjust law for disobeying it. He was thrown into the lions den. God thus delivered him and the king repented of the vain law he had enforced. Those who conspired to destroy Daniel were thrown into the same den and mauled to death before they hit the bottom of the floor. God will honor and protect those who worship Him even in hardship.

joy with those who serve

On that day men were appointed over the storerooms, the contributions, the firstfruits, and the tithes, to gather into them the portions required by the Law for the priests and for the Levites according to the fields of the towns, for Judah rejoiced over the priests and the Levites who ministered.

Nehemiah 12:44

The revival of obedience to the Law and love for the Lord that had begun in Jerusalem had now spread to all of Judah. The surrounding villages and farms in the countryside spreading out from Jerusalem now brought in their tithes and firstfruits to the temple in order to support the ministry of the priests and Levites. And the attitude that accompanied their obedience was joy.. They rejoiced in what God was currently doing. There was a clear motivation of personal engagement. They worshiped and they gave with grateful hearts, rejoicing in worship as they brought their gifts.

The people of Judah were glad to have the temple rebuilt. They were glad to see Jerusalem secure with walls around the city again, knowing their gifts would not be pilfered by an army of invaders. They were rejoicing in the LORD for temple worship to be once again a part of their lives, happy to have servants of God ministering to them once more. They rejoiced in God, with temple worship and the Law at the center of Jewish life as well. This was the joy of being committed in covenant with God Himself.

Personally, I love that they rejoiced OVER those who served. This was more than “clergy appreciation day”. This was a joy that was found in the realization that these men served the God Who loved them and these men helped the people know, love, and obey the Lord. It was a thankfulness to God for His servants. It is an awareness of the beauty of mutual ministry. One of my absolute joys, a thrill that is hard to express with words, is when the people of my church, whom God has called me to love and serve, come alongside me and on occasion rejoice over me and the others who serve in ministry positions at Mill Creek. It is a thrill to work with volunteers who love God, love each other, and love me. It is a joy to have them rejoice in what God is doing through all of us together. It is the beauty of mutual ministry by God’s design and one of the deepest experiences of pure grace that I know.

giving my best

We obligate ourselves to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the Lord;

Nehemiah 10:35

The worship of God deserves the very best we can give. It isn’t something we do as an afterthought. It isn’t a rote routine we can sleepwalk through. Worship is about giving ourselves to God. It makes sense then at this point in the story of Nehemiah, as the Jews in Jerusalem have had a renewal in commitment to love and obey God, that they would also commit to giving to the temple worship. And they solemnly vowed to keep the covenant. They would bring in their tithes. They would give God the very best they had.

Of course this was all specifically mandated in the Law. And the goal was for obedience to come from a heart of love. These commitments made by Nehemiah’s generation were just that. Their commitments to give sprang from hearts fully alive in the wonder of worship. The whole group of resettlers had just had a renewal and revival sweep through their midst. They wanted to give God the best they had in their firstfruits. They wanted the worship of the Lord to be as visible in their lives as the rebuilt walls of Jerusalem were. Their generous obedience in giving would show this.

When my heart is most in love with the grace of God in Jesus, I want to give. I am most generous when I am swimming in grace. God, keep me in awe of your grace so that I may give out of grace like You!

God’s Word renews

You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

Nehemiah 9:20-21

This recounting of Israel in the wilderness is part of a broader, beautiful season of renewal in which the priests and Levites assembled the Jews returned to Jerusalem. It all starts in Nehemiah 8:1-12, where they began with three hours of reading the Law, followed by instruction and explanation upon what had just been read. This led to worship and praise spontaneously.  The very next day they agreed to celebrate the feast of tabernacles as a step of obedience and spent an entire week doing so again with a daily emphasis on much reading of God’s Word. This was done every day of the feast (Nehemiah 8:13-18).

It is after this intense season of exposure to God’s Word that a time of repentance and confession begins which culminated with the Levites leading a public confession of sin that recounted all the history of Israel in its scope and confessed the specific ways the nation had sinned against the Lord. It was an amazing, tearful, broken, but renewing day, and again for three hours they publically read scripture, followed by three more hours of prayer and confession.

And all this led to strong commitment which is what true repentance does. There is a tangible turnaround. By the end of this extensive revival, the Jews produced and signed a sealed covenant document that committed the people to the Law, to obedience and worship of the Lord, and to God’s mercies for their confessed sin. And it was all saturated in God’s Word... the entire process... from beginning to end. Truly the Bible can change us, if we will let God do so through His Word!

both sword and trowel

Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built.

Nehemiah 4:17b-18a

Nehemiah lead a tough construction crew. If I pulled up to a job site today and saw the workers all side armed like they were part of some NRA convention, I’d worry about the neighborhood I was visiting! Jerusalem was a dangerous place without her walls, and there were enemies around the city who did not want to see the city secure again. Threats were made against Nehemiah and the rebuilders. This just convinced them the wall really needed to go up... and fast!

So Nehemiah’s response was to carefully arm the workforce and set up an early warning system to muster them to defense if it was needed. The force was armed to the point of overkill, with even the unskilled day laborers at the alert with a weapon in their hands as they carried stone. Stone masons built with a trowel in one hand and a sword strapped to their side. The trumpets were ready to call this blue collar army to defense with a simple blast.

The crews were dedicated to their task, camping near the work and sleeping in their work clothes nightly to always be ready to both protect and build the city. And this strategy succeeded without any skirmishes and with the work completed on schedule. The well-armed construction crew got the job done. God kept them safe as they wisely empowered themselves through protection, good defense, alertness, and commitment.

Trust God; ask the king.

And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.

Nehemiah 2:8b

As a leader, Nehemiah demonstrated both faith and common sense wisdom in the initial planning stages of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. He went to the Persian king (his employer) carefully with his proposal, and was granted complete royal backing for the project. But that is not what was behind his success. He had carefully organized the details while simultaneously trusting God to help them happen.

Nehemiah asked the king for all the funding, security details, and requisition of materials that the returning exiles would need to get the job done. He knew what to ask for and how to ask for it with proper royal decorum and respect. He knew that for Jerusalem’s walls to be rebuilt, Persia’s king would be able to finance and protect the work as well as the people doing it. Nehemiah wisely asked the king for everything that he needed. And the Persian government backed the entire proposal.

Nehemiah was wise enough to ask the king, yet humble enough to worship God, knowing that the only reason he was favored by the throne was because God’s good hand was clearly sovereignly working. He took no credit for what God was doing. He demonstrated proper planning as well as strategic asking, but was also passionate in trusting God as he worshiped in his work.

So it is with much of life. It is lived at the intersection of temporal need, earthly resources that can meet those needs, and eternal providence that radically changes the significance of what we do in this life. All my plans need to blend my “now needs” with faithful trust in the good hand of my God. God’s Word shows me this. Fortune is always brought about and blessed by faith.

tears and joy

But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

Ezra 3:12-13

As the returned exiles began construction of a new temple for the worship of God in Jerusalem, a spontaneous worship service erupted as the foundation was laid. And it was highly emotional. The elderly among them who had seen the temple of Solomon as children wept with the memory even as the new generations rejoiced that the work of rebuilding could begin.

And this has me reflecting on both worship and motives for ministry. First... worship. It would seem that worship is what people bring to it, in terms of emotional connection at least. That is what happened here. The place we come from in our own personal walk with God emotionally charges our worship experience. God is the same for all those assembled, but emotion is highly affected by experience.

And concerning motivations for ministry, this is also true. We serve from differing backgrounds and our experiences of serving God are also influenced by this back story. It is OK to both serve and worship God with joy. It is also equally OK to have some sorrow in these things when it is godly sorrow. God is bigger and blesses both experiences to draw us closer to Him.