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THE PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH
In The Worship Assembly
Nehemiah 8
Introduction
1. It is very important that a disciple of the Lord come
together with other fellow Christians to study and worship God.
2. The inspired writer of Hebrews said
“Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together
as the manner of some is...” (Hebrews 10:25)
3. A local church will have almost 170
assemblies for worship and Bible study in a year. Will you get the most out of
this spiritual opportunity?
4. We could spend time discussing the
different acts of worship that we are to participate in, or we could talk about
attendance (one actually being present). But something that is even of more
importance, is whether or not we are worshipping with the right attitude.
-Maybe your here, but are you here, in our
presence, but are you present.
5. All of the hundreds of sermons, prayers,
songs etc. will be wasted if you are not here with the right attitude. (Amos
5:21-23)
6. Many efforts today have been made to make
the worship services more successful, and in many cases they are made to please
man rather than to please God.
7. Most often the problem is not found in the
worship environment, but rather in the hearts and attitudes of the worshippers.
8. How can we be sure that our worship is
acceptable to God and is not in vain? (John 4:24)
-We must find an example of some attitudes in
worship that God did accept.
-We must view their attitudes and try to
emulate them in our lives as we worship.
[We find such an example when the remnant of
the Jews returned to Canaan from Babylonian captivity under the leadership of
Nehemiah and Ezra] (Nehemiah 8)
I. ZEAL FOR THE
ASSEMBLY
A.
“All The People Were Gathered Together”
1. We learn that all of the
people that could attend this assembly did.
a. It wasn’t just the few that
felt like it, and the rest stayed home.
b. There was a strong desire
for everyone to be there. (zeal)
2. Compare this to our worship
assemblies today...
a. On Sunday
morning most everyone will come,
b. On Sunday
night a few less
c. On Wednesday night or other special
Bible studies there are even less.
B. “They Told Ezra
To Bring The Book Of The Law Of Moses” (8:1)
1. The point that should grab our
attention is the fact that these people wanted to be there and were not needing
any extra motivation.
a. There was a request for the word of
God
b. There was no need for
a sermon like this.
2. In our society today you find
preachers and elders constantly having to plea
with members to be faithful.
a. The attitudes of
members are reflected in statements like:
-“Do I
really have to be there at every assembly?”
-“Do I have
to attend on Wednesday night?”
b. Some sound like those
of Malichi’s day (Malichi 1:13)
-“Oh, what a weariness!”
3. Our zeal must be better than this
a. Consider David’s statement in
Psalm 122:1
-“I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go in to the
house of the Lord"
b. When we have the kind of zealous
attitude toward worship that David did, we will attend every assembly that we can.
II. THEY WERE UNITED IN
PURPOSE.
A. The text tells us (verse
1) “They Gathered As One Man”
1. Division among brethren makes
worship difficult if not impossible.
a. Paul pleaded with those at Corinth
to settle their divisions (I
Corinthians 1:10)
b. Jesus taught that we
ought to be right with our brother before making an offering to God. (Matthew 5:23-24)
c. Once again a statement
from David that describes the proper attitude of making unity (Psalm 133:1).
d. We worship God because
we love Him...but we cannot love Him if we are at variance with our brother (I John
4:20-21)
III. THEY WERE ATTENTIVE
A. In verse 3
we read “The Ears Of All The People Were Attentive To
The Book Of The Law”
1. This is not surprising in view
of the obvious importance that they had to this assembly.
a. Some Christians may be
as dedicated in coming to the assembly as those of Nehemiah’s day, yet when they get to the assembly they
could care less about what is going on.
-They daydream
during the prayers, think about what’s for lunch
during the Lord’s Supper, cut there nails during the songs, write notes to each other, and laugh while the sermon is preached, and catch short naps in between.
-Paying
attention comes allot easier when we realize that
>God’s
word is the message under consideration (I Thessalonians 2:13)
>The message has the power to save our souls (Romans
1:16)
>We have come to worship the “King of
Kings and Lord of Lords” (Revelation 19:16)
IV. THEY HAD MADE
PREPARATIONS
A. The text reads (verse
4), “And Ezra The Scribe Stood Upon A Pulpit Of
Wood, Which They Had Made For The Purpose;...”
1. This service in
Nehemiah 8 was not a spur of the moment venture
a. There was preparation
before the service took place.
2. We cannot expect that kind of
success in our services unless adequate preparation is made.
a. Going to bed and being rested so we can be to the meeting place on time with our Bible class material completed, and our minds clear ready to worship.
b. Teachers, preachers, song leaders and other taking an active part in the service need to be prepared to carry out their responsibilities.
c. Those in charge of cleaning the building, taking care of the preparation for the Lord’s Supper trays, and those who will have other
small tasks so that the service is prepared need to make sure these things are done.
V. THEY WERE REVERENT
A. The text says (verse
5) “And Ezra Opened The Book In The Sight Of All
The People;... And When He Opened It, All
The People Stood Up: (verse
6b) “They Bowed Their Heads And Worshipped The
Lord With Their Faces
To The Ground”
1. The position of their bodies
presents a good indication of the attitudes of their hearts.
a. They understood that they worshipping the almighty King of the universe and the one who is worthy of all praise, honor, and glory.
b. If our worship is to be acceptable
it must be offered in the same reverent manner.
2. Look at what God told Moses (Leveticus
10:3)
3. The inspired writer of Hebrews
also said “Let us have grace by
which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews
12:28)
VI. THEY WERE ALL ACTIVELY
INVOLVED
A. The text said
“ALL The People Stood Up” (verse 5) and
“ALL The People
answered Amen Amen with lifting up their hands.” (verse
6).
1. Some who attend church
assemblies see their role as being quite passive.
a. It is as though they
come to watch worshipping done instead of doing it themselves.
b. They sit there waiting
for things to happen...
-to be taught
-to hear
beautiful singing
-to be mentally
stimulated etc.
2. Note : Worship is a verb
denoting action
a. It is something that
each worshipper does
b. They ALL in their own
way were actively taking a part in worship
3. A sincere lesson must be
learned.
a. We must ALL join in
the song service (Colossians 3:16)
-A failure to
do so is a failure to teach and admonish your brethren.
b. We must ALL listen to
prayers offered (I Corinthians 14:14-16)
-If we fail to
do so we cannot possibly agree with an “amen”.
c. We must ALL consider
carefully the teaching and preaching (Acts
17:11; I Thessalonians 2:13)
-We must study daily to see if these
things are so.
-We must
receive the word as it were from the mouth of God.
d. We must ALL partake thoughtfully of
the Lord’s Supper (I
Corinthians 11:23-29).
-A failure to
do so is to eat and drink damnation to oneself
-A failure to do so is a failure to remember the death, burial, and resurrection and second coming of the Lord.
e. We must ALL give
cheerfully as we have been prospered (I
Corinthians 16:1-2; II Corinthians 9:6-7)
-A failure to do so is not only disobedience to the command of God, but hinders the work of the Lord and the furtherance of His kingdom in the spread of the gospel.
---WHAT THEN WAS THE RESULT OF THIS ASSEMBLY AND
WORSHIP?
---We have seen so far that their assembly of
worshippers were characterized by zeal, unity, attentiveness,
preparation, reverence, and active participation.
---But what if anything was the result of their
assembly?
-Was it just a brief emotional experience
with no lasting impact?
-Was it just a few hours spent doing their religious duty after which they
returned to business as usual?
---NOT AT ALL!
VII. THEY LEARNED GOD’S WILL.
A. The text says (verse
8) “They Read In The Book Of The Law Of God
Distinctly And Gave The Sense, And Caused Them To
Understand The Reading.”
1. The people had a greater
understanding of the will of God for their lives.
-They were focused on
teaching God’s will and not traditions or creeds.
-Part of the assemblies preparation
would have been to be ready to receive the word...and that they did.
B. The people rejoiced (verse
12) “They Had Understood The Words That Were Declared Unto Them”
1. Once the message is taught from
the simple gospel and it is received it should cause rejoicing because of a greater understanding.
-Many leave and say that they were not edified, and they are certainly not rejoicing.
>You get out of
the services what you put in to the services.
>It is hard to understand or even hear
the message if we are not paying attention anyway.
---Because of this greater understanding of God’s
will, the lives of those assembled were changed.
VIII. THEY OBEYED WHAT THEY
LEARNED
A. We must look at two examples :
1.
Nehemiah 8:13-17
a. They had discovered something that God said they should do that they had not been doing.
-So, they
obeyed the Lord’s command.
b. Notice how they had
obeyed
- (verse
17) “And there was very great gladness”
- Reminds me of
another occasion (Acts 2:36-41)
>
Those that received the word with gladness ...obeyed
>We
need to receive the word of God with gladness too.
2.
Nehemiah 13:1-3
a. They had yet again discovered a command that they should
be obeying...what did they do...?
-(verse
3) “Now it came to pass when they had heard the
law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed
multitude.”
> They
heard the Law and followed the commands
> Reminds me of a passage in the book
of James
(James 1:21-22)
B. The lesson is clear for us
1. When we study God’s word, we
need to hear what is said and obey it.
a. Without obedience to
the knowledge attained our services are vain.
2. We must have zeal,
attentiveness, preparation, reverence, and involvement
3. Assemblies for worship, Bible Study, and encouragement should increase our knowledge of God’s will and a determination to obey it to the best of our abilities.
---What about your worship; do you have the attitudes
discussed above? Are you continuing to learn more about God’s will for
your life?
---Are you willing to obey without question what you
learn to be right?
1. HEAR
-
Romans 10:17
2. BELIEVE -
John
8:24
3. REPENT - Luke
13;3, 5; Acts 17:30.
4. CONFESS -Matthew
10:32-33; Romans 10:9-10; Acts 8:37 (vs.
38-39 next)
5. BAPTIZED - Mark
16:16; Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16; I Peter 3:21.
6. FAITHFUL -Revelation
2:10; Matthew 24:13
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