Psalm 119.137-160
“We took shifts copying for 20 days continuously,
two copying and two correcting.
By the last night, we finished and went to return the Bible.
Exhausted, we fell asleep on the way.
Morning came and we rushed to return it to the elderly woman,
constantly apologizing.
We started reading our hand-copied Bible immediately.
At the time we had 10 churches, and we used that Bible during meetings.
This copy was lent among the churches.
This Bible is very precious to us.
We hid it at a meeting place by digging a hole,
putting it in and covering it with a rock.
I used it for 10 years, until it was discovered and confiscated.’’
(Chinese Christian)
How much do we value our Bibles?
“Thousands of people have given their life for it.
Prophets were killed for it. Apostles were killed for it.
Martyrs throughout church history have been were killed for it.
Today people are killed for it. And we just put it on the shelf?“
So says Brother Andrew ‘God’s smuggler’
who has devoted his life to sharing God’s word in the Communist world
and recently in Islamic countries.
Maybe you have been thinking that Psalm 119 with its 176 verses
is really rather too long.
I have to confess that I faced a bit of a block looking at this week’s section.
What new thing could I say from it that we have not already heard about
the light for our path and the passion to tears and freedom and suffering?
So lets turn to Nehemiah 8.
and highlight some things about how Ezra and the people responded to God's word -
it is a sort of demonstration in practice of many things in Psalm 119
We are in Jerusalem in the 440s BC;
a group of exiles under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah
are trying to rebuild Jerusalem, the ruined walls and the ruined temple.
Chapter 8 of Nehemiah gives us the start of the spiritual rebuilding programme
as a disorganised group of people begin to find their re orientation,
their new direction by God‘s word.
In the seventh month after their return
all the people assembled in the square before the Water Gate.
They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses,
which the LORD had commanded for Israel.
So Ezra brought the Law before the assembly,
which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand.
He read it aloud from daybreak till noon
And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.
v 1 'all the people ... told Ezra ...to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses,
and all the people listened attentively.'
Ezra was not imposing God's word on the people, it was their desire to hear it
they knew they needed direction, they told him to bring out the Book of the Law.
v 2 tells us that it was a great cross section of all people
men and women and all who were able to understand.
meaning children of an age to take it in
v 3 challenges us on our hunger for God’s word.
Are we among those who say a service should never last more than an hour and preferably less?
'He read it aloud from daybreak till noon....
And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.'
We are talking of a gathering to hear God's word of 5 to 6 hours!
It would be interesting to do a survey some Sunday across Cork city
to measure the length of the sermon and the size of the congregation.
You may be surprised to hear that some of the best attended churches
have the longest sermons.
And if we could find out accurately the level of satisfaction
the sense of closeness to God, the feeling that it was time well spent
there could well be a link between the longer time taken with God’s word
and the depth of satisfaction.
V 4 shows us that Ezra was not on his own.
He was flanked by 13 other people who were presumably leaders in the community
giving the message that this wasn't Ezra out on his own
that the leadership of the community were with him shoulder to shoulder.
(When we have the Lord's Supper, something like this is seen as the elders sit with the minister.)
V 5 first simply describes how Ezra was visible to the whole crowd
but then it shows their response of awe and reverence.
As he opened the book, the people all stood up.
and then in v 6 they lift their hands in response to Ezra's praise
and then they prostrate themselves to the ground.
Just notice how demonstrative they were and how inexpressive we are!
vv 7-8 brings us an important principle that the Bible is not just to be read
but also explained
The Levites mentioned here may have been doing some translation
as the people may not have all understood the classical Hebrew
that Ezra was reading
but they may also have repeated and expanded what had been read
much as a preacher seeks to do today to make sure that everyone understands.
Like the Ethiopian in Acts 8 reading the prophet Isaiah.
Philip asks him: 'Do you understand what you are reading?'
and he replies: 'How can I, unless someone helps me.'
And Philip opens his mouth and tells him of Jesus.
People need the Bible explained; people need to be pointed to Jesus.
Their explanations must have been very clear and direct
because v 9 shows us the people weeping
as they listened to the words of the Law.
They realised just how far over the centuries they had strayed from the Law of God
They began to understand how the long years of exile
had been God's just judgement on his faithless people.
They realised that their lives were like a ship wrecked on a sandbank or a reef
because they had ignored the charts and the pilot's advice.
How foolish they had been, how disobedient and faithless
to a God who loved them and had saved them at the Exodus!
But here's a thing. Nehemiah and Ezra and the Levites
do not indulge in finger wagging. They do not thunder on:
"Weep indeed you foolish sinful people,
you deserve everything that's coming to you'
No, they say Don't weep! Rejoice!
10 'Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks,
and send some to those who have nothing prepared.
This day is sacred to our Lord.
Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
The point here is the one in the old children's chorus:
'He did not come to judge the world, he did not come to blame
it was to seek the lost, it was to save he came.
And when we call him Saviour, and when we call him Saviour
we call him by his name.'
Jesus will judge the world one day, but the reason for his first coming
the reason the scriptures are given is to make us wise by faith to salvation.
This is God's guide to life saving.
Nehemiah and the other leaders knew this even instinctively.
So the people wiped their tears away and went to party,
'to celebrate with great joy' in no selfish way,
They shared food with those who had none, so that no one was left out - why?
'because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.'
Words of challenge, yes, but first of all words of grace.
Direction for their walk with God.
Let's finish then by thinking how we apply this in our time and place.
1 HOW HUNGRY ARE WE FOR GOD'S WORD?
I don't think we should beat ourselves over the head
to be exactly like the people in Jerusalem 2,500 years ago
but their zeal should challenge us.
Standing for 5-6 hours, listening carefully, there's hunger to hear God.
Or the Chinese believers who spent hours copying the Bible out
while we leave it on a shelf?
One of the things I look forward to this week at the conference at Coleraine,
is the diet of bible teaching which will be offered by four committed, careful bible teachers.
I need to hear sermons too as well as give them.
I was talking with one of the speakers years ago
about what it really means to be a Presbyterian
and he said simply: ‘if you take away the Bible from the Presbyterian church
we have nothing left worth holding on to.’
There is a sense too in which many of the churches in this part of Ireland
need more of the Bible.
Pray with me that in our 150th anniversary next year
we may highlight the Bible at the heart of what we do and are as a church.
Not that we will ignore Jesus, not for a moment but if we don’t know the Bible,
in the end we won’t know Jesus
we will end up with our own ideas about him
which may keep us happy,
but at best spiritually malnourished and at worst totally and fatally led astray.
Pray with me that our bible teaching series on the Ten Commandments
planned for a year from now will find acceptance in the wider community
NOT that we can feel good about running a successful event
but that people will see the vital relevance of the Bible for their lives.
2 HOW SHOULD WE SHOW REVERENCE
FOR GOD'S HOLY AND LIVING WORD
In some Presbyterian churches people stand up as the Bible is brought in.
In some other churches people stand while the Gospel passage is read.
In some churches the clergy hold the Bible up above their heads and even kiss it
In India I found it good to see the congregation standing with their bibles held high
and singing a short song before the bible reading.
As Ezra read, did you notice that the people kept standing for hours.
And we just sit?
I will defend our practice of not holding the Bible up on high and not kissing it.
I don't think we need to stand up when it is brought in or when it is read,
because there is a danger in any ritual
that people can do a symbolic act that seems to honour the Bible
and yet in their hearts they could be far from accepting its truth.
But I need personally and I sense many of us need to remember
that God's word is holy and living.
I remember in Gujarat that the Bishop’s wife noticed
I was putting my bible on the floor under my chair.
Like a good wife she got her husband to mention to me
that contact with the ground is seen as dirty and defiling
and he made the point gently and graciously.
You may say that’s only a cultural value
but since then I think a bit about where I place my Bible.
From one perspective it’s only a book
but it’s the book from which God speaks.
When we come to sit at the Lord's Table
I am sure we all sense that that is a holy and precious time
and in some way God comes near.
But every Sunday when the minister says 'Let us hear God's word'
that should be a holy and precious and awesome moment.
We are going to hear what God says.
Or in our mid week bible groups or in the holiday bible clubs
it may be a much more informal atmosphere
but the same truth applies, and we need to be much in prayer and expectancy:
God is going to speak and we should show reverence for his holy and living word.
3 DOES GOD'S WORD MAKE US WEEP FOR OUR SIN
AND REJOICE IN HIS GRACE
When we are hungry for and reverently approach his word
Nehemiah 8 then gives the basic response when God speaks:
sorrow for our sin, joy in his grace.
There is a time for weeping over our sin
mourning over our failures that is an authentic response to God's word.
I will even say that if we have never wept in our walk with God
and in our encounter with his word there is something wrong,
we need to seek to meet God in a deeper way.
I hope you were challenged last week by the tears of the psalmist
running down his cheeks because God’s law was not being obeyed.
But what the leaders are saying here is that God’s forgiving grace
has priority over our deepest sin.
The time for weeping over sin should not drive out the time for rejoicing
because God in his mercy has not rejected even his sinful people.
We are right to be concerned about the ways we fail God
but the principle of grace is that we can not hope to change our ways
unless we see the Bible as first of all not as a book of do’s an don’ts and musts and oughts
but as a book of grace
where God tells his people, that he loves them, that he has given his Son for them
that he will leave them nor forsake them.
That is not in any way to minimize the seriousness of our sin
but it rather to help us see that we can only deal with our sin
from a full understanding of God's generous undeserved love
which calls us to a life of joy
and in a life of joy to know the strength of God to change our lives.
And often it may happen that as we rejoice in God's grace
we will be brought to tears at the thought
of our thanklessness, and ungraciousness and unworthiness.
4 DOES OUR ENCOUNTER WITH GOD'S WORD
RESULT IN PRACTICAL CARING RESPONSE?
This last point is short enough, you may be glad to hear.
Short for me to say, but long enough for us all to carry through.
As the letter of James says, 'Be not hearers of the word only but also doers'
The people went out and celebrated as they had been told.
They shared with the poor so that they could celebrate too.
The next day they reinstituted the feast of Tabernacles
and celebrated the giving of the Law of God for a further week.
It was an indication of their new seriousness in following God's word.
What will you and I do?
Will we make time later today to reread Nehemiah 8, or have we too much on?
Can we find ways to share what we have with others?
Will we understand that while we are not required to stand and listen to bible teaching for 5 hours
there is none of us who could not hunger more for God's word
and honour it more as his living message
and seek the appropriate response
of gladness for his grace and sorrow for our sin.
God of the living word,
give us the faith to receive your message,
the wisdom to know what it means,
and the courage to put it into practice,
(A New Zealand prayer book)
O Lord, you have given us your word for a light to shine upon our path'
Inspire us to meditate upon that word, and to follow its teaching,
that we may find in it the 'light that shines more and more
until the perfect day.'
through Jesus Christ our Lord
(St. Jerome c. 347-420)
O Lord Jesus, let not your word become a judgement upon us,
lest we hear it and do not it,
or believe it and do not obey it.
Thomas a Kempis 1380-1471
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