SPEAKER_00 0:01

In Ezra chapter 3, the foundation for the new temple is being laid, and we see both celebration and weeping. In today's sermon, Pastor Wei guides us through the question: what does this teach us about our worship of God today?

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Church, this morning we are continuing our series on Ezra Nehemiah, and we find ourselves in Ezra chapter 3, verses 7 to 13, where there is a momentous occasion. And even though they were just going to lay the foundation of the temple, they have not really started building up the structure of the temple. It was still a big day for the Israelites because they were now actually starting to build. In Singapore, we have uh we don't have lake, we don't have foundation laying uh events, but we do have this thing called groundbreaking uh ceremonies, which is quite similar. Normally, if the project is important enough or big enough, right, the relevant ministers will come, the executives will also stand all saying one straight line, they'll all carry a shovel edge, you know, shovel some dirt and then take a photo, right? Um it's it's an important event for these companies. And groundbreaking or laying the foundations in the case of Ezra 3, they all mark the start of not just a construction project, but what it will bring to the nation in the future. And it marks the first step to fulfilling a vision or a purpose. And for the Israelites, it was all the more special because they were not building something new per se, they were rebuilding something that was destroyed, and that was the temple, the dwelling place of God, the center of their worship, and uh it was the focal point of their national identity as God's chosen people. And so they waited a long time for this day to come to rebuild what they had lost and to return to their worship of God. And so, as we look at the look at this occasion of laying the foundations to the temple and uh the celebration that ensues, there are interesting or significant details in the story that I think we can learn from today. As we will see, these people were very united and involved in the work. Uh, we will also see that their work recalls the past as they try to find continuity with uh the building of the first temple, and all this will culminate in worship that is mixed with joy and sorrow. And so, as we ruminate on these points, we'll draw some implications for us today, for our church and our worship. But first of all, we see that there is unity and involvement. Right? The first thing that stands out into this passage, and in fact, the whole of Ezra chapter 3 is just how involved the whole community is. Right, in chapter 3, verse 1, we read that the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. All the people they gathered as one, one man to Jerusalem. There was a singleness of mind and heart as they came together for a common purpose. And later on, verse uh eight in our in our reading today, it spells out this unity and expresses that everyone was involved, not just the leaders, and not just a select few, right? You have Zerubabel and you have Yeshua who made a beginning, they were the leaders, but we are told that they were doing all of this together with the rest of their kinsmen. The priests, the Nelevites, and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity. Ezra credits a broad spectrum of the community and not just its leaders with the building uh rebuilding efforts. And it is a really amazing feat, right? If you think about it, right? It is amazing to get such a huge participation from the people, right? For and for something to be such a unifying factor for a vast number of people, it would have to go beyond personal preferences and interests, right? That unifying factor will have to come from something that is external, that is without. Um and I think our national pledge is a pretty good example of how Singapore has tried to bring about that unity among her citizens, right? Uh the pledge was was was um written uh to to overcome the divisions caused by the differences in race, language, and religion. Uh and it was the government's way of promoting national loyalty and national consciousness. And the the idea is sound, right? You find a way that is that is beyond the people, that's beyond race, language, or religion, and you unify a people on this thing, right? And I think that is what is happening here in Ezra. The people of God were united by something beyond their personal desires or preferences. They were motivated, all of them motivated by a common and ultimate thing, that they were caught uh as a nation. They were called to love and worship God. And so faith was that common thing that they all possessed that that unified them. And so, because they had a unified purpose, all hands were on deck as everyone got involved to rebuild the temple. And so that's the first thing we see, right? They are united and they are very involved in the rebuilding. Uh, next we see that as they came together with one heart and mind to uh rebuild the temple, they were not doing so haphazardly. They were not uh appointing our new architect, okay, let's let's let's do this your way, you know, let's let's let's let's let's think of uh some new ways to build the temple, right? Um there are details within this chapter, subtle details, that show that they were establishing continuity with the past, right? Uh specifically to the building of the first temple by Solomon, and uh they were trying to have the continuity to to the the worship of God in the past by David's decree. Um so in verse 7 we read uh that they gave money to the masons and the carpenters and food and drink and oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Jopa, according to the grants that they had from Cyrus, King of Persia. And all these things that happened logistically, I mean it probably made sense for their geography, probably made sense for their season and all. But more importantly, this verse mirrors the provisions they that were made for the building of the first temple by Solomon. Right? Solomon made very similar arrangements and he got provisions from King of Tyre to build the temple. Uh and later on also we find that um this this account uh it stretches back to 1 Kings 5 and 1 Corinthians, uh 1 Chronicles chapter 22 and 2 Chronicles as well. Right? It is to kind of um bring back the the the consciousness of of the first temple, right, as they were rebuilding the the temple, and they were committed to build the temple according to the procedures of the first. We also see subtle again subtle details that the inverse 8 now in the second year of after they're coming to the house of Jerusalem, uh after the in the house of God of at Jerusalem, in the second month, right? In the second month, and the second month was also the month when Solomon began work on the first temple, and so they were not just constructing uh a building, right? They were uh very specifically tying it back to the first temple. And Ezra kind of glosses over the actual building project, you know. Uh in in later when you see like that, it it glosses the actual work because um it kind of wants to focus on something else instead. Um after all this effort, we only read in in part of verse 10 that the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, right? Um and that is because the goal, the real goal behind all of this, behind the building, is that worship is restored. So Ezra kind of quickly says, you know, okay, then now the the the builders they lay the foundation, and then the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets and the Levites, the sons of Asaph with symbols to praise the Lord according to the directions of David, king of Israel. And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel. We see one more time how they sought continuity to the past when Ezra mentions that the musical accompaniment of the priests and the Levites were according to the directions of David, king of Israel. Not something that they made out on their own. They were following something from way back, a tradition set very early on in the time of David. And even their responsive song here are the words used when the Art of Covenant was brought into the very first temple in 2 Chronicles 5, where when the Ark was brought in, they sang, For he is good, his steadfast love endures forever. And so we can clearly see the devotion of the people of God who have returned from the terrible years of exile. They come as a united people, they come being very much involved in the common purpose, and they sought continuity with their past in how they were uh rebuilding the temple. Laying the temple foundation, as I was saying, is such a momentous occasion. You know, normally people are celebrating, people are happy, right? Uh because it marked the beginning of their restoration and their return to worship. Uh, it symbolized hope for a better future, right? That God has promised that He will He will bring them back and restore them. And now the people were kind of riding on a high, and yet the chapter closes uh on a slightly darker tone, which is quite intriguing. Um if we read the rest of the passage in uh verses 11 to 13, we read that all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, which is expected, and then verse 12 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' houses, all 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. They were both together so loud, right? For the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away. The weeping was as loud as the joyous shouts. These were the senior people who have seen the first temple, the people who were there, the people who saw what it used to look like, and were weeping. Right? What is going on? Uh Haggai chapter 2 sheds some light on this. Um Haggai tells us that that um you know the Lord uh spoke to the people, Zerubbabel and Joshua and also the high priest and everyone else. Uh, in verse 3, who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? Yet now be strong. Oh Zerubabel declares the Lord, be strong, oh Joshua, son of Jehoshak, the high priest, be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. After all the work they have put in, right, as they were laying down the foundation for the second temple, those who have seen the first temple saw that the second one will never be like the first. It will be smaller, it will be less adorned, it will not look fabulous, you will not uh you will not have all his glamour, right? And it would be nothing compared to the glory of the first house. And while this is going on, on the other hand, you have the young who who were not there uh to see the first house, right? Um and who were not hearkening back to the good old days, and uh so they were not grieved, instead they rejoiced because the promises of God are coming to pass and have every reason to rejoice. Now I wonder if they what kind of conversations they had after this, whether the young among themselves, how come the senior in our midst, why they were they crying so loud? Like I was trying to worship God, and then they were like weeping and all, you know. I wonder if the the seniors actually passed down this information to them about how about how the first temple used to look like. No, I wonder if they had conversations about their faith and their worship as a nation. But in any case, it it really feels a little bit odd that an occasion like this ended the way it did for them. Um but we there we have it, right? The the unity and involvement, the continuity with the past, and then worship in joy and in weeping. As we reflect on this this story, this chapter, um I think there is a lot that we glean for our church and our worship today. And I kind of just want to bring up two uh application points for us this morning. And the first is our unity and our involvement in building this church up. And a lot has changed since the time of Ezra, and yet the core of God for us today is essentially the same. Right? A lot has changed. We have moved past uh Old Testament into the New Testament and beyond, but the call today is essentially the same.

unknown 15:01

Right?

SPEAKER_01 15:01

We are called to be united, we are called to be involved in the common ministry of building the church up. And I know that is a huge challenge today uh for for many of us given the rise of individualism, right? And uh with with this prevailing cultural individualistic uh tendencies, right, it has many implications for us as the church. Um for some, faith and worship has become merely a private affair, right? It is just between me and God. I don't need anyone else in my faith journey. In fact, I don't even really need a church, right? It's just between me and God. Uh for many others, we are suspicious of any kind of meta-narrative, of some kind of grand story that people want to impose on us, people want to impose on our freedom to choose how we want to live our lives, how we want to practice our faith, and we want to say, I can think for myself. Thank you very much. Right? I don't want to follow an institution blindly, right? I don't want to get too involved in a church, and I I only want to be involved on my own terms. Uh a group of psych psychologists, and this is of course uh study done in the US, um, but they put it this way, right? We that the the the culture there has now become such that we believe in the dignity, indeed the sacredness of the individual. Anything that would violate our right to think for ourselves, judge for ourselves, make our own decisions, live our lives as we see fit, is not only morally wrong, it is sacrilegious. It is an offense to the sacred. And our highest and noblest aspirations, not only for ourselves, but for those we care about, for our society and for the world, are closely linked to our individualism. So not that it's not that they don't care about other, literally don't care about other people, but that that care only goes so much as you can uh based on your individualistic uh thought. And someone kind of put it put this quite interestingly. It doesn't mean that people don't come to church, right? It doesn't mean that people won't attend church uh or won't serve in church, but it it means that they do so believing that the church benefits their self-expression or their self-fulfillment. It means that they come to church but they follow their own inner compass rather than the direction of God. And I mean, clearly none of us is so extreme. Clearly, no one is walking around saying I am all about me, you know. Um but there is that, there has always been that tendency, right? More than we would like to omit, but there has always been that tendency to say, I only want to follow my way. I only want what is best for me. And I mention this because that individualism is detrimental to the unity of the church, to our involvement in the life of the church. Whenever we have Holy Communion, um the very first part of the Holy Communion is this part where we share the peace, right? Uh and if you can recall, the words of the liturgy are we are the body of Christ, in the one spirit, we were all baptized into one body. Let us then pursue all that makes for peace and builds up our common life.

unknown 18:29

Right?

SPEAKER_01 18:30

Then we say, the Lord be with you and also with you, right? Um the the more individualistic we are, the more we buy into that that secular idea, the less any of these statements make sense. Right? And yet these are words from scripture itself. Right? These are words taken from 1 Corinthians chapter 12. And through scripture, I think God challenges the heart. And I think it even wants to save the heart that wants to curve inward and collapse in on itself. Faith and worship is not simply a private matter. Although we do have personal faith, we do worship and and and uh do Bible study and all that personally, right? But it is not merely a private matter, it has always been communal in nature. Right? And and the the the the through the whole scope of the the Bible, we see that we only fulfill our purpose as God's image bearers. We can only grow in Christ's likeness and worship God in spirit and in truth, in community.

unknown 19:40

Right?

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Very quickly, Jesus tells his disciples in John chapter 13, verse 35, right, by this all uh by this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. 1 Peter 2, Peter puts it this way that we are like living stones, again using the architectural imagery, right? We are like living stones being built up as a spiritual house. So that collectively we can be the royal priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus. And Peter even references Old Testament language used for Israel when he says that we are a chosen nation, a royal priesthood, a holy uh chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of God's own possession, that we may proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. Um, elsewhere, Paul stresses the unity of the church in the one spirit and the call to exercise our spiritual gifts to build up to build up one another. And we find it in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 to 14. We find that in Ephesians chapter 4, right? And really to put it things very simply, what we are called to do today is not that far from what the Israelites did in Ezra Ezra 3. What we are called to do today is really not that far from what the Israelites did in Ezra chapter 3. We are together as one man, to be united as a body of Christ, to be involved in the building of the church, right? To build up the church of Christ, the temple of the living God. And that unity will not come from within us, right? It won't be a unity based on preferences or interests, based on uh what we believe in or what we don't believe in, right? Doctrines and theology. It will be based on something far deeper and something beyond us. Right? It will be a unity that is forged by the Holy Spirit as we place, as all of us place our faith in the one Lord Jesus Christ, and all of us hold that desire to worship the one true God. And so, as part of this body of Christ, can I encourage you to be involved in the life. Of the church, in the lives of one another and in the life of the church. Right? It can be finding a connect group to grow in. It can be befriending someone in church later during refreshment at the I zone. It can be encouraging someone in his or her discipleship journey. It can be serving in one of our many ministries in church. It can be helping out in major events like church camp, like other events that we have. Or it can be participating in our mission trip. There are many avenues for us to serve. And God caused us to be involved in the very life of the church. Because it is only in us getting involved as the members of that one body that all of us can collectively grow. Church is not about individuals growing, even though that is that is wonderful. Church is about all of us growing together as the body of Christ. So that's the first point I want to make that we are called to unity and we are called to be involved in the building of this church. And the second application point has to do with our worship from the past to the present. Recently I've been thinking like, wow, my playground used to be so fun. Dangerous, yes, but really, really fun. I think the danger is part of the fun. God sand, like tall structures that were kind of unsafe in today's standards. We like to like to think about the past, right? And I'm sure from time to time we look back at our past experience in worship. The elders in Ezra chapter 3 did that. They were looking back to the past and remembering, quote unquote, the good old days, right? They looked back at the former glory of the temple. And I think they look back at what that temple stood for. Not just that the temple was beautiful, but that worship was high. The nation was faithful to God. God was with them and blessing them. They were under a godly king, David. They were remembering all these things about the formal temple and what it meant. And they were they cannot help but weep, right? As they were thinking back, you know, in huge contrast to the young ones who are kind of like shouting happily and joyously. And um, of course, you know, I can say on the one hand, you know, if we are fixated on the past, on the good old days, we will get stuck on what we used to do, what we used to have, uh, and can be detrimental to our worship. And that's kind of true, right? We don't want to be fixated on the past, right? We want to live in the present. Um but I kind of want to bring the other side of the coin into the picture. And I don't think the elders in Ezra III were simply stuck to the past, right? Or that we should actually just forget the past altogether. Just always live in the moment, live in the present, right? Um when we read about the mixed responses in Ezra 3, worshipping in joy and in sorrow, I think both responses were appropriate for that time. It wasn't that one was less appropriate than the other, but both were equally appropriate. It was appropriate because each were responding to God based on their passion for God. Right? The young were so happy because they they are seeing God's promises coming to pass, right? And the the old they were weeping because of the because of their passion for the things of God. The beautiful temple, once so glorious, is now the way it is, and the the nation itself, once so big and powerful, is the way it is. And their worship itself. Right now it's now it's now much smaller. Right? I think they were appropriately weeping, right? And and I don't see a hint of admonition, even in Haggai chapter 2, where where where God says, you know, don't don't you see you see the former glory, right? And you this this temple is nothing in your eyes now, right? I don't see any admonition there. Right? Instead, God tells them, be strong. Be strong, Zero Babel, be strong, Joshua, be strong, all of you. And so even though it is jarring to how the younger ones were feeling, there is something really valuable and really precious in this mixed response because it was genuine and it was passionate. And you it for some reason it brought me to uh the letter to the church in Laodicea in Revelation chapter 3, um, which has always seemed a bit strange to me. Um and and as I was preparing this sermon, um, I got led to this uh passage, and uh I think it's on the screen, yeah. Um and here Jesus is basically saying to the church in Laodicea, right? Like, you are neither hot nor cold. I wish you were either hot or cold, right? But instead you're lukewarm, right? So I want to spit you out of my mouth. Um traditionally we read it as uh you know hot, being fervent, zealous for God, wow, very on fire, very passionate. Then cold means you are far away from God, and then somehow we have to make these mental gynestics. Uh God would rather you be completely cold and distant from God than just being lukewarm, right? Which is a bit strange, right? Actually, the reading. Um Jesus seems to be referring to cold and hot as both positives. And so what is going on? Um and it's got to do with geography. Uh so if Laodicea is here, on top of Laudicea um is Hera Polis, right, known for its hot springs, right? And they think that there's medicinal effect to the hot spring. So they go there, they'll sow in the hot spring, they'll feel better about themselves, right? A little bit further away, uh, but to the east, is Kolosse, where they have these really nice cold springs. The water is fresh, the water is clean, and people love to drink the water from there. Laudis, yeah, being uh kind of caught here and there with no real uh body of water for themselves, they have to get their water from some aqueduct like six miles away. By the time the water reached their land, right, it is tepid, it is lukewarm, it is disgusting. Right? People say that they when they drink it, they feel like vomiting. Um and so Jesus was actually using their their geographical uh you know uh uh peculiarity to kind of make a point, right? I wish you were like hot water in Heropolis or like coal in in in Colosse, but instead you just choose to be lukewarm, you choose to be tepid, you choose to be disgusting and unfit. And there's really something that is there's that that can be that uh that uh that can be said about our our worship today, right? Um Jesus was kind of using the situation to admonish their faith, and I think today the the same question uh is posed to us as we look at Ezra chapter 3, um as we see different kinds of responses to God, both being impassioned responses, right? How is our worship to God? Are we like the the church in Laodicea, right? Like we have gotten rich, prosperous, we need nothing, and therefore we live like we do not need God.

unknown 30:07

Right?

SPEAKER_01 30:07

Or or is it is it is it spilling over either like very hot or very cold, right? Is it is is our worship kind of an overspill of our love and our passion for him? Because worship can involve joyous celebration and loud singing, worship can involve lamentation and weeping, worship can involve raising our hands, it can involve sitting down or kneeling quietly in prayer. But whatever form it takes, worship cannot be devoid of heart, whatever form worship takes, it cannot be devoid of heart. It always involves turning our affections to God. If we have become lukewarm, if we have become unmoved by the spirit, such that we don't express ourselves in any way at all during worship, then I think something is amiss. And if we have become lutewarm, if if you know if we have lost that love for God, I think there is a word about remembering the past in Ezra 3 that is helpful for us this morning. Um even as they look to the do their past for worship, right? I think we can look to our very own past as well, to how we worship in the past and to remember our first love. And so again, uh staying in Revelation chapter 2, uh, but this time in verses 4 and 5. We have uh gone through this passage earlier this year, but just want to uh reiterate that Jesus tells the the church, I think in Ephesus, right, that I have this against you. You have abandoned abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen. Repent and do the works you did at first. When when we uh when we think think back about our past, right, uh I'm sure many of us have had intense experiences with God. Or I'm sure at some point our faith was vibrant, was fervent uh when we were younger. And God was our everything, right? We will post on our Facebook, we will put our on our IG uh caption, uh we will tell people, right, God is everything. Right? Um and maybe some of us we have grown up a bit more, maybe we have more responsibilities and burdens as an adult, maybe there are more cares and worries, more distractions, more personal desires to pursue. Um, and we have abandoned abandoned the one we used to put first above all else. Jesus, just as he did to the church here, Jesus caused us to remember our first love. Not to replicate the intensity of the experiences, right? But uh to remember what it meant when we put God first above everything. Because if God is not our priority, then what are we building our lives for? And what are we building our lives on? What's the foundation of it? Is it a rock or a sand? Where are we really heading towards at the end of the day? And so, church, if you have forgotten your first love, and um it's a word for me as well. May I encourage all of us to set some time aside to talk to God and let him surface areas in our lives where we have forgotten about him, uh where we have failed to draw near to him, and just allow him to draw us into his presence again. And as we realign ourselves to God, whether there is joy or weeping, you know, we want to restore worship, as the people did. We want to restore worship. And as we do that, may we be able to sing truthfully with the Israelites, for he is step faster and yourself forever.

SPEAKER_00 34:12

We pray that you administer to by the word of God today. If you'd like to know more about Ish, please visit our website at ICC.com. Have a blessing.