God’s Law Is Glorious!
Nehemiah 8:1-3,5-6,8-10

† In Jesus’ Name †

May the grace and mercy of God our Father and the Lord Jesus create in you a hunger to discover the treasure that is our scriptures- which reveal God’s love for us!

Read Wha???

The experts tell us that the average attention span of an American has been shrinking for decades. I remember reading how that affected advertising, especially on Television and Radio, and how they moved commercial breaks from every fifteen minutes to every 7 and ½. And the commercials themselves shrunk – from 2 minutes to 30 seconds.

SO as I was preparing this sermon, I looked it up—and according to one recent APA study, the attention span is now….

8.25 seconds.

So imagine what would happen if we had a day like Nehemiah, where the elders and I read, and explained, the first five books of the Bible… in one setting?

80,000 words, plus or minus 500 depending on translation.

That is roughly 80-85 times the length of one of my sermons… not counting all the explanations they had to offer. That’s at least 20 hours – perhaps 30 hours. Even three into, the people where still excited, even the point of chanting or cheering AMEN!

3 hours – a quick break and back into it, and then Nehemiah tells us,

When they saw him open the book, they all rose to their feet.

⁶ Then Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and all the people chanted, “Amen! Amen!” as they lifted their hands. Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

Should we do this today?

Deacon Bob, grab one of those Bibles there… let’s go!

Oh wait, you all thought worship was only seventy-five minutes or so?

Moving from Amen to Mourning?

They were so excited to hear of the story of God and His people! To hear the promises that were made for the redemption of all of mankind from the very first days as they were led from the Garden.

But things change… and they did that afternoon.  For as the books are read, the people’s demeanor changed. Here is how that is described,

⁹ Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were interpreting for the people said to them, “Don’t mourn or weep on such a day as this! For today is a sacred day before the Lord your God.” For the people had all been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.

What could make them go from a million plus people chanting Amen! Amen! weeping to that same group of men, women and children weeping? What did they hear? What could flatten the emotions of a million people at once?

It had to be bad news, something that would shock them, something that would raise anxieties, that would raise fears, that would show them that they could lose something that they should be treasuring.

They began to realize that all the suffering of the people of God was because of their own actions.

You see, the relationship between God and mankind is kind of simple – there are things theologians call the “promises”, the things God swears He will do for His people. The other part is often called the “terms”, which something equates to the obligations we have,

It is made more condemning when we hear that the parts of the covenant are the parties, the terms and the promises – as if the terms must be met prior to receiving any of the promises.

I can see them going – we do all the same things that got our ancestors in trouble… we’ve been doing.  They wanted what their neighbor had, we aren’t satisfied with what we have, and want others humbled to our level. They gossiped, yeah we do that too! We may not steal, but we want deals that always favor us, even if it means others don’t.

I could run through the rest of the commandments, and what was done in Moses’s and here in Nehemiah’s time, let’s be honest, exist today outside the church, and sadly to say, inside the church.

As they hear the consequences of sin that are prophesied in the Books of the Law are read, those consequences and fear, guilt, shame and it all overwhlems them, as it should.

This Isn’t About Mourning… it’s a celebration!

Earlier in the children’s message, I brought up the idea that we need to hear the entire message, They heard the first tule, but no one bothered to ask about the second rule. It is the same thing here, listen to all the Nehemiah said,

“Don’t mourn or weep on such a day as this! For today is a sacred day before the Lord your God.” For the people had all been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.

¹⁰ And Nehemiah continued, “Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”

People make two large errors when it comes to scripture and especially the Old Testament. And that is because they don’t understand God, and God’s strongest desire—the desire that drove God to create in the first place.

The first is that the people didn’t keep listening to the solution God promised to provide to take care of our brokenness, to heal those damaged by sin and the guilt and shame and anxiety it

The second is that the terms precede the promises – and that God won’t be faithful to what He promised unless we deserve it. That is completely wrong -we don’t come to God perfect and holy, having fulfilled the law completely before He will bless us – the blessing is He invites us to come to Him, and His promise is to recreate us in His image!

The ”terms” then are the results of the changes God has made in us, the very picture of Christ that is reflected in our lives. It is the effect of the presence of the Holy Spirit, the fellowship of the Spirit of God living in us.

That is why Nehemiah and Ezra say, “it’s time to party, to celebrate this sacred day, when we realize what God promised to do – for God’s joy- His desire to save usis the very strength that dwells within us—and has, since the day of our baptism, the strength nourished as we commune, and take His body and blood to eat and drink in the Lord’s Supper. The very thing we confess we depend on when I say, “the Lord is with you!”  AMEN!