Title: Sing and Rejoice/Nehemiah 12:27-47
Sing and rejoice
Neh 12:27-47 970914-2
The Christian life is a life of hard work. In his epistle, Peter called life itself a life of a stranger, and the Apostle Paul said that it was a life of battle, a life of racing in a racetrack, and a life of offering a living sacrifice to God.
Jesus did not guarantee peace to his followers, but he promised the cross.
However, this road is not always full of pain, difficulties, and burdens.
After such fights, there is often a pleasant time to rest. After fighting, you will taste victory. There are times of greater joy and joy than suffering.
In chapter 12 we see a picture of a festival of great rejoicing. Where did this joy and joy come from?
Through these words, I pray in the name of the Lord that all false joys and joys in us will leave and that we may enjoy life with true joy and the joy God gives us.
After rebuilding the wall and revival of repentance and obedience through the words of the law, they are prepared for rededication, and then this festival of the inauguration of the wall was held for them.
Nehemiah brought the Levites and singers from the surrounding area, and made a huge march up the wall.
The march was split in two.
One group followed Nehemiah around the wall, and the other followed Ezra and marched around the wall in the opposite direction.
It is important here that the place where these groups marched and gathered was the temple. This shows that they built the wall with the intention of putting God's temple at the center of them and making the name of God known throughout the world and forever remembered.
In front of this crowd, each singer took the lead and gave thanks to God. After the people had circled the wall like this, they gathered in the house of God, offered sacrifices, and rejoiced exceedingly, but “the voice of Jerusalem’s mourning could be heard from far away.”
Folks, what is consecration?
It means giving things to God.
In 2 Corinthians 8, the Apostle Paul said, “They gave themselves first to the Lord, and then to us according to the will of God” when the people of Macedonia were actually in extreme poverty in the midst of tribulation and helping the Jerusalem church.
Even in the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they first offered themselves.
12:30 says, “The priests and the Levites first sanctified themselves, and then the people and the gate and the city were sanctified.”
They first performed rites of washing their bodies and clothing, abstinence, and offering sin offerings.
An offering to God must first be purified, whether human or material. God does not accept anything that is not clean.
He said that there were many weak and sleeping people because we served the bread and the cup without taking care of ourselves at the sacrament. These words apply to all our worship services. We come to God by grace. But we cannot come to God without washing our deeds. Just as the priests went to the sanctuary and washed their hands and feet before entering the sanctuary, so we must examine ourselves with the Word and wash away all the unclean sins and transgressions of the week in the precious blood of the Lord. Not doing this makes us weak. There is no strength in our religious life, and God is not with us in what we do. Also, there are many people who have fallen asleep in their faith because they do not do this, and their faith is dead.
In this way, God receives the material, time, and energy that you give after you first cleanse yourself. God disciplined Israel's religious practices, such as Cain's sacrifice, who offered only material things, not himself.
Now these people hold the dedication ceremony of the wall.
However, there were two important elements in this consecrated service. One is to sing and the other is to rejoice.
First, to sing.
What would these people sing?
They must have praised God's name and thanked them for the great grace that God had bestowed upon them.
Their hymn title was Thanksgiving.
Singing is very important in our life. We must give praise, body, and life. But you can't ignore singing hymns with your lips. Singing is a common way of worshiping God for both Old and New Testament believers. They sang aloud together as they sang to God, praising God using various instruments. Most of our favorite hymns come from the testimony of faith.
We sing praise even in the midst of suffering. We sing in hope, even at funerals. You must not stop singing. There is power in this hymn. All darkness disappears. When there is a song of praise on their lips, their hatred for the brother will disappear. When there is a hymn, there is no worry.
Just as Nehemiah gave the first priority to singing at the inauguration ceremony, our praises should be prepared.
Second, enjoy.
They enjoyed singing along with their work.
Joyful songs come from a joyful heart.
Verse 43 uses the word joy four times.
(Nehemiah 12:43) On that day the crowds offered great sacrifices and rejoiced exceedingly, for God had given them great rejoicing, and the women and children also rejoiced, so that the rejoicing of Jerusalem was heard from afar.
They rejoiced exceedingly, and even the women and children rejoiced, and this rejoicing was heard from afar. What is the reason for this? Because God has made us rejoice greatly.
What they enjoyed was a divine pleasure, not a mere hedonistic pleasure. He told us to always rejoice in the Lord.
What is the purpose of our life, the purpose of our philosophy?
It's joy, it's joy. How much life are you trying to get, and how are you looking for it? But where is the true joy and joy? Where is true rest and peace? Is this in the world apart from the bosom of God? No matter where we go, it is the work of the devil that tempts us with the pleasures of the world, which we enjoy for a while with disguised joy and pleasure, but there is no valuable, spiritual, and eternal joy and joy that comes from our heart.
I hope you believe that only when you are embraced by God can there be rest, peace, joy, and joy in life.
Do you have the joy God has given you to rejoice?
Are you living in the world with this joy that God has given you to rejoice greatly?
Isn't it a life of still searching for joy and pleasure in the world?
The world tries to force you to enjoy it. Because it's not enjoyable, he drinks and tries to artificially entertain himself with drugs. It is a world where crazy people who pursue Charla's pleasure by stimulating even peripheral nerves are acting.
Are there some of you who still find joy in dancing, secular songs, and alcohol like this world?
If we get together this Chuseok, let's not try to please us by doing secular things. We have to show the Christians what kind of fun they have to live in the world. If we laugh and enjoy the same things they enjoy, they are no different from us or them.
Where did the song and joy come from for them?
First of all, this is the reason why I realized the grace of God.
Many of their enemies interfered with their work of rebuilding the walls. However, with God's full help and rebuilding of these walls, they now have joy in accomplishing God's will for them. Also, they did not stop at building walls, but went back to God's horses and found all the sins that had been wrath against God since their forefathers and immediately repented. Also, I was obedient to every thing that I did not obey God. Their hearts returned to God, and they sang and rejoiced, because after they had done what God had commanded, they had inexpressible joy and joy in their hearts.
This joy that comes when we do God's work in obedience to those who gave ourselves first and obey God's word is incomparable to joy that comes from fulfilling our fleshly desires and rejoicing.
Do you have this joy?
Do you have this pleasure?
The Christian's life is not suffering like pain, anxiety, and the burden of the cross. In fact, those who walk in it have this song and joy. Because this is so great, it overcomes any pain and any hardship.
This song and joy should be filled in our lives and in the church at home. Even the women and children rejoiced, and the sound of joy echoed far away.
In a world without joy, in a world without hope, when we hear the songs of joy and joy, it will be a hope for them. Shouldn't we share this joy?
What rejoices our dear brothers, parents and acquaintances?
Don't you rejoice over things that will perish?
Aren't you guilty of longing for a moment's pleasure and suffering? If they are poor, shouldn't we do the work of saving them this Chuseok too? Our hymns must spread far and wide. When they see our joy, they will ask about our hopes.
Let's rejoice.
Don't impress, let's have fun. God makes you happy. What are you worrying about and suffering? Heavenly sorrow must be done. But when you entrust all of these things to the Lord, the peace and joy that the Lord gives you will spring forth.
May this song and joy never cease in your life, in the name of the Lord.