-Sung Psalm- 23-----Each of the letters starts with the question- who is Jesus-----Jesus is the holy one - a phrase used often in the OT to refer to the LORD himself.----And he is the true one- This connects back to the portrayal of Jesus in 1-5 as the -faithful witness- -the -true witness--. It also prefigures the -falseness- of those who say that they are Jews, but are not.-- --And Jesus is also the one who has the key of David - who opens and no one will shut - who shuts and no one opens.----When you hear about keys, you may also think of chapter 1 as well - but in Rev. 1-18, Jesus had said, -I have the keys of Death and Hades- - whereas here he says -who has the key of David.--- --Jesus quotes from Isaiah 22 as a way of identifying himself as the one who holds the future of the house of David in his hand. When Jesus opens the door - no one can shut it. When Jesus shuts the door - no one can open it.----And Jesus encourages the angel of the church in Philadelphia - I know your works - a line that Jesus uses with five of the seven churches- - sometimes for good - sometimes for bad-----But in this case, it is good...

-Sung Psalm- 149-----Why do I preach so much from the Old Testament- Because that's what the apostles' both practiced and commanded.-- --When the apostles set out to preach Christ and him crucified - they had to explain to Gentile hearers why a Jewish -Messiah- mattered to Gentiles- What does it mean to be a Christian-----You cannot make sense of Christian identity without understanding the story of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the story of Moses and the Exodus, the story of the Judges and the failure of Israel, the story of David and Solomon and the building of the temple, the story of the divided Kingdom and the failure of the kings, the story of the Exile and the restoration - the new Exodus under Zerubbabel, and the story of the rebuilding of Jerusalem - and the rebuilding of the people of God, under Ezra and Nehemiah.----The Gentiles who put their faith in Jesus were not just believing in something God did in their generation - they were believing in something God had been doing for thousands of years-----When you became a Christian you were grafted in to Israel - through baptism into Christ, you were joined to the family of Abraham -Gal 3-28- and became -heirs together with Israel, members of one body, sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus- -as Paul says in Eph. 3-6-----The weapons of our warfare are spiritual weapons - but they are weapons nonetheless- And so just as Nehemiah's laborers worked with the weapons beside them, even so must we.

-Sung Psalm- 102-----You want to build a wall- Just ask the king- The king signs an executive order - and you go build a wall-----Why do we build walls- We build walls to keep evil out.----Nowadays we tend not to build walls around our cities - but in the ancient world, a city was not properly built until it had a wall.----Without a wall, an enemy army could just march in and take over. If you have a wall, then even a small defending force can fight off a large attacking army.----And even in times of peace, a wall provides security against wild animals - and ruffians and bandits.----We use walls to protect ourselves from threats.----Walls are a good thing- A person who is entirely without walls would be a person who is entirely defenseless- And while postmodern culture prizes -transparency- and -vulnerability- - no one seriously believes that we can live entirely without walls.----If you disagree with me, then why do you have a username and password on your bank account- If you trust people that much, then why don't you leave your laptop in the car with the windows open--- --We have walls for a reason- Because this world is not what it should be. People are not what they should be- And we are not what we should be-----Sure, sometimes walls are used to harm and destroy others - to exclude and to alienate the helpless.----But the story of Nehemiah is a story of rebuilding good walls - walls that protect - walls that guard and defend the weak and the helpless-

-Sung Psalm- 144-----Okay, let's just start with the obvious- Wow- They are sending away their wives and children-----Now, the -romantic ideal- of marriage didn't really exist back then - but it's obvious from other OT texts that love did exist back then- And these men are now sending away their wives and children.----The basic idea - which you see in Ezra's prayer and in the peoples' decision - is rooted in the OT concept of how the unclean contaminates the clean. In this case, the foreign wives, with their foreign gods, are -contaminating- the holy people.----Of course, if you know your OT history, you might be wondering - what about Ruth-- Ruth was a Moabite. The Moabites were expressly excluded from the Assembly of the LORD in Dt 24- Ruth was King David's great-grandmother. How come she was allowed to marry into Judah-----The reason is simple- Ruth forsook her gods and her people and joined herself to Israel's God. As she said to Naomi- -Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.- There's no problem with a Moabite who denies herself, takes up her cross, and follows the LORD-----The problem that Ezra identifies is intermarrying with people who practice abominations. Namely, who worship foreign gods.----As we'll see, if the question was simply -did you marry a foreigner-- then then solution could have been implemented in a day. -She's a foreigner - get rid of her-- We're done-------The reason why Ezra has to establish a commission is in order to distinguish between foreigners who are like Ruth - and who have joined themselves to Israel - and foreigners who practice abominations, and thus are teaching their children to worship other gods as well-

-Sung Psalm- 69-----What a striking statement- -But now, if you will forgive their sin - but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written...-----Moses understands how serious this moment is- Israel's sin deserves death. God had said - just a few days earlier - not to make graven images and bow down and worship them- And now Israel has done precisely what God had told them not to do-----Exodus 32 is the prime example of the sort of sin that Jesus sees in the church in Revelation 2-3.----And Moses sees that Israel's sin is so heinous that Israel has forfeited the right to be called children of God. They should be blotted out of God's book.----In other words, Moses offers to die for his people - to be blotted out of God's book in place of Israel- That's remarkable- I don't know too many people who would be willing to endure hell for the sake of others--- --But Moses asks God to blot him out of his book. And God says, no - whoever sins him will I blot out of my book.----The best way to make sense of this is to say that God has a book of all those who belong to him. Every time a person confesses Christ as Lord, every time a person is baptized - their name is added to the book. And every time a person apostatizes - every time a person rebels against the LORD, his name is blotted out.----Later in Revelation we'll hear that there are those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life, from before the foundation of the world - in other words, the elect - those whom God chose from before the foundation of the world--- --Those whose names are written in the book from before the foundation of the world will never be blotted out-

-Sung Psalm- 132-----Before I read our sermon text, I need to explain a little about what you are going to hear- You might call this the -government documents- section of the book of Ezra--- --The author is very clear that this material comes from a wide chronological range. Verses 1-3 are from the time of Zerubbabel and King Cyrus -Cyrus reigned from 539-530 BC-. Verse 4 speaks of King Darius -r. 522-486-. Verse 6 speaks of accusations during the reign of Ahasuerus -Xerxes, 486-464-. Verse 7 speaks of letters in the days of Artaxerxes -464-423-. So these verses cover a span of 100 years-----And when you look at the content of the letters, the letters in verses 7-23 are talking about rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem -which we'll hear about in the book of Nehemiah-. And then chapters 5 and 6 return to the theme of building the temple in the days of Darius- -- --In other words, the letter to Artaxerxes comes from a hundred years later -and the author tells us this - because back then everyone knew that Artaxerxes lived a hundred years after Cyrus--.-- --That's why I call this the -government documents- section of the book of Ezra- -Here are various imperial decrees and correspondence that are relevant to my story.-

-Sung Psalm- 120-----In Ezra chapter 3 there are two themes- building a new altar and laying the foundation for a new temple.----Altar and temple. It's amazing how often these themes come together in the Bible. And always in the same order-----Altar always comes first -at least, after the fall--. It makes sense.----The temple - after all - is the place where God meets with his people - where God dwells with his people-----And how can we dwell with a holy God- The wages of sin is death. When you look at human history, it's a pretty ugly story. We just keep killing each other, hurting each other, making each other's lives miserable- How can we come into the presence of a holy God - when we are such a mess------We need an altar- We need a place for that sacrifice that can atone for our sins. That's why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2 - -I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.- The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the whole point-----And so here in chapter 3, Paul speaks of how, -like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation- which is Jesus Christ.--- --And how he is building -and other pastors are building- on that one foundation. And what are we building- A holy temple. And you are that temple-----Because of the altar - because of the sacrifice - because Jesus Christ has dealt with sin once for all on the cross - therefore we are made right with God - our sins are forgiven- and we are brought into a new relationship with God - we have peace with him - we are being transformed into his likeness-----The foundation of the temple can only be laid because of the sacrifice of the altar-

-Sung Psalm- 20-----Throughout the scriptures, the -hand of the LORD- is often described as being against the wicked. And sometimes, when the -hand of the LORD- is -on- someone - it is on them in judgment -Psalm 32 - -your hand was heavy upon me.------It's a prominent theme in the Exodus, as God brought his people out of Egypt by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. -The hand of God- is a phrase used 7 times in the book of Ezra-Nehemiah. Six of those times are in this passage- But here in Ezra 7-8, the hand of God is 'on' Ezra for good. The hand of the LORD is powerful.----For Ezra, there are no special signs and wonders. There are no -miraculous- works. God's hand works by 'ordinary providence' for Ezra.----In verse 6, the king granted all that Ezra asked, -for the hand of the LORD his God was on him.- In verse 9, Ezra -came to Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on him.- In other words, God's ordinary protection. In verse 28, Ezra -took courage -because of the king's letter-, for the hand of the LORD my God was on me.-----And then in chapter 8, verse 18, we hear that -by the good hand of our God on us,- we found some Levites to go to Jerusalem. In 8-22 - -we had told the king, 'The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him'- so we don't need a military escort- And in 8-31, -The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy.-----In other words, signs and wonders are not necessary for God's hand to work mightily for your good- In this respect, Ezra is just an ordinary Christian going about his ordinary life, seeking to do what God calls him to do - and trusting that God will provide all that is needed-

-Sung Psalm- 48-----We live in a day when religion has been isolated from the rest of life - as though the temple can be isolated from the city. But for the rest of human history, temples, churches, synagogues, mosques - religious buildings have always been integral to the city.-- --When you look at pictures of old European -or early American- cities, the churches were invariably the tallest buildings in the town.----Religious buildings are still integral to the city- Shopping malls and sports arenas are the -temples- of our day. Civic leaders today spend princely sums to build a sports arena - very much like the spending on the temple in Jerusalem. -And for the same purpose - Darius wanted the people of Israel to -vote for him.------Temples unite people in a common devotion. And particularly, temples unite cities. The city comes together around this common devotion, thereby giving a sense of meaning, purpose, and joy.----You cannot understand the temple in isolation from the whole city of Jerusalem- A temple by itself is not enough. Until the city is rebuilt, the temple is incomplete. The temple represents the presence of God with his people. The wall represents God's protection of his people.----In the same way, the church is the temple of the Holy Spirit - but God is building a city.----Paul tells us that we are citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem. Our allegiance is not primarily to the United States - or to South Bend - but to the heavenly Jerusalem.

-Sung Psalm- 2-----We keep hearing this line at the end of every one of these letters- -The one who conquers...- or -the one who overcomes- - -the one who wins------But Jesus has a funny idea about how to win- Winning, for Jesus, is not about scoring more points - or -being the best- - the fastest - or the strongest.----For Jesus, winning is about perseverance. -Hold fast what you have until I come.-----When everything else comes crashing down around you - hold fast what you have until I come.----It's not a particularly glamorous way of winning. But then again, how did Jesus win- He triumphed over the powers by being nailed to a cross-----In the letter to Thyatira, we start again with the question- Who is Jesus-