"Remember Me, O My God" -- Nehemiah 13:1-9

The Twenty-First (and Final) in a Series of Sermons on Ezra-Nehemiah

Nehemiah served as governor of Judah for twelve difficult years.  Under his very capable leadership, the insults, plotting, and threats made by the Peoples of the Land (led by Sanballat, his lackey Tobiah, and Geshem) against the newly returned exiles had been thwarted.  Jerusalem’s walls and gates have been rebuilt in a mere 52 days.  Upon the public reading of the Book of Law and with preaching and exhortations from the books of Moses, a reformation broke out in Israel.  The people conformed their feasts (i.e., the Feast of Tabernacles) to biblical mandates.  They renewed their covenant with YHWH, and according to the testimony of Nehemiah 10:30-39, they swore on oath to separate themselves from the peoples of the land, to stop giving and taking pagan wives, to conduct no business on the Sabbath, and to support the temple and its sacrifices with their tithes.  As we saw last time (in chapters 11-12), the people dedicated Jerusalem’s walls and gates to YHWH in a joyful and emotion filled ceremony, which was so loud, the celebration was heard for miles away.  If the author wanted to go out on a high note, this is where the Book of Nehemiah should end.  But it doesn’t.

His work completed (or so he thinks), Nehemiah is recalled by the Persian king Artaxerxes and leaves Jerusalem behind for the Persian winter capital of Susa, only to return to Jerusalem “after some time.”  What does Nehemiah find in Jerusalem upon his return?  A people keeping all the promises they made to YHWH when Nehemiah had last been among them?  Does he find a people zealous to keep separate from pagan Gentiles?  Does he find a people working hard not to neglect the house of their God (the temple) as they promised in Nehemiah 10:39?  If we thought the great celebration in Nehemiah 12, was the conclusion to this wonderful story, we are sadly mistaken.

What Nehemiah finds upon his return to Jerusalem is a city and a people living very much as they did before God’s judgment came upon them in 587 B.C. when the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar sacked and destroyed Jerusalem as an act of God’s judgment upon Israel because of their sustained idolatry and worship of false gods.  Nehemiah is angered by what he finds.  The Book which bears his name ends not with the celebration of the dedication of the city (chapter 12:43), but with an epilog in which Nehemiah exercises his righteous anger against those in Israel who have not kept the faith, nor their promises to YHWH.  In this we final chapter see the great lesson of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are intended to teach us–the Old Covenant, that national covenant God made with Israel at Mount Sinai through the mediation with Moses, cannot truly deal with human sin or the sinful human heart.  After spending much time studying these two books, one thing should be patently clear–Israel needs a sinless Messiah who can deal with human sin once and for all.  Until such a Messiah comes, short term “reformations” are the best the people can hope for or expect.  A new and better covenant must replace the old.

As we turn to our text (the closing verses of chapter 12 and the entirety of chapter 13) we pick up where the joyful celebration ends, with the planning and preparation necessary so that the people of Israel might continue to worship YHWH as brought about by and necessary to the renewed covenant.  We read in Nehemiah 12:44, that “on that day” i.e., the day (or shortly thereafter) the people of Israel rededicated the city and its walls to YHWH, “men were appointed over the storerooms, the contributions, the firstfruits, and the tithes, to gather into them the portions required by the Law for the priests and for the Levites according to the fields of the towns, for Judah rejoiced over the priests and the Levites who ministered.”  Nehemiah wasted no time in ensuring that those things necessary (humanly speaking) for this reformation to continue be put into place. The people of Judah are said to rejoice at these arrangements.

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This Week at Christ Reformed Church (February 27-March 5)

Sunday Morning, March 5:  We are continuing our series on Colossians.  This coming Lord's Day we will address Paul's teaching on husbands, wives, slaves, and masters (Colossians 3:18-4:1).  Our worship service begins at 10:30 a.m.

Sunday Afternoon:  We continue to look at the Heidelberg Catechism's discussion of why our good works cannot justify (Lord's Day 24, Q & A 62-64).  Our catechism service begins @ 1:15 p.m.

Wednesday Night Bible Study, March 1 (7:30 p.m.):  We continue our series on personal evangelism entitled, "Telling the Truth in Love."  We will discuss the biblical categories necessary to engage in pre-evangelism.

Academy, Friday, March 3 (7:30 p.m.):  We will be viewing and discussing Allen Guelzo's Teaching Company Course, The American Mind.  Our text for this series will be Hollinger and Capper, The American Intellectual Tradition.  Be sure to get a used copy!  They are much cheaper!

For more information on Christ Reformed Church you can always find us here (Christ Reformed Info), or on Facebook (Christ Reformed on Facebook).

"Let the Word of Christ Dwell in You Richly" -- Colossians 3:12-17

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon

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This Week's White Horse Inn (Updated Website)

Same Sex Attraction

What should we think about the issue of same-sex attraction? Is it essentially the same as being gay? How does the issue of sexual preference relate to our identity as Christians, and how are we to talk about our differences with others in a world that is increasingly accepting of homosexuality and same-sex marriage? Michael Horton discusses these issues and more with Sam Allberry, author of Is God Anti-Gay? (originally aired Sept. 27, 2015).

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Guess the Player

Can you guess the identity of this Indians rookie?

Hint--he's still playing. 

"For God Made Them Rejoice" -- Nehemiah 12:27-43

The Twentieth in a Series of Sermons on Ezra-Nehemiah

What comes next for Jerusalem and for the people of Israel after the Reformation which broke out in Israel in the days of Ezra-Nehemiah?  Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed in 587 B.C. by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzer.  Most of the city’s inhabitants were taken captive and exiled to Babylon, until 537 when Cyrus, a Persian who captured Babylon, issued his famous decree for the Jews to be allowed to return home to Jerusalem.  Although the foundation of the temple was laid in 536, the temple was not completed until 516.  In 445 B.C. Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem to inspect the city’s walls which lay in ruins.  Leading the now-returned exiles in a massive rebuilding effort, the walls and gates of the city were rebuilt in the span of 52 days–a remarkable accomplishment.  But the city itself–that portion of Jerusalem lying within the gates–still lay largely in ruins with very few people dwelling amidst the rubble.  If Jerusalem is to function as Israel’s capital and fulfill its role in redemptive history, then the city must inhabited once again.  The future of Israel is inescapably tied to the fate of its capital.

As we work our way though the entirety of chapters 11-12 of Nehemiah, we come to a number of lengthy lists of family names, tribal boundaries, as well as a list of priests and Levites.  These lists serve to tie the people living in and around Jerusalem in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah to the great promises YHWH  made to his people in the days of Abraham, Moses, and David.  Everyone knew that YHWH had promised to make this people into a great nation dwelling in the land of promise–but how will YHWH accomplish this when the Jews are in such poor shape both as a people and a nation?  Their capital city is in ruins and uninhabited.  The people are vassals of a Persian king.  What happens next?  What does the future of Israel hold?

The eleventh and twelfth chapters of Nehemiah are the author’s account of what happened in the days after Jerusalem’s walls and gates had been rebuilt, and after the people had rededicated themselves to YHWH by renewing their covenant with him (chapters 8-10).  How was the city–which had been left desolate and largely in ruins–to be repopulated now that sufficient infrastructure was in place for the city to function as habitable space?  How does a ruined city like Jerusalem ever recover?

Before we answer that question, there are a number of chronological and historical issues to be found in these chapters, but any discussion of them fall well beyond the scope of our time.  But let me say by way of summary that the supposed problems raised by critical scholars have all been capably addressed, and there are good and plausible answers for all the supposed contradictions they find in these lists.  Those which do arise are those found by people combing the Bible only for any hint of error, while there are good and reasonable explanations which critical scholars conveniently ignore or otherwise overlook because the facts do not fit their theories–an attitude which is all too typical.

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This Week at Christ Reformed Church (February 20-26)

Sunday Morning, February 26:  We return to our series on Colossians.  We will take up Paul's discussion of what it means to "put on a new self" (from Colossians 3:12-17).  Our worship service begins at 10:30 a.m.

Sunday Afternoon:  We will look at the Heidelberg Catechism's discussion of why our good works cannot justify (Lord's Day 24, Q & A 62-64).  Our catechism service begins @ 1:15 p.m.

Wednesday Night Bible Study, February 22 (7:30 p.m.):  We continue our series on personal evangelism entitled, "Telling the Truth in Love."  We will discuss the biblical categories necessary to engage in pre-evangelism.

Academy, Friday February 24 (7:30 p.m.):  We will be viewing and discussing Allen Guelzo's Teaching Company Course, The American Mind.  Our text for this series will be Hollinger and Capper, The American Intellectual Tradition.  Be sure to get a used copy!  They are much cheaper!

For more information on Christ Reformed Church you can always find us here (Christ Reformed Info), or on Facebook (Christ Reformed on Facebook).

"A Noble Task" -- I Timothy 3:1-13; Belgic Confession, Article 30

Here's the audio from this morning's ordination and installation sermon: 

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This Week's White Horse Inn (Updated Website)

Discipleship and Discipline

While many churches in our day emphasize convenience and comfortability, one of the key ingredients to a life of lasting discipleship is actually discipline. In other words, like marriage or excelling in a particular career path, being a Christian is not always fun, but often involves hard work, faithfulness, and perseverance. We also need faithful shepherds to come alongside us, to feed and care for us, as we make our way through Vanity Fair on our way to the Celestial City. That’s the focus of this edition of the program as the hosts wrap up their series, Finding Yourself in God’s Story.

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B. B. Warfield's First Pastoral Call

Amy Mantravadi has written an important essay on B. B. Warfield's first pastoral call in Dayton, Ohio.  I encourage you to take a look:  B. B. Warfield in Dayton

She writes,

The fallout from this event was exactly what you might expect. The presbytery “passed resolutions reflecting on the congregation for ill-usage of their pastor” and required that this be read from the pulpit. We are then told that, “The Church session entered a strong protest in its minutes.” Anyone who has ever been forced to suffer through a tense church committee meeting can now sympathize with what was taking place.

Into this tense situation stepped the young B.B. Warfield. By the time he arrived in Dayton, the congregation had been without a permanent minister for almost two years. Due to the dispute with the local presbytery, they were likely viewed as somewhat toxic. How exactly Warfield was chosen to serve as their supply pastor, I cannot say, but he was no doubt viewed by some not as a lion, but rather as a lamb prepared for the slaughter. Completely lacking in pastoral experience, the odds against his success were long indeed.