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Ending on a Sour… Er… Sober Note?” Nehemiah 13:4-31 31 August 2014

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Ending on a Sour… Er… Sober Note?” Nehemiah 13:4-31 31 August 2014 “Ending On a Sour… Er… Sober Note?” Nehemiah 13:4-31 31 August 2014 Maybe you’ve heard the expression, “Jump the shark.” It is a phrase that was originally used to denote the tipping point at which a TV series is deemed by the viewers to have passed its peak, or has introduced plot twists that are logically inconsistent in terms of everything that has preceded them. Once a show has “jumped the shark,” the viewer senses a noticeable decline in quality or feels the show has undergone too many changes to retain its original charm. The term has also evolved to describe other areas of pop culture where people, actors, authors, etc seem to lose their edge and they are on an obvious decline. Where did the phrase “jump the shark” originate? The term comes from a Happy Days episode centering around Arthur Fonzarelli, also known as Fonzie, or the Fonz. Remember Fonzie? Fonzie was the cool, womanizer who could woo all the ladies with his love and looks. Fonzie would take your girl right outta your arms just by looking at her! He was that cool! Straight out of your arms into the arms of the Fonz. Well, there is an episode of Happy Days where the Fonz is waterskiing in the ocean, with perfect hair and wearing his famous leather jacket, and he jumps over a shark in the ocean. So the Fonz is waterskiing in the ocean, he sees a shark fin, the viewer is terrified because we think the Fonz is gonna get eaten by a shark, and what does Fonzie do? He does what only the Fonz could do: he jumps over the shark! Hence, the expression, “jump the shark.” That episode was the beginning of the end for Happy Days. That was the moment when Happy Days was about to experience the “sad days” of cancellation. Who waterskis in a leather jacket? Only the Fonz! Well lots of TV shows have jumped the shark. But what does jumping the shark have to do with the book of Nehemiah? On the surface it seems like Nehemiah is jumping the shark because of how the book ends. Remember that Ezra+Nehemiah are 1 book in the Hebrew Bible. They belong together. And Ezra+Nehemiah started off great: the people were in exile in Babylon. Cyrus the Persian king allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem so they could rebuild the temple and restore the worship of Yahweh, the Sovereign Lord. This happened under Ezra’s leadership. In time, Nehemiah arrived and led the nation in rebuilding the city walls. These city walls were completed in 52 days and there was a big celebration that we saw last week in chapters 11-12 and the first 3 verses of ch. 13. They were so full of joy that they sounded the loud not of worship that was heard far away. But Nehemiah does not end his narrative there. He could have ended on a high note. He could have ended on the loud note of worship. He could have ended his story with that big party Israel had where their worship caused their neighbors to call the police on them because it was so loud. But instead Nehemiah ends on what on the surface looks like a sour note. On the surface it looks like Nehemiah killed the ending to his book. But as we’ll see today, it’s not a sour note that Nehemiah ends on, but it’s a sober note. Nehemiah doesn’t end on a sour note, he ends this book on a sober note. Stay tuned to see why Nehemiah ends his story this way. It looks like he has “jumped the shark”- but how he ends the book of Ezra+Nehemiah very well could be a means of grace in your life and the life of this church! Our big idea today is something you have heard me say many times- BE KILLING SIN OR IT WILL BE KILLING YOU. That comes from Puritan pastor John Owen’s book, which was released in 1656 with this magnificent title: The Mortification of Sin in Believers: The Necessity, Nature, and Means of it with a Resolution of Sundry Cases of Conscience, Thereunto Belonging. You wonder why my sermon titles are strange? Blame it on the Puritans! Nehemiah 13 is all about being reminded that we must always guard our hearts and be busy killing sin. In this chapter we’ll see a reminder that the people of God must continually be killing sin or they will be killed by it. Compromise, corruption, contamination by the world and sin are ever-present threats to the life of the church. But understand this: Sin does not come to us as a murderer. Sin does not approach us as a killer in a horror movie with a bloody knife. Sin does not approach us as a Middle Eastern terrorist. Sin does not approach us as a monster from a Sci-Fi movie. Sin approaches us as a lover. Sin comes to us all “dolled up” and looking good and it makes sweet promises to us. Sin comes to woo us away from our first love, our wonderful Redeemer, Jesus. Sin comes to draw our affections away from Jesus. Sin seduces us. Sin lies. Sin deceives. And therefore it needs to be killed. That’s what Nehemiah is saying to God’s people as he closes his book. And before we get into the exposition, let me make a plug for one of our Grace Seminary classes. Kurt Mason will be teaching out of a book called Licensed to Kill: A Field Manual for Mortifying Sin. This book, by Brian hedges, is a great summary of John Owen’s book. And it’s easier to read. And since you struggle with sin, I recommend you take the class. Grace Seminary starts next week on September 7. So sign up today. The class will be during the 10:30 hour in Room 108. Ok, back to Nehemiah. Notice first 2 verses: Nehemiah 12:44 “On that day…” Nehemiah 13:1 “On that day…” NOW LOOK AT NEHEMIAH 13:4- “Now before this…” What Nehemiah is doing in chapter 13 is telling us what happened before the covenant renewal and dedication of the wall in chapters 9-12. In other words, Nehemiah is telling us here in chapter 13 about what was happening before revival broke out and the people rebuilt the city walls. So Nehemiah ends his book by going back to explain what was happening before and while they were rebuilding the walls. Instead of ending on a high note, instead of ending on the loud note of worship, Nehemiah goes back in time and reminds his readers of some of the situations that were occurring as he arrived in Jerusalem, started building, and was finishing the the city walls. And what was happening back then when Nehemiah first arrived? We saw it also in Ezra 10. There was widespread contamination and corruption and compromise. The people of God were not being the city of God. LOOK AT VERSES 4-9… Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah, prepared for Tobiah a large chamber where they had previously put the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests. While this was taking place, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. And after some time I asked leave of the king and came to Jerusalem, and I then discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, preparing for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber. Then I gave orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense. Eliashib had charge over the chambers of the temple where they would store all the gifts that people gave to the work of God. Then one day Eliashib decides to go against Scripture and hook his cousin Tobiah up with a sweet new crib! He actually converts one of the temple chambers into a “man cave” for Tobiah! It was like Eliashib was on an episode of Design Star or some other design show on HGTV. But notice the danger of compromise here: Eliashib the priest was related to Tobiah. Remember Tobiah? We saw him earlier in Nehemiah as one of Nehemiah’s opponents. And here we have a priest who lets “blood be thicker than covenant!” He lets his relationship with Tobiah take precedence over his relationship with his God. Pleasing man mattered more than pleasing God. All of this took place of course while Nehemiah took a trip to see King Artaxerxes. And when Nehemiah returned, well, Nehemiah went ballistic! He got angry and threw all of Tobiah’s furniture out into the street. The street was littered with end tables, a dartboard, a TV, a mattress, chairs, a grill, a pinball machine, some weights, all the things you would find in a man cave. Then Nehemiah brought in a cleaning crew that had some Clorox bleach and some Febreeze and who knew the book of Leviticus and it was turned back into a temple storage room.
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