Ezra 9:5-10:44 Taking Sin Seriously Last Week Peter Finished His Sermon by Reflecting on the Fact That Ezra on Arriving in Jerus
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Ezra 9:5-10:44 Taking sin seriously Last week Peter finished his sermon by reflecting on the fact that Ezra on arriving in Jerusalem finds out that the some of the Jews living there had married women from the surrounding nations against the expressed commands of God. God had called his people to be his chosen ones, set aside to live in holy relationship with him. They were to be a distinctive people who pointed to the presence of God in their midst. What was happening would taint and spoil the uniqueness of these people. We started to see last week how seriously Ezra took this and today he deliberately takes his anguished prayer to the place of the evening sacrifice at the temple so that his prayer might be heard by more people. This morning I would like us to look closely at this prayer and the subsequent response of the Israelites and bring out 7 points which we can learn from this passage as we are now part of God’s chosen people, called to be holy as he is holy. So first of all let us look at the 4 paragraphs of the prayer. 1. V6-7. It’s interesting that last week we read how the leaders of Israel came to Ezra and told him about the intermarrying, knowing it was wrong but were not quite sure what to do about it. We note that the first thing which Ezra does is to recognise the shame and disgrace which sin brings to God’s people. He is emotionally and spiritually overwhelmed by guilt and the seriousness of sin. He can’t even lift up his face towards God and he knows they are over their heads in sin. In other words, without help they will be overtaken by it. We have to realise that Ezra himself and many of the Israelites have not committed this sin of intermarrying but because he is part of the same group of people, he owns the sin. He knows that when part of the people of God rebel it is a bad witness for the whole of the nation because God is dishonoured. Their purpose and calling becomes tainted. Ezra acknowledges that it is because of past sin that the Israelites had been taken into exile in Babylon in the first place. 2. V8-9. Here we read of God’s wonderful grace in rescuing the people from captivity and bringing a remanent back to himself and to Jerusalem. He brings light to their eyes and relief from their bondage. Ezra is acknowledging that it is God who always takes the initiative to forgive and save, to bring new life and a fresh start. Our sermon series to date from Ezra has been all about making the most of God’s grace and the opportunity to return home. 3. V10-12 Ezra recognises the perilous situation that God’s people are in again as he declares ‘But now O our God, what can we say after this? For we have disregarded the commands you gave’ I am reminded in this prayer of Ezra’s so much of David’s prayer of repentance recorded in Psalm 51 but particularly at this point where David says ‘For I know my transgressions and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.’ Ezra knows that there is no getting away from the situation. Ignoring it or wishful thinking will not change it or make it go away. 4. V13-15 This paragraph is a summary of what has been said already and acknowledges that it is because of the kindness of God that there is still a remnant of his people even though he would be justified in destroying them completely because of their sin. That while God is righteous his people stand before him guilty. As we move into chapter 10, we read that the large crowd who had gathered to listen to Ezra were weeping too. There is a now a corporate recognition of the desperate and tenuous situation in which they as a people find themselves and this leads to a proposal by a man called Schecaniah of how to move forward and get out of this mess. He recognises that as a people they have been unfaithful to their God and so suggests that the solution is for all who have intermarried to send their wives and children away. I assume this would mean them going back to their own families. He encourages Ezra to lead the people in making this happen and the rest of the passage which we read gives details as to how this was organised. The end part of chapter 10 which we didn’t read goes on to list specifically those who were guilty of intermarriage. I would like us now to reflect now on what this passage says to us and first of all to remind us who we are in God’s sight. The apostle Peter in his first letter is trying to help believers understand how to live Godly lives in a pagan society which is exactly the challenge facing the Israelites in the time of Ezra. It’s the challenge we face today. Peter says this in the second chapter of his letter. 4 As you come to him the living Stone (that is Jesus), —rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” 7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8 and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. We as Christian believers today are given the same mandate as the people of Israel were. To be as God’s possession a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation that we may declare his praises. We have the same commission placed upon us to reflect the truth of God to a watching world, to be distinctive and different from the world and this is something we are called to be together. So as God’s spiritual house what do we learn from this passage in Ezra? 1. We need to take sin seriously. When was the last time you wept over your own sin or the sin of someone within the church let alone torn your clothes or pulled your hair out as Ezra did? Because I know the mercy and grace of God shown through the cross of Christ, even as I sin I know that my sins can be forgiven. There is a danger then that we become complacent or blasé about sin and don’t see it as the deadly disease which it is and which when allowed to continue in a Christian’s life brings dishonour to God. Ezra knew that the future of the remnant people of God was in a perilous position and that inaction regarding their sin could lead them once more to be exiled from Jerusalem. Just because CRBC has known the incredible blessing of God in it’s long life, does not guarantee future blessing. Holy and humble obedience is what is required by a Holy God. 2. We need to do something about sin in the church. Somehow western Christianity has developed the notion that how we as individuals live before God is a private affair instead of acknowledging that as part of a holy building, spiritual body or Christian family that the actions of anyone within the church has a consequence for the whole life of the church. The leaders of Israel knew there was sin in their midst but had no idea of how to deal with it. The apostle Paul gives extensive guidance on how we as a church should deal with sin in our midst in his first letter to the Corinthians, but Jesus puts it simply like this in Luke 17 “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them.” 3. We should all act from a place of recognising our own sin. Ezra knew that as a human and part of the people of Israel he was as prone to sin as anyone else. He says ‘from the days of our forefathers until now, our guilt has been great’ and David in Psalm 51 which I referred to earlier says ‘surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me’. If any us should think that we are better than the next and seek to deal with the sin of another from a place of self-righteousness then heed the challenge of Jesus in Matthew 7 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 4.