Nehemiah 8:5-8
Untethered Opinions
A few years ago, a college professor invited three students with radically differing views on a particular subject to engage in dialogue. He asked them, “Without a recognized standard of right and wrong, how do you decide which one of your views will prevail?”
One student threw up her hands and walked off. The second student said that he would yell until he shouted down his opponents. And the third student said he would bully anyone who disagreed with him into submission.
Indifference, shouting, and force. Dialogue never entered the responses.
The Process Historically
The insight has proven to be true historically. During the 1990’s the tolerance movement began to reap havoc in schools around the nation. Students who had been spoon fed tolerance through the grades, entered college with far greater fear of being labeled intolerant than they were of being morally cowardly.
One of my friends taught college philosophy courses during that decade. He told me once that none of students could affirm that the Holocaust was objectively wrong.
That wholesale confusion has brought us to the present time. Indifference dominates the political sphere where those in power refuse to recognize law.
Minority status seekers shout institutions into submission on gender issues. Crossdressers strut before kindergarten children during reading times.
Rioters burn and kill with impunity. Looters fill oversize backpacks with merchandise and walk out of stores.
Practicing Relevance
How do we approach this situation as Christians? Our anchor is worship. I am not talking about praise-fests. Nor am I talking about hunkering down in our churches and waiting for the problem to go away. I mean the deliberate act of turning to the Lord and acknowledging that he ultimately maintains control in spite of the severity of our circumstances.
An example of worship in the midst of adversity occurs in the book of Nehemiah.
Nehemiah ministered as the governor of Judah during the late fifth century BC, following Judah’s return from Babylonian exile. Jerusalem and the temple lay in ruins. As the appointed governor, Nehemiah’s primary job was to rebuild the walls around the city and make it defensible against hostile peoples again.
The first seven chapters of the book concentrate on the work of rebuilding. Once the urgent work was completed, the people were able to take a breather and seek the Lord’s face. In Nehemiah 8:2, Ezra the priest read the Book of the Law to the people. Most likely, the reading came from Deuteronomy. The reading brings us to a significant passage on worship.
And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. Also…the Levites helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave sense, so that the people understood the reading.
--Nehemiah 8:5-6, 7b-8
This passage shows a number of important points regarding worship:
- Nehemiah mentions “all the people.” Private devotion times are essential to our Christian walk, but ultimately we need to be with each other for mutual encouragement and discipline. Worship in Scripture is corporate.
- Ezra’s act of opening the Book of the Law before the people shows that worship involves more than just praise music. The act calls us to acknowledge the authority of God’s word.
- When Ezra blesses “the LORD, the great God,” he does so with recent history in mind. The people had rebuilt the walls of the city during great opposition, and they acknowledged God’s protection. They recognized his greatness during the difficult times.
- The people “bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.” Not all worship involves praise. Solemnity in worship is equally important appropriate.
- The section on the Levites’ assistance as teachers takes up the bulk of the paragraph. Nehemiah summarizes their work in three parts. First, the Levites read from the Book of the Law of God clearly. Second, they explained the meaning of what they read. And third, they made sure the people understood their obligation before God.
This last section is the most important of all. Teaching is not a separate act from worship. It is the backbone. If we reduce worship to an act that feels good to us in the moment, we make God our slave.
We must understand that worship includes hearing from God as well as voicing our response to God. When we do that, we build a much deeper relationship with him.
Transformative Worship
Worship that has learned to listen as well as speak is able to transform us. The narrative shows that revival swept through their ranks. People were moved to tears over their oversight in worship. Nehemiah 8:9-9:38 describes the transformation that God accomplished among them.
When worship includes response, teaching, and submission, its ultimate effects can be huge. It rescues us from the tyranny of indifference and calls us to seek solutions.
When our thinking is aligned with God’s word, we can become voices for reason and dialogue. We do not need to make our point by shouting.
And finally, worship draws us into knowledgeable settledness. We can look to reason rather than force as the first option.
Doug Knox