WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:04.080 Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:12.480 We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission, the spirit of the Great Commandment. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:14.560 Thanks for joining us today. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:17.120 So good to worship with you this morning. 00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:17.839 Thank you, Mike. 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:19.760 Good help is hard to find. 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:21.519 You heard that before? 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:25.519 Probably heard it more recently than ever before, I feel like. 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:28.960 It's harder and harder these days to get good help. 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:36.880 I've been a part of many conversations along those lines where people have looked at me and said, you know, you just can't find good workers anymore. 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:39.200 Good people are few and far between. 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:44.240 And especially they've taken, you know, sort of problem with this millennial generation. 00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:49.759 Now I don't know if in those conversations these people have forgotten or just don't know that I'm a millennial. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:56.399 And so when people say that there's no good millennial workers, I take incredible offense to that. 00:00:56.799 --> 00:01:03.520 And yet I can look past that because I've been in conversations myself where I've looked at Gen Z and said, there's no one good in Gen Z. 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:17.920 It feels like when it comes to a type of worker we know that causes society to flourish, someone who has character and integrity, we know what's needed. 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:22.799 But do you know there's a type of worshiper that God is looking for? 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:28.400 There's a type of worshiper that God is looking to fill his kingdom with. 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:41.280 And if we together can sort of concede that there's a type of worker that's good for society, then of course we can understand there's a type of worshiper that God is calling to fill his kingdom with. 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:44.719 In fact, Jesus said as much. 00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:58.400 When Jesus met the Samaritan woman in John 4, he said to the woman, The hour is coming and is now here when true worshipers will worship in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such people. 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:03.680 There's a certain kind of worshiper that God is seeking. 00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:14.639 And just as I find myself in the conversation with people who are sort of worn down by millennials who do not work, I ask myself the question, you know, am I one of those millennials these people are talking about? 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:21.360 This morning I want to look at God who says he's seeking a specific kind of worshiper and ask the same question. 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:23.919 Am I that kind of worshiper? 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:32.560 Long before John 4 in Ezra chapter 3, God showed us quite clearly the type of worshiper he is looking at. 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:46.240 And last week in Ezra chapter 1, we read that the Spirit of God actually moved over 42,000 Israelites who found themselves in exile in Babylon to go to Jerusalem for this very purpose of worship. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:48.240 This morning we find ourselves in Ezra 3. 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:51.759 Let's read that together, and you can follow along with me in your own Bible. 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:59.919 When the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:07.280 Then arose Jeshua, the son of Josedak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Sheeltiel, with his kinsmen. 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:14.639 And they built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:25.039 They set the altar in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the land, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening. 00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:32.639 And they kept the feast of booths as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the rule, as each day required. 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:42.319 And after the regular burnt offerings, the offerings of the new moon, and all the appointed feasts of the Lord, and the offerings of every one who made a free will offering to the Lord. 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:51.360 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, but the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid. 00:03:51.520 --> 00:04:05.039 So they gave money to the masons and to the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea to Jopa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus, king of Persia. 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:21.360 Now in the second year, after their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, the son of Josedak, made a beginning, together with the rest of the men, the priests, the Levites, and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity. 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:26.720 They appointed the Levites from twenty years old and upward to supervise the work of the house of the Lord. 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:40.240 And Jeshua with his sons and his brothers, and Kadmiel and his sons, and the sons of Judah, together supervised the workmen in the house of God, along with the sons of Henadad and the Levites, their sons and brothers. 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:53.120 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the lead and the Levites, the sons of Asaph with symbols to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David, king of Israel. 00:04:53.279 --> 00:05:03.360 And they sang responsively, Praising and giving thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel. 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:09.920 All the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. 00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:20.639 Many of the priests and Levites and the heads of the fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:31.519 Though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard afar away. 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:34.319 Let's turn to the world to the Lord in prayer. 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:43.199 Father, we have spent this time rejoicing in your goodness, a goodness that you have shown to us. 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:48.399 By your faithfulness, Lord, to do what you said you would do, by a commitment to your promise. 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:54.720 God, we have every reason to rejoice because, Lord, you sent your own son to die for us. 00:05:55.120 --> 00:06:05.519 And yet, Lord, we confess how often, Lord, we don't rejoice with a great shout like the people of Israel do, and the sound of our rejoicing isn't heard from far away. 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:31.279 And so, Lord, we pray this morning that in a very real way, that because you're present with us and you're speaking to us through your word, and because your Holy Spirit is here with us to speak to us in ways that we could never speak man to man, woman to woman, Lord, we turn to you now, Lord, with expectant hearts, asking, Lord, that you would reveal yourself to us, reveal to us a glory that is in your word that cannot be seen anywhere else in the world. 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:34.079 A glory that's worth praising, that's worth shouting about. 00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:36.160 God, show this to us, we pray. 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:37.519 We humble ourselves before you. 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:39.279 We pray this in the name of your Son. 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:40.240 Amen. 00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:49.839 Well, God is looking for a specific kind of worshiper, and I want you to see four ways in this text that we make ourselves the type of worshiper that God is looking for. 00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:57.519 First thing I want you to see is this that if you want to be the type of worshiper God is looking for, you need to make worship your ultimate priority. 00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:02.000 Now, at the end of the second chapter in verse 70, we read this. 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:11.839 Now, the priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants lived in the towns and all the rest of Israel in their towns. 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:21.759 Over forty-two thousand people had made a four-month journey from Babylon to Israel to begin the construction of the temple there. 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:27.680 They had traveled from their exile home to their new home in Jerusalem. 00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:35.199 And at this point, in chapter 3, verse 1, we read this: when the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their towns. 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:50.000 Now, if you do the math in terms of a timeline, this means that the people of Israel were only in Jerusalem for a matter of weeks when we're told in verse 1 that all the people of Israel were then gathered as one man to Jerusalem. 00:07:51.120 --> 00:08:03.759 Now, as they make that journey, this four-month journey, 42,000 people from Babylon to Jerusalem, you and I, as 21st century people, likely have some questions about that journey. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:16.319 What was it like for 42,000 people to uproot their lives, leave their homes in Babylon, leave their careers, and make a travel, travel to a land that many of them had never seen? 00:08:16.879 --> 00:08:21.759 Many of the women in here, think about the pregnant women that were among those 42,000 people. 00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:28.480 How do these pregnant women for four months make this long and arduous journey to Israel? 00:08:29.040 --> 00:08:32.639 If you love home decorations, you love home and garden magazine. 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:38.000 Well, your question then is when they get in Israel, you know, what kind of wallpaper did they put up in their homes? 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:42.080 All sorts of questions we have about this journey. 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:50.240 Nonetheless, we we want to see, you know, documentation of what it would have been like to go back to Jerusalem. 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:51.600 Can you imagine this? 00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:57.360 Just years earlier in Jerusalem, Babylon had come through. 00:08:57.919 --> 00:09:23.200 And there certainly was still ringing in their ears and on their minds the psychological trauma of the temple being destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, of their homes and many other significant buildings being set ablaze, of the cries that rang through the air as families were separated and the smartest and strongest people of Israel were then exiled into Babylon. 00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:25.279 I want to know how they dealt with this. 00:09:25.360 --> 00:09:28.720 Like, how do you face psychological trauma of the past like that? 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:36.639 And how do you have any sort of motivation to go to Jerusalem based on what you found there last time you were there? 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:43.840 But we notice as we read chapter 3 that Ezra and the Israelites are not concerned about any of this. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:51.840 Instead, we're told in verse 1, a matter of weeks after they arrive to Jerusalem, they very quickly assemble themselves in Jerusalem. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:56.240 And the question we need to ask ourselves is why is Ezra so focused on this? 00:09:56.399 --> 00:09:59.120 There's so many interesting things we want to know about. 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:05.679 Well, the seventh month was an incredibly important month for the Jewish people. 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:06.879 This was the month of Tishri. 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:10.320 It's still an incredibly important month for modern-day Jews. 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:15.440 That's because on the first day of this Hebrew month, they would celebrate the new year. 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:17.919 On the tenth day, it would be the day of atonement. 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:22.000 And on the 15th day, the feast of booths would begin. 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:33.039 And in Deuteronomy 16, verse 16, Moses had told the Israelites that for all time they are to go to Jerusalem three times a year to celebrate this feast. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:37.440 And so Israel gets to Jerusalem, and it just so happens to be the month of Tishri. 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:44.240 And you can imagine that Israel wants to make worship the priority, so they get right to Jerusalem. 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:48.639 All of Israel is in Jerusalem. 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:51.039 And we imagine what carnage they look at. 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:54.080 Imagine the temple, it's destroyed, it's just rubble. 00:10:54.240 --> 00:10:57.120 Years of weeds have overgrown it. 00:10:57.759 --> 00:11:07.039 And in verse 2, we're told of two leaders, Arubbabel and Jeshua, who step up then to build the altar, and they do this just as they're told, according to the law of Moses. 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:14.480 Time and time again, we read in chapter three the Israelites are worshiping God just as they were told to do. 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:18.480 Isn't this what failure does for us? 00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:20.639 You ever fail at something, doesn't it? 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:26.720 The next time you do that thing, you you kind of have this increased motivation to make sure that you do it right. 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:29.759 You're fresh off of this massive failure. 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:32.080 And so you have this renewed zeal. 00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:44.639 And here, what God is doing for you and I is giving us this crystal clear clarity on what the next step always needs to be for us if we are in Christ. 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:45.919 Worship. 00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:47.440 Worship. 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:53.200 Worship is always the ultimate priority of our lives. 00:11:53.600 --> 00:12:07.519 The type of worshiper that God is looking for is the one who makes worship the ultimate priority of their life so that everything else falls secondary to the fact that they are a worshiper. 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:20.080 Well, how do we know this? 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:23.519 How do we know that the worship of God is the ultimate priority? 00:12:23.679 --> 00:12:30.480 Well, well, one of the ways that we can know is by asking ourselves this: what are you willing to put worship on the back burner for? 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:34.320 We have sort of a thing that happens constantly in my house. 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:42.559 I wouldn't call it a tradition because we're not trying to make it a tradition, but often after a long day, uh either myself or my wife, more often me, will turn to the other one. 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:54.320 And as we look at the task of creating dinner for three small children who don't like the same thing, we look at each other and we say this pizza? 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:02.879 Now, anytime I hear my wife say pizza, I'm happy to put anything on the back burner for pizza. 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:03.919 It's so easy. 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:07.279 I will I'll take any meal, I'll put it on the back burner if we just get pizza. 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:09.039 It's it's just too easy. 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:16.799 And the question for us is this when it comes to the worship of God, what are you willing in your life to put worship on the back burner for? 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:27.279 Let me ask you just now, as we spent this time worshiping the Lord, was your mind, you know, as spiritually, we were in the throne room giving the praise to God that He deserves. 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:31.759 Did your mind go anywhere other than to the worship that God deserves? 00:13:32.159 --> 00:13:38.720 In that time, were you 100% consistently giving God the praise, singing the lyrics to God as an act of worship? 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:43.600 Or were you like myself so often, these these flocks, these thoughts kind of flood your mind. 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:44.799 They're not bad thoughts. 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:48.480 You know, you're not thinking about planning a murder of anyone, I don't think. 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:58.240 But thoughts that just aren't worship, thoughts that show that in in your mind, in your thought life, you are willing to put the worship of God on the back burner. 00:13:58.399 --> 00:13:59.360 I'll tell you how it goes for me. 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:07.279 I, you know, I often find myself here, instead of worshiping God through the lyrics that we're singing, I'm thinking about, man, what am I gonna say in my second point? 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:10.080 You know, maybe I should, maybe I should say it like this. 00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:13.440 Maybe when I conclude, I should kind of conclude like this. 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:15.200 And in that moment, you know what's happening? 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:23.200 I'm actually thinking that the most important thing that we need as a church is like the clear thing that I say, not the presence of God among us. 00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:31.279 The things that we're willing to put back worship on the back burner for show us what the ultimate priority is. 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:36.240 The Israelites here had journeyed from Babylon to prove their ultimate priority was worship. 00:14:36.399 --> 00:14:38.240 But notice here what happens in verse 3. 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:39.360 This is so fascinating. 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:40.960 Look at the text with me. 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:49.360 It says, They set the altar in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the land. 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:53.360 Now we need to ask this question: who are the peoples of the land? 00:14:53.440 --> 00:15:00.159 And very likely the answer is we're not told specifically, but very likely the people of the land are Jewish people and Samaritans. 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:01.919 And so get this picture. 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:21.759 You have 42, over 42,000 exiles coming from Babylon, and within weeks they're building the temple, and something that the Jewish people who were remnants there, who stayed in in Jerusalem, something uh about building the altar stirred up this anger with them so that those exiles felt hostility. 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:29.759 In fact, those Israelites who had stayed in Jerusalem, who hadn't been exiled to Babylon, they had a whole generation to rebuild the altar. 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:30.720 And you know what it proved? 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:33.039 They didn't really care about God's presence. 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:37.679 At that time, they did not really care whether God was with them or not. 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:47.200 And what we find when these exiles return is that they're actually against the building of the temple, so that the exiles are sort of filled with fear as they build it. 00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:56.559 The question we ask ourselves is like, what is it that separates these exiles from the Jewish people who are already in Jerusalem? 00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:57.919 And you know what the answer is? 00:15:58.000 --> 00:15:59.440 It's worship. 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:08.799 Worship was the ultimate priority of the exiles, and worship is the ultimate priority of the children of God. 00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:15.440 This is what marks off God's children from those who are not his children, is this desire for worship. 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:27.279 And I hope you take every encouragement right now, loved one, that if your desire is worship, that is a desire that is not natural to man. 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:33.679 You may look at your worship and have this sort of spirit of conviction right now, where it's like the worship you offer is piddly. 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:36.799 You know it's not good enough, you know that God deserves better. 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:48.639 But if even your desire right now is to give God the worship that you don't feel like you have the strength to muster up, do you understand that this is what marks you off as a child of God? 00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:53.039 That's an impulse that can only be placed in you by the Holy Spirit. 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:55.840 It is not natural to the flesh. 00:16:56.720 --> 00:16:57.919 Take every encouragement. 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:03.519 This is what marks off a child of God, this internal heart desire, a heart of worship. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:10.319 I also want you to notice, though, that what the Israelites do in light of their fear, notice that they worship. 00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:12.400 This leads to our next point. 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:18.240 If we want to be the worshipers that God is looking for, we need to make worship our trusted protector. 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:21.119 Make worship your trusted protector. 00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:22.640 Let me ask you something. 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:28.480 In the face of your worst nightmare coming true, what do you do? 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:36.960 In the face of your fears, what work do you commit yourself to doing? 00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:44.240 Like, what is it that you really do to protect yourself from your worst nightmares coming true? 00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:46.240 I'll tell you how it works for me. 00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:54.480 One of my greatest fears in life is that when it comes to this job I have as the pastor of this church here, that I might not do well. 00:17:54.799 --> 00:17:56.400 I mean, you probably have that fear as well. 00:17:56.480 --> 00:17:59.759 And listen, your boss is a human, my boss is Jesus Christ Himself. 00:17:59.839 --> 00:18:03.279 So if anyone's supposed to be more afraid, it's probably me. 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:06.640 I'm in a much, you know, more perilous situation. 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:12.960 And so I have this constant thought of my mind that I want to pursue excellence in this. 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:14.480 I want to hear those words. 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:18.000 Well done, my good and faithful servant. 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:21.200 I live in this constant fear that maybe I won't do it. 00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:24.000 And so, you know what I often do in light of that fear? 00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:26.559 I often just try to work harder. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:31.920 I think about productivity, I think about scheduling, I think about how can I get more done? 00:18:32.079 --> 00:18:36.880 How can I do more of what the successful pastors that I deem successful do? 00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:40.160 How can I sort of model my life around them? 00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:49.039 And I really believe at times that if I could just do this, then I will be you know protected from my greatest fear of not doing this job well. 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:52.079 You know what God's teaching us right now? 00:18:52.720 --> 00:19:00.319 That the greatest way to protect yourself from the fear, thing that you fear most is by worshiping Him. 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:10.319 That when God is on the throne of your heart, you will then be protected from your worst nightmares and fears. 00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:13.519 Think about the Israelites for a moment in this place. 00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:18.640 They they could have done all sorts of things to protect themselves from the people that they feared. 00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:22.240 One significant thing they could have done is they could have built the walls first. 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:23.599 Doesn't that kind of make sense? 00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:36.640 Like if we're to have a logical conversation and you gotta build a temple in Jerusalem, but then you gotta build walls around the city, and you're worried about people coming into Jerusalem and and you know, pillaging Jerusalem, well then it would make sense to build the walls first. 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:39.759 But in Ezra, they're they're concerned about the temple. 00:19:39.839 --> 00:19:43.599 It's not till Nehemiah that they build the walls around Jerusalem. 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:46.000 Well, why are they concerned about the temple first? 00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:59.920 Because their concern, their major concern is the worship of God, and everything they're doing to protect themselves from the greatest enemy, their greatest enemies, is placing God at the center of their lives. 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:01.200 Loved one, do you believe this? 00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:07.680 That nothing will protect you from your greatest enemy like worshiping God rightly will. 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:09.599 Nothing. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:17.039 You know, when I was in youth group uh at a church nearby, I had a lot of really scarring uh, you know, events there. 00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:27.279 We would have Friday night social events, and uh I think every social event involved youth leaders that had paintball guns, and the church actually owned paintball masks. 00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:31.440 That's how many times we were being shot by youth leaders with paintball guns. 00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:35.599 Now I go back to my mom and I say, How could you ever send me to this youth group? 00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:40.240 It was constant torture, but as I look back on that time, for whatever reason, I thought it was fun. 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:45.119 Now there's a reality, you know, just to remind you, the youth, the kids didn't have any paintball guns. 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:46.400 We just had protection. 00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:50.559 And so we would live in this constant fear of being shot. 00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:53.119 I mean, I, to be honest with you, I really hate paintball. 00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:53.839 I don't get it. 00:20:54.079 --> 00:20:55.599 It just it really hurts. 00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:56.319 That's all it is. 00:20:56.400 --> 00:20:57.920 There's no fun in it, it's only pain. 00:20:58.079 --> 00:21:05.119 And your friends, especially when you're like 16, 17, always think it's hilarious to stand 10 feet away from you and shoot you and see what kind of bruise develops. 00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:07.920 And I just have a different picture of fun than that. 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:16.559 And so I would live in this constant fear of being shot by paintballs, and there's certain things you can do in those scenarios to protect yourself from that. 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:22.880 You can find a good, you know, shelter, and it can provide you some protection, but it's not ultimate protection. 00:21:23.200 --> 00:21:25.200 You can still be shot from behind. 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:33.200 When you poke out your head, you can still get shot in the head, and many times I did, which for some of you is explaining many of the things that you know about me. 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:35.680 I've been shot in the head multiple times by a paintball. 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:39.359 But there was one place, the safe zone. 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:43.920 Everyone knew if you got to the safe zone, this was ultimate protection. 00:21:44.559 --> 00:21:50.880 And you know, beloved one, what God is calling you to in your life is the safe zone of worshiping Him. 00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:57.839 When God is on the throne of your heart, you can stand against the greatest enemies. 00:21:58.079 --> 00:21:59.759 This is what the psalmist says in Psalm. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:01.920 Psalm 121. 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:03.599 I look to the hills. 00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:06.559 Where does my help come from? 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:14.000 My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:22.240 Here's the reason why having God on the throne of your heart will protect you like nothing else will. 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:26.720 Because if God is on the throne, you can face your greatest enemy. 00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:34.400 The sovereignty of God is more powerful than any wall Israel could build around Jerusalem. 00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:42.240 And so it is more powerful than anything you could barricade yourself behind that you think will ultimately protect you. 00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:53.039 This is why constantly the desire of David in the Psalms, when he's surrounded by enemies, is that he would find refuge in the Lord. 00:22:53.759 --> 00:23:00.799 Some trust in chariots, but I will trust in the name of the Lord. 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:04.319 Then, Christian, what walls do you turn to then? 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:06.720 To keep you from your deepest fears. 00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:09.200 Maybe for you it's hard work. 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:12.079 There's nothing against hard work. 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:31.200 In fact, we ought to work hard, but you need to realize that you can work as hard as you can, and nothing will be able to, no amount of hard work can stop something that you can't control happening to your family, to your bank account, something unexpected to your job, no amount of hard work can protect you. 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:53.200 Maybe the wall that you build is really a wall of comfort and leisure, and so when you face your greatest fears, you turn to Netflix, you turn to social media to sort of drown out the noise of what's scaring you, and yet you find that at some point the scrolling must end, at some point the show finishes, and we are left again with the thing that we fear. 00:23:53.440 --> 00:23:59.039 The only thing that can truly keep us from evil is the worship of God. 00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:01.759 It is the most trusted protector. 00:24:02.319 --> 00:24:06.880 So this is the work we do to make worship our trusted protector. 00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:08.720 This is exactly what the Israelites do. 00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:10.079 They get to the work of worship. 00:24:10.160 --> 00:24:19.039 And this leads to our next point that if I want to be the type of worshiper that God is looking for, I'll make worship my life work. 00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:20.799 Make worship my life work. 00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:21.920 Now here's the reality. 00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:26.799 When it comes to making worship your life work, none of us actually have to do anything. 00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:31.039 All of us, for all of our lives, have made a work of worshiping. 00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:34.160 This is what David Foster Wallace understood. 00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:38.640 He was in a secular American journalist and writer. 00:24:39.599 --> 00:24:44.160 And he gave a commencement speech at Kenyan College that became very popular. 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:51.279 You can find it online, but he pointed out this in this commencement speech from a secular worldview that everyone worships. 00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:56.000 You don't really have a choice not to worship. 00:24:56.240 --> 00:25:02.240 And what David Foster Wallace was trying to point out is that the choice you have is in what you worship. 00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:09.599 That the freedom of humanity is in being able to choose something that you worship that won't ultimately end in your destruction. 00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:14.319 And so he pointed out things like this: that if you worship good looks, you know what will happen? 00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:26.079 For a certain amount of time, you might be able to achieve that, but eventually those good looks will pass away and your joy will die along with the worship that you have given to good looks. 00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:29.599 You worship yourself. 00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:38.240 And what you value in life is this self-worth that you find from other people. 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:44.720 David Foster Wallace points out is that you actually then can't love people. 00:25:44.880 --> 00:25:48.400 You can only really use them to validate your value and worth. 00:25:49.279 --> 00:26:01.680 And so what David Foster Wallace was speaking to this group of fresh graduates about was that freedom and life is found in choosing to worship something that in the end won't destroy you. 00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:09.440 And I think he's really on to something there, that we really don't have a choice, no matter what, we will worship something. 00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:11.119 He's our reality. 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:12.799 We're all worshipers. 00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:19.599 I think our problem is illustrated pretty well in a profound intellectual work called X-Men. 00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:26.160 You guys have likely heard of X-Men before, and you likely know of the mutant superhero named Cyclops. 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:29.039 He has kind of a pretty inconvenient problem. 00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:34.559 I mean, there's not many kids who want to be Cyclops because his problem's kind of majorly inconvenient. 00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:39.599 But every time he opens his eyes, he shoots this red beam of destruction. 00:26:39.920 --> 00:26:48.880 And the reason why Cyclops is able to be a part of this superhero mutant team is because he can control the power through sunglasses. 00:26:49.279 --> 00:26:51.039 And I think it's a good illustration of us. 00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:54.720 What we cannot stop doing is worshiping. 00:26:55.119 --> 00:27:02.319 But the thing we must do is figure out how to worship in a way that won't ultimately destroy us. 00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:09.759 What happens when the Spirit moves the people of Israel to go back to worship to Jerusalem is that they go back to worship God. 00:27:09.920 --> 00:27:16.880 And so you notice here in the text that all their work then becomes focused on rebuilding the temple. 00:27:17.119 --> 00:27:19.839 We read this in verse 6 that there's a problem. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:21.920 The foundation of the temple was not laid. 00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:25.200 So from verses 7 to 9, they get to work. 00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:36.960 In verses 7, they give money and resources so that wood is brought from Sidonia and the Tyrians through the sea to Jopa, the same way that Solomon built the first temple. 00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:48.799 Verse 8, we read of Zerubbabel and Jeshua beginning the work and motivating a group of other people to get to the work of building the foundation of the temple. 00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:57.759 So that in verse 10 we read this when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they got to work and they did the work. 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:03.359 Here's the question we need to ask of ourselves: not do we worship? 00:28:03.680 --> 00:28:07.839 But the question that we ask of ourselves is this: what do we worship? 00:28:08.559 --> 00:28:25.680 What is the thing in your life that you work towards that you feel like if you were to accomplish like this, if you could just do this, like you would be like the Israelites in first 10, you'd be shouting at the top of your lungs, you'd be fist pumping, you'd be so filled with praise. 00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:31.920 What is so worthy of your work that if you accomplished it, you would be filled with this sense of praise? 00:28:33.759 --> 00:28:38.160 Here's the second and most important question that we need to answer. 00:28:38.559 --> 00:28:44.559 How do you know that the thing that you worship and work for in the end won't end up destroying you? 00:28:45.839 --> 00:28:46.799 How do you know that? 00:28:47.599 --> 00:28:55.920 How do you know that you're not spending your whole entire life doing a work that in the end will only lead to your destruction? 00:28:56.799 --> 00:29:13.519 See what God wants to do because of his love for you right now is come down and speak with sort of this prophetic vision into your life that the end of the things that you are pursuing, if they are not God, will only lead to your shame and destruction. 00:29:14.319 --> 00:29:18.400 This is what the prophet Jeremiah says in chapter 10, verse 14. 00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:23.440 He says, Every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. 00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:37.359 Let me read that again, and I want you just to hear how all-inclusive this language is, every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. 00:29:38.480 --> 00:29:45.039 You know, anywhere you look for value in this world apart from God will actually only lead to your shame. 00:29:46.079 --> 00:29:47.200 We say, how does this work? 00:29:47.279 --> 00:29:50.480 You know, put this in practical language for me. 00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:57.920 Well, let's for a moment imagine that you believe believe that life's greatest value is in something as noble as helping other people. 00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:00.079 Many Canadians believe that. 00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:05.519 We're thankful that probably most of your neighbors believe that it is an incredibly good thing to help other people. 00:30:05.680 --> 00:30:08.640 Now, of course, we all have that one neighbor who doesn't think that. 00:30:08.880 --> 00:30:10.880 But most of them, if we're honest, do. 00:30:11.039 --> 00:30:16.480 Most of us believe that our life's greatest value is in something as noble as helping other people. 00:30:16.559 --> 00:30:19.279 And this is a great thing to help other people. 00:30:20.160 --> 00:30:29.519 But if this is where we find our ultimate value, recognize that you can't actually help anyone without putting yourself first. 00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:32.720 You can't do it selflessly. 00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:33.359 Why? 00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:38.079 Because in the end, you're actually using that person to prop up your own value. 00:30:38.480 --> 00:30:49.839 At the very end of the day, even though you're helping that person, who you're really helping is yourself because you find value in helping other people, and so you need this person in order to make yourself feel valuable. 00:30:50.799 --> 00:30:57.920 And there you see that even if you try to make an idol of a good thing, what it does is destroy any sense of good in your life. 00:30:58.160 --> 00:31:02.960 The only worship that won't ultimately destroy you in the end is the worship of God. 00:31:04.880 --> 00:31:09.119 Well, what if you believe that your greatest and most valuable asset is in relationships? 00:31:09.759 --> 00:31:14.160 Is in the people around you, is in your family, is in your friends, is in your coworkers. 00:31:14.319 --> 00:31:20.319 That the truest and best way to happiness and joy is by surrounding yourself with the right people. 00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:26.079 Well, you know what happens then is you make an idol of relationships and you actually become dependent and needy. 00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:37.200 Your happiness is rooted in other people acting a certain way, and if they don't act that way, then you've lost all your value and identity as a human being. 00:31:39.279 --> 00:31:46.160 You long for relationships, but because you idolize it, you actually destroy the good nature of the very thing you are after. 00:31:46.880 --> 00:31:48.640 Here's what the Christian worldview does. 00:31:48.720 --> 00:31:50.240 Here's what God does in the scriptures. 00:31:50.400 --> 00:31:54.240 He comes to refine what David Foster Wallace talks about. 00:31:54.480 --> 00:32:09.839 He comes to say that it is true that your freedom is found in what you worship, but he comes to clarify that there is only one thing that you can worship that will ultimately lead to life for you, and that is the worship of God. 00:32:12.559 --> 00:32:14.079 That means it's a tragedy. 00:32:14.559 --> 00:32:20.000 It's a tragedy when we spend our life worshiping things that in the end will destroy us. 00:32:20.640 --> 00:32:28.960 I remember in my high school days reading the story Frankenstein, and I think that really helpfully illustrates the tragedy we're talking about right now. 00:32:29.279 --> 00:32:46.799 What's captivating about that story is that Victor Frankenstein is this genius scientist who thinks he's on the brink of this groundbreaking discovery and creation that will ultimately give him so much glory as one of the greatest scientists of all times. 00:32:46.960 --> 00:32:51.839 But instead, what he builds through his scientific work is a monster. 00:32:53.039 --> 00:33:06.000 And the tragedy of that story is that it's actually this monster that he spent so much time laboring for that that in the end destroyed his family, and sadly, in the very end of the story, destroyed himself. 00:33:06.960 --> 00:33:20.000 And what God is doing right now is he's revealing that we can work towards something that in the end it won't kill us, but actually give us eternal life, and that is the worship of God. 00:33:21.759 --> 00:33:40.880 He calls us to live our lives, as Paul says in Romans 12, verse 1, as a living sacrifice of worship, where our whole life is lived out in these actions of worship to the Lord, to declare this that there is only one thing, there's only one place we can find life, and it is at the altar of praise. 00:33:41.039 --> 00:33:46.319 It is where we lay down before the throne of Jesus Christ and we give him all the worship that he's worthy of. 00:33:48.400 --> 00:33:53.200 Doing this, Paul says, we build a kingdom, we work towards something that is actually lasting. 00:33:54.240 --> 00:33:56.480 The question then is this how do we get there? 00:33:57.039 --> 00:34:02.880 How do we get to a place where the thing that we want is to worship God? 00:34:03.599 --> 00:34:05.039 How do we find clarity? 00:34:06.160 --> 00:34:07.680 This leads to our last point. 00:34:08.639 --> 00:34:11.199 We need to make worship our natural response. 00:34:12.400 --> 00:34:14.239 We need to make worship our natural response. 00:34:14.400 --> 00:34:27.199 You know, the only way that worship will be become a primary life work for you will be if your natural if it's the natural response out of a recognition of who God is and what he has done. 00:34:28.480 --> 00:34:30.880 You notice this in verse 11. 00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:33.519 This is exactly what happened for the people of Israel. 00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:37.199 In verse 11, it says, they sang responsively. 00:34:37.840 --> 00:34:41.840 They sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord. 00:34:42.719 --> 00:34:49.679 For this is the song that they sang, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel. 00:34:49.760 --> 00:34:52.960 And then we're told exactly what that song, how that song was sung. 00:34:53.039 --> 00:34:54.480 Look what it says there in verse 11. 00:34:54.639 --> 00:35:01.920 And the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. 00:35:03.599 --> 00:35:21.760 The Israelites, they finish the foundation of the temple, second temple, and they look around, and there's only one response that's fitting to shout at the top of their lungs, the Lord is good, and his steadfast love endures forever. 00:35:22.719 --> 00:35:31.119 It's the only natural response when they see that the promises of God have been accomplished in their midst. 00:35:31.760 --> 00:35:33.519 They have every evidence. 00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:40.159 Steadfast love of God through the found building of the foundation of the temple has been proven to them. 00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:49.119 And they respond in praise because when they look around, all they see is this evidence that the God of Israel is committed to their salvation. 00:35:49.360 --> 00:36:04.239 All the evidence is mounting for them to believe this so that they cannot help but to overflow with a shout of worship and praise and believe that nothing, even exile, nothing can separate them from the love of God. 00:36:05.599 --> 00:36:13.119 The work that God promised to Israel that He would save them, He would accomplish. 00:36:16.079 --> 00:36:17.840 The evidence was everywhere. 00:36:18.159 --> 00:36:27.920 God had said to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 29, verse 10, he said, When the 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my promise to bring you back to this place. 00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:35.440 And here the people of Israel were in the place of God, with the foundation set where God's presence would be with them. 00:36:35.679 --> 00:36:38.639 God had been faithful to accomplish his plan. 00:36:38.800 --> 00:36:55.360 But but notice that not only are they in the place, as they look to their left and to their right, they see the altar, and were told from the seventh month to the second year, morning and evening, animals were slaughtered on the altar. 00:36:55.599 --> 00:36:57.199 Animals of atonement. 00:36:58.079 --> 00:37:05.679 Animals that were offered to God as a substitution, that paid the penalty of death, so that the people of Israel would not have to. 00:37:05.840 --> 00:37:15.119 And day and night blood flowed down the altar, and the people of Israel were reminded we have access to God because of the blood of these animals. 00:37:15.440 --> 00:37:17.840 Our penalty has been paid. 00:37:19.840 --> 00:37:23.199 They understood it was their idolatry that should have destroyed them. 00:37:23.360 --> 00:37:28.320 But here are the animals day and night being destroyed in their place. 00:37:28.480 --> 00:37:45.119 And here is what the Israelites know without a shadow of a doubt that causes them to burst at the top of their lungs and praise to God that God is good and his steadfast love remains even for a people who should have destroyed themselves through their idolatry. 00:37:46.320 --> 00:37:48.800 The evidence of God's love was undeniable. 00:37:49.199 --> 00:37:54.880 And when the evidence of God's love is undeniable in your heart, you cannot help but to break out in praise. 00:37:55.119 --> 00:38:05.039 And loved one, I want you to know that you and I stand at a place where we have infinitely more evidence of God's love than these people had at this time. 00:38:05.199 --> 00:38:05.920 Do you know that? 00:38:06.000 --> 00:38:13.440 You have every evidence to believe that God's love is for you and that nothing can separate you. 00:38:13.840 --> 00:38:20.159 The people of Israel were excited because the foundation of the temple had been laid and God would come and dwell among them. 00:38:20.320 --> 00:38:25.679 But do you know that Jesus Himself, 2,000 years ago, came and he tabernacled among us? 00:38:25.920 --> 00:38:28.480 He was Emmanuel, God with us. 00:38:28.719 --> 00:38:36.960 And in Matthew 28, he actually gave us this promise for those of us who believe this morning that he would be with us to the end of the ages. 00:38:37.119 --> 00:38:40.960 This is not an excitement we look forward in hopes of anticipation of. 00:38:41.119 --> 00:38:46.400 The presence of God is something we look back to and know that is it's true for us. 00:38:46.960 --> 00:38:49.679 We know that Jesus is with us. 00:38:50.880 --> 00:38:59.119 You and I have something better through Jesus, the presence of God with us, and through his Holy Spirit, the presence of God actually in us. 00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:03.119 But we also have this better sacrifice. 00:39:04.239 --> 00:39:10.480 Where the Israelites look to the altar and say that the blood that atoned, it was the blood that atoned for their sin. 00:39:10.960 --> 00:39:17.119 You and I, what we do is we look to the cross and we see the blood of Jesus that has atoned for our sin. 00:39:17.280 --> 00:39:26.480 Physical, in time and space, blood was shed from the cross of Jesus Christ so that you and I today could stand and ask this question: Does God love me? 00:39:26.719 --> 00:39:29.039 Can anything separate me from the love of God? 00:39:29.199 --> 00:39:39.679 And we look back to the cross and we see the blood coming down, and we see that the destruction that idolatry should have given to our lives has been paid by Jesus Christ. 00:39:40.639 --> 00:39:50.079 Every gold maker will experience shame because of his idolatry, and there is Jesus Christ on the cross facing the shame for you. 00:39:50.320 --> 00:39:51.519 He took your shame. 00:39:51.679 --> 00:39:56.559 This was the king of the world who at the same time he held the whole universe in his hands. 00:39:56.719 --> 00:40:04.880 He was being mocked and beaten and scourged and hung on a cross to die in humiliation for everyone else. 00:40:05.039 --> 00:40:06.800 He could have stopped the shame in a moment. 00:40:06.960 --> 00:40:07.760 Why did he stay? 00:40:07.920 --> 00:40:13.599 To give you evidence this morning that nothing can separate you from the love of God. 00:40:14.079 --> 00:40:28.719 Jesus Christ always will deliver his people and he will even come to this world and die a death that his people shouldn't die, face the destruction that his people should have faced, so that they can have life in him. 00:40:30.480 --> 00:40:32.800 What the Israelites had wasn't nearly as good as this. 00:40:32.880 --> 00:40:37.599 This is why in verse 12, many of those who had seen the first temple wailed. 00:40:38.480 --> 00:40:40.159 They knew it wasn't good. 00:40:40.400 --> 00:40:46.559 And something significant happens in the tabernacle in Exodus and in the first temple, the presence of God comes into it. 00:40:46.800 --> 00:40:50.559 And in this temple, the second temple, we're never told that the presence of God would come. 00:40:50.639 --> 00:40:53.280 And yet here are the people of Israel. 00:40:53.440 --> 00:40:55.119 How are they responding? 00:40:56.880 --> 00:40:58.000