Faith Presbyterian Church - Birmingham

Nehemiah 12:27-43; A Foundation of Celebration

• Jason Sterling

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Jason Sterling November 16, 2025 Faith Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL Bulletin

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SPEAKER_00:

If you have a copy of God's word, turn with me to Nehemiah chapter twelve. And as we before we read again, just like we've done the past couple of weeks, we're in the All Generations Forward Together campaign. It's a three-week campaign. Today is Pledge Sunday. And so after the benediction, I'll ask you to be seated. We'll talk about the campaign a little bit. I'll give you an update and then we'll watch a video and we'll turn in our pledges and we'll then come back this evening around five o'clock for our dinner. So please make a note of that that we'll stay a little bit after the benediction this morning. In preparation for our new season of ministry and finishing out this property, we've been looking at Ezra Nehemiah, and we've been looking at these important foundations that we need spiritually as we move forward as a church into this new physical space. We need to make sure we're developing and building strong spiritual foundations. And so that's what we've been looking at this fall. And this morning we come to the foundation of celebration. Nehemiah chapter 12, 27 through 43. I'll read portions of this. All of it's in your bulletin. Follow along with me, and I will instruct us when we move down to different portions of this passage. This is the word of God. And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sought the Levites in all their places to bring them to Jerusalem and to celebrate the dedication with gladness and with thanksgiving and with singing, with cymbals and harps and lyres. And the sons of the singers gathered together from the districts surrounding Jerusalem and from the villages of the Nathophatites, also from Beth Gilgal, and from the regions of Giba and Asmavath. For the singers had built for themselves villages around Jerusalem. And the priest and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people and the gates and the wall. Now look at verses 31 through 42. Let me summarize that. This is a massive celebration. I will spare you the full list of names. Um, but here's what you need to know. Nehemiah organizes two Thanksgiving choirs, and they get on the walls and they walk the opposite way, and they're walking the walls that they've just built, and they are singing and playing instruments very loudly, and they end up in the temple where they offer sacrifices and give thanks to God. Now, verse 43. And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy. And the women and children also rejoiced, and the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away. This is God's word. Let's pray together and ask for the Holy Spirit to help us. Please bow with me. Father, do come. I say this nearly every week, but it's no accident. We're here. You've brought us here to hear this word. And so would you do what you do with the scriptures when they are preached? Convict us of our sin and lead us to repentance. Comfort us with the gospel. And lastly, conform us into your image. Change us. Do these things in Jesus' name. Amen. I've mentioned this several times. I don't want us to lose sight of it. I'm going to keep mentioning it. But this project, the All Generations Project, is a very significant moment in the life of this church. And I say that because I think it's easy in our culture to, you know, to just like, all right, on to the next challenge, on to the next thing. And we post it on social media and then we forget about it the next week. We don't want to do that. People have, this church has been dreaming, you could say for 50 years, but definitely 30 years since they we acquired this property for this day. Dreaming, the master plan. It looks almost like it, this what it turned out to be. Dreaming for this day, for this moment. And uh it's a really big deal. And a few weeks ago, we opened the children's and nursery wing, and some of you were a part of that with the work day moving into the new space. Some of you were here on the very first day, and you saw kids running down the hallways. Or maybe you saw parents, or you were the parents, and you're dropping your kids off for the first time, going to their new space that was designed especially for them. And yes, we're not done with the sanctuary yet, and we want to celebrate that too. But there is now a sense of joy and celebration and excitement for what God is doing. That moment, that is Nehemiah chapter 12. This passage is a dedication ceremony. This is a grand opening. For 52 days, God's people have been breaking their backs, working on this wall, and it is now complete. And the people do not just celebrate quietly and acknowledge it and say, all right, been there, done that, let's move on. No, they throw a massive party. It is loud, it is public, it is all in worship-filled celebration. Two massive choirs are marching around the walls. And look at how loudly they are celebrating. Verse 43, I love this. The joy of Jerusalem was heard far away. So this morning, I want us to look at Nehemiah chapter 12 and learn something about celebration as God's people. Let's look at to build a foundation of celebration. Let's look at three things. We need preparation. That's the first point. Secondly, we need to remember God's goodness. And lastly, rest in the work of Jesus. Preparation, remember God's goodness, rest in the work of Jesus. Let's take those in turn and look at our first heading. Requires preparation. Verses 27 through 30. Before the music starts, before the choir starts singing and the instruments start playing, and before they ever step foot on the wall, there's a lot of preparation that needs to be done. First of all, gathering. Look at verse 27. The Levites are not conveniently located. They're spread through various towns and villages. Someone has to find them. Someone has to gather them, organize them. And so there's effort and planning and coordination involved. Then comes purification. Look at verses 29 through 30. They gather and the priest and the Levites purified themselves. And they purified the people and the gates and the walls. We're not told exactly what all this looked like in these purification rituals and what they look like, but based on other passages of Scripture, we have a pretty good idea of what's involved here. Ceremonial washing, possibly sacrifice for cleansing. Definitely there's some solemn recognition that you can't just waltz casually into the presence of God. There had to be cleansing, not only for themselves, but corporately as God's people. Even the physical structures, gates and the walls, had to be cleaned. And what I want you to see here is that is that this is not spontaneous celebration here. Nothing wrong with spontaneous celebration, but that's not what this is. This is very intentional preparation. Why all the effort to prepare? Well, because God is holy. And because worship matters a lot. And these walls, think about what they represent. They represent God's protection. They represent his presence. His name would dwell there in that city. And the tension comes with sinful people. And we're sinful people, and they just can't casually approach a holy God. And yes, God is gracious, and he delivered them from exile, and he gave them energy and strength to rebuild the walls, but they still needed to be purified in order to celebrate. The point is, these people understood the weight of what they were celebrating, and it required something of them. It required preparation. Think about, here's a picture for you. Think about a wedding. You don't just roll out of bed on your wedding day and wing it. No, there's months and months of preparation. There's picking out the food and picking out the flowers, and there's rehearsals and fittings and arrangements and seating charts and invitation lists and showers and registries, and we could go on and on. Those things are agonized over. Why? Because the occasion matters. And it's really significant. Nehemiah chapter 12, that's it. It's the dedication of these walls around Jerusalem. And so they prepare not, let's be clear, not to impress God, not to be accepted by God or to earn his favor, but to honor him and to worship him rightly. And so this is invitation. This is an invitation for us to prepare in such a way that it actually enhances our worship and makes it richer and more meaningful. What would it look like for us to prepare for Sunday morning worship? To actually really be thoughtful and to prepare. Because you can show up, think about Thanksgiving's next week. You can show up to dinner on Thanksgiving hungry and distracted, or you can show up anticipating, ready to share a meal, but also ready to engage your family and the other people around you. Both of those things get you to the table, but one leads you to a richer, deeper experience. The same is true of worship. What would it look like for us to prepare for Sunday morning worship and gathering with God's people? Not in an obligation type way where we're just checking it off the list, but it is an opportunity to come and to meet with God alongside his people. I don't know what it means for you. It might mean adjusting your Saturday night. It might mean adjusting your Sunday morning so that you don't come into this place flustered and frantic and rushed, but you can actually take a minute and take a breath and prepare your heart. Lord, would you? I'm here. You've brought me here. Would you please meet me? Meet me in the midst of whatever it is that I bring into this room. Again, we don't do this to be accepted. Come as you are. The Bible's clear about that. You're already loved. But preparation positions us to receive more of what God wants to give. And so the first thing is a foundation of celebration requires, we see here in the text, involves preparation. Secondly, it involves remembering God's goodness. Look at verses 31 through 42. I love this part of the passage. And it's easy to miss. Had someone come up to me after the first service and they were like, I read Nehemiah 12, and I completely missed this. And the reason why we completely miss this is because there's so many names that is mentioned in Nehemiah 12. It's easy to miss, and it is so rich. Verse 31, they brought the leaders of Judah onto the walls and appointed two great Thanksgiving choirs. One goes right along the southern wall. Then look at verse 38. The other choir goes left towards the north. Nehemiah and Ezra are part of leading these groups. And I love this image. They are walking the wall. The wall that they built with their own hands under constant threat. They're retracing the story. They're remembering the work, they're remembering the opposition, the moments when they wanted to quit. And as they walk, they're singing and instruments are playing. And it is a parade, it is a procession, it is a public declaration, and they meet in the temple to give thanks and offer sacrifice. Can you imagine what is flooding their hearts and minds as they retrace their steps? Oh, that right there is where we face Sam Ballat and the worst opposition, and where we were mocked by him. That's where the wall almost collapsed. You remember that? That's where we worked all through the night on the wall. And now they march on a completed wall with music and thanksgiving and celebration. In other words, this is no longer just a structure and a reminder of the pain and the heartache and the struggle that they went through. No, this is a monument of God's faithfulness to them. Many cancer treatment centers now have this tradition. Perhaps you've experienced this personally. But after you complete your final treatment, you go and the patient rings a bell. And it's not medically necessary or a requirement, and you can just leave and not do that. But what hospitals and treatment centers have learned is that patients need that moment. They need to remember the story. They need to stop. And if you've been a part of this or seen this, everyone comes out. The family gathers, all the people in the treatment center gather, and the patient puts their hand on the bell and they ring it, and the sound echoes through the hallways. Why? Because the bell marks the journey. It's a way to remember the hard days. It's a way to remember the prayers that have been prayed and the people who have carried you along the way. That's what this is. That's it what this procession is. It's their bell. And they're not acknowledging that just acknowledging that the wall is done. They're remembering and marking the journey. They're turning their story into worship and celebration. Celebration is how we remember. It's how we declare God's faithfulness. And the more we remember, the richer the celebration becomes. And I hinted this at this at the beginning. The problem is that we are a culture that is obsessed with efficiency. And we don't have time, oftentimes, as a people, to slow down and to remember. We finish something significant, a building campaign, a hard season at work, a hard season in our family, or God showing up and some huge provision in our lives, and we just simply move on and nod and say, that's nice. We're addicted to what comes next. I'm addicted to what comes next. And when we do that, we rob ourselves of joy. We rob ourselves of something significant in community and personally. And more than anything, we rob God of the glory that he deserves. God calls us to something different as his people. God calls us to slow down. God calls us to walk the walls, to remember, to tell stories, to walk back through it all and to tell it and be reminded of what God has done and let gratitude and thanksgiving just start bubbling up inside of us until it overflows. Where do you need to do that personally this morning? You've experienced this year God's provision or protection or grace in some way, even in a small way, have you stopped and celebrated it and told the story and gave thanks to God? Write it down. Tell someone, give thanks to God, let joy catch up with you. But what about as a church? We need to walk the walls too, don't we? We have our own walls. Again, we're here in this moment because of people that have gone before us. We are standing on the shoulders of others who loved people that they would never meet. Fifty years. And we could stand up here and start naming names, and we probably need to do that tonight at the Thanksgiving service. People that have passed away and then are no longer with us, that have given their life to this church. People who have prayed for this moment and sacrificed. We need to remember Camp Spain. We need to walk the wall. And some of you remember that were there. The property next door, where it's now Providence Park. You remember when we bought this property and it was just a vacant piece of land with nothing here. And then in 2004, building this building and having to worship in Briarwood High School in the cafeteria until this opened on Good Friday of 2004. And then 2012, the place at the end of the hall, the children's or the youth space and student space. And then we outgrew that space and this building in 2019, the Share Faith campaign, where in the middle of a pandemic, God put up a building and somehow we raised the money and now it's full. And then this project, this generational project, I'll announce in a minute, but we've had over$18.5 million pledged towards this generational project, and we could go on and on and on walking our wall and saying, thank you, Lord. Let us be a church that always walks the wall. And thanks God for his faithfulness to us. That's what we're doing tonight at the Thanksgiving service. That's why we do it. That's why, Lord willing, we're going to keep doing it. I don't know how, but we're going to keep doing it because it forces us to slow down, to walk the walls, to remember and to give thanks. And so would you start thinking and be prepared to come tonight and give thanks for what God has done in your life, but particularly in the life of our church. Let's not let God's faithfulness slip by unnoticed. And lastly, rest in the work of Jesus. Look at verse 43. One verse, I'll talk about it. They offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced. God made them rejoice with great joy. So notice the first thing there, the source of joy. This is crucial. Joy doesn't come, joy's a gift. It doesn't come from them. It doesn't come from their accomplishment and finally finishing the wall. It comes from God. And I think that's so significant. Even your gratitude is a gift from God. Even our celebration is fueled by his grace. And here's why that matters: because this kind of joy can endure all circumstances. Why? Because it's not rooted in you. It's not rooted in us. It's not rooted in the wall. It's rooted in God. Next, notice the scope. Everybody's involved. From the oldest to the youngest in this celebration, not just the leaders. All rejoiced. And then lastly, the sound, the other thing, the sound of the joy. And this is the line that grabbed me. This was not a quiet celebration. It was loud, it was not contained within the walls. It was public and it was contagious. And I think that's significant when you think about the context. Because think about Jerusalem. For decades, they had been a joke to the surrounding nations. It was a broken down city. It was a symbol of disgrace and defeat. And people would walk by it and say, Where is your God? But now they're celebrating. God has brought them out of exile. He has rebuilt the city and the walls, and they are celebrating. It's like walking, think about if you're driving into your neighborhood, and perhaps you've experienced this, cars are lined up everywhere. You see the lights and the festive activities and decorations, and you hear music and you hear loud voices, and you can't help but wonder what is going on in there. It breeds a curiosity in you. That is what's happening here. God's people are celebrating and it is reaching out. It is missional. And it is a witness to the watching world. Church, think about what we had to celebrate. We have infinitely more to celebrate than these people had in Nehemiah. They had a wall. We have Jesus. We have a Savior. They had to purify themselves in order to enter into God's presence and even the gates and that purification ritual. It never cleansed their heart. It was external. It was temporary. It was a shadow pointing to something that they desperately needed and could not provide. And that was true and permanent cleansing from sin. And that is exactly what your Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, provides. Jesus is your purification. Hebrews 10:10, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ once for all. No more repeated sacrifices, no more rituals once for all through the work of Jesus Christ. Nehemiah 12, they purify the wall to dedicate it to God. Jesus does not just purify the wall, he purifies you. He cleanses us from sin. He makes us holy. He presents us blameless before the Father. And because of that, we can come into God's presence, not with fear, but with confidence, not with shame, but with joy and celebration. Jesus doesn't just rebuild walls, he actually tears down the wall that existed between us and God, and he does it through going through a cross. He doesn't dedicate a building, he's actually building a people. He's building us, the church, a living temple. The walls, they would eventually come down again. They wouldn't last forever. Jesus doesn't give us temporary security and protection. Jesus gives you eternal life. You cannot be snatched out of his hand. He defeated sin and death and Satan on a cross. Do you see it? Everything in Nehemiah chapter 12: the purification, the walls, the dedication, the celebration, it's about Jesus. It points to him. He is the source of joy. Joy is a person, and it's tied to a person. It's why the Apostle Paul says, Rejoice not in your circumstances, rejoice in the Lord. Every, if you look through the scriptures, anytime joy is talked about, it's tied to God. You see it here in this passage. Why? Because as long as you have Jesus, no one can take away your joy because you can't be taken away from him. Hebrews chapter 12, fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross. Who's the joy? You are his people. He willingly, willingly goes to a cross because you bring him joy and he wanted to be with you forever. Listen, joy and celebration, it doesn't come from achieving a certain uh emotional state and checking off something on our bucket list or fun that we're about ready to do. No, joy comes from Jesus. If you want unshakable joy, it comes from realizing how much Jesus deeply loves you and delights in you. The foundation of celebration is making much of Jesus, fixing your eyes on Him, remembering His faithfulness. Lord, make us a church that finds our joy in Jesus, and make that joy so loud and so genuine that, like Jerusalem, the celebration is heard in the city of Birmingham. Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for what you have done for us and what you're doing now and for the joy we have in Jesus that can never be taken away. Would you forgive us for the times we've rushed past your goodness without celebrating? And Holy Spirit, would you fill us with joy that is deep and contagious and overflowing? We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.