We're Putting It All Together
Are you ready for Christmas? Listen to God speak through Nehemiah in Nehemiah 8:9-18 and answer, "When it comes to Christmas preparation, "We're Putting It All Together." December 13, 2009.
The countdown is on. Just a few items remain on the last-minute shopping list. The menu for the family’s traditional Christmas day feast is organized. The baking ingredients are lined up on the counter. The Christmas cards are written and are ready for mailing. The office party is circled on the calendar, and the new outfit is in the closet. We’re getting so close to Christmas. Are you ready? Wouldn’t it be great to say, “When it comes to Christmas preparation, putting it all together, we’ve got our act together.”
The people of Judah, who lived four hundred forty years before Bethlehem’s shepherds heard the first Christmas concert, were not preparing for Christmas, of course. But the first lesson today from Nehemiah chapter eight tells us that there was another festival in view. Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites helped them get their act together. In fact, if you and I could step into this Bible account and ask Nehemiah and his buddies how it’s going, they would probably say, We’re Putting It All Together.
The invitation
“My feet are tired, and my ears are tired of listening to Ezra read and read and read some more. Do we have to stand here and listen to all this?” After the territory of Judah and city of Jerusalem had been destroyed and the people deported to Babylon, God stuck his hand into world history once again, stirred things up, and raised up Persia as a world power with a king who conquered the Babylonians and declared that deported people could return to their homelands. Some Israelites did – in three waves. The first group got back to the Promised Land, rebuilt their homes, and eventually rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem. The second group came eighty years later under the leadership of a spiritual leader named Ezra. The third group came fourteen years after that, led by Nehemiah. His initial objective was to reconstruct the broken walls of Jerusalem. But Nehemiah was also a deeply spiritual man and supported Ezra in offering spiritual instruction for the returnees. Ezra got on a big platform in front of a huge assembly and started to read the five books of Moses.
As the people heard the words of the Lord, they started to cry. It wasn’t just whining about tired feet. They were sad because they realized that they had fallen far short of what God wanted them to be and do, and they felt that they could never be a real part of God’s family. That’s when Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks … This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve.” “Don’t be sad because these words from God have a dual purpose. Sure, they function like an ax to cut you down with repeated warnings and threats aimed at your incompetence and non-compliance. But these words are also a gracious invitation from God to participate in his love and all the great things he has in mind for you. Think of it! You don’t deserve it, but the Lord is still going to use you to save all sinners by sending his Son into the world through your nation. God wants you to live in his love as his dear children. When you put it all together and listen to the full message Ezra is reading, you won’t be able to hold back the joy! This invitation is for you!”
In the gospel for this day John the Baptist wielded the ax at the root problem in the hearts of the crowd, the tax collectors, and the soldiers who heard him. But he also proclaimed the forgiveness of sins(Luke 3:3). John’s message had a dual purpose. After cutting them down to size, he pointed to Jesus, the sin bearer and remover, and offered God’s gracious invitation to participate in his love. When his hearers put it all together and listened to John’s full message, they couldn’t hold back the joy. The invitation was for them!
Maybe this year you didn’t receive any invitations to Christmas parties. But don’t worry. God has not forgotten about you. He wields his ax at our root problem, the rebellion and evil in our hearts which we like to cover up as though it’s not there. But it has to be exposed, or we’ll lose sight of the real reason for the season. Once we know we need him, then the Christ-child won’t be a figurine in a crèche which we haul out of a box every December. He’ll be alive in our hearts with his pardon. When we put it all together and listen to God’s full message, we won’t be able to hold back the joy. The invitation is for you and for me.
The decorations
“We just got done rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls. That was not a small, backyard, four-levels-of-Home-Depot-brick project. There were several thousand people working on it, and it took fifty-two days. We’re tired. Our hands are blistered. Our backs are sore. We don’t want to build one thing more.” But once the people of Judah put together all the words of God and understood his gracious invitation, they were re-energized and ready to decorate, or maybe we should say un-decorate. Let me explain. The people of Nehemiah’s day had not read their Bibles. So they didn’t know the details of God’s arrangement with their nation (and only their nation and only until the Savior was born). That arrangement included six festivals which coincided either with the spring grain harvest or with the fall fruit harvest. One of the fall festivals was designed to remind them of the stark, bare-bones existence their ancestors experienced during the forty years of wandering in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land. For this week-long fall festival the Israelites were supposed to construct and live in booths. We would call them wood-framed tents or little shacks. At the end of the week they were to burn the shacks and have a feast. Living in the booths reminded them of the reason their ancestors had to wander for forty years – rebellion against God – and led them to repent of their own wandering from God. But when they put the week-long un-decorations together with the anticipated feast at the end of the week, it became a week-long camp-out jamboree.
Imagine getting to the Advent season and thinking, it’s time to un-decorate the house, removing lights and decorations, and moving to a tent – not a pop-up camper with propane stove, refrigerator, and generator, but a plain tent or a leaky shack, and no air mattress. If we could eliminate the sub-zero temps and knew for a fact that this simple, bare-bones existence would last only a week and at the end we would enjoy a feast to end all feasts, we might be able to do it. How would that be any more challenging than what John the Baptist told the crowd, the tax collectors, and soldiers, “Share, don’t cheat, and be content” (Luke 3:11-14). They didn’t have to do those things but putting together all of what John said, especially pointing them to Jesus, they were delighted to offer these fruits of faith, decorations flowing from joy-filled hearts in thanks to God.
Advent is an unusual season because it includes a call to acknowledge our sinfulness and need for a Savior. For that reason, some Advent songs are in a minor key with somber tones and words. But Advent also includes an air of excitement and anticipation as we look forward to the Festival of the Nativity of our Lord. So, other Advent songs are in a major key with joyful tones and words. That’s why Advent is sometimes referred to as a season of repentance because repentance includes both the somber coming to grips with our sin and the joyful news that Jesus is coming to do away with our sin. Putting together all of what God says to us in the Advent season, we decorate our homes and offer our lives as decorations flowing from joy-filled hearts in thanks to God.
The celebration
“For this wall-rebuilding project we not only had to offer our muscles. We had to pony up for the stones and bricks. And, since we had to work on our corner of the wall with the same people for over seven weeks, we want to be left alone and not be bothered by anyone or anything else.” The people of Judah could well have gone down that path. But Nehemiah led them down a different road. Nehemiah taught them that this festival of booths had two more features. When they put together all of God’s instructions about this festival, they delighted in both gathering and giving. They celebrated the feast for seven days, and on the eighth day … there was an assembly. All the people went away to eat and drink, and to send portions of food to those who had none.
Traitorous tax collectors and abusive Roman soldiers seemed like the least likely candidates to listen to John the Baptist and make any changes in their lives, much less turn into generous, caring people. But look at Zacchaeus, the tax collector whom Jesus called out of a tree and blessed with forgiveness. He gave of what he had gladly and freely. Look at Cornelius, the Roman soldier whose knowledge of God’s saving love was fortified by the apostle Peter. The Bible says he gave generously to those in need(Acts 10:2). Putting it all together, gathering and giving went hand in hand with their celebration of God’s love.
If someone asked you, “What are the two most important ways to celebrate Christmas?” you would probably say, “When we put it all together, the whole celebration comes down to two things, gathering and giving. You may have relatives in Afghanistan or living out of state, but you’ll gather with them in your heart, united in faith, and you’ll gather with fellow Christians to praise God for sending his Son and pray for those whom you miss. You may not have the means to give gifts to everyone you want, but the giving that went on in connection with the Festival of Booths in Jerusalem pictures the desire and thrill of giving that is so much a part of the Festival of Christmas in which God gave us his greatest gift. Putting it all together, instead of ruing what we miss and can’t do, we rejoice in the gathering and giving we can do.
Are you ready for Christmas? Listen to God speak through Nehemiah and answer, “When it comes to Christmas preparation, putting it all together, we’ve got our act together. Yes, we’re ready! Come, Lord Jesus, come!” Amen.
Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (www.gracedowntown.org) on December 13, 2009
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