Ezra 3 (Part 1) Bible Study (Rebuilding the Altar) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Let's go to the book of Ezra, chapter three. Now, if there is a way to summarize our study in Ezra chapter two, I believe a memorable way That That's what we really looked at. We looked at different groups of people who took that step of faith to make their way back to a ruined city, a desolate land, but out of a desire to see it restored for the sake of God's glory. We looked at the initial movements of those exiles. And as we come to Ezra chapter three, we will now be looking at the initial actions of the restored exiles within the land.

Within the land. And this is not a lengthy chapter, as you can see, but we will divide our time in this section of scripture into two studies, and dedicate tonight to the first seven verses of Ezra three. So, let's begin by reading it from verse one through verse seven, and pause as we always do. When the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. Then arose Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, with his kinsmen, 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.

They set the altar in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands. And, they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord. Burnt offerings morning and evening. Written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the rule, as each day required. And after that, the regular burnt offerings, the offerings at the new moon, and at all the appointed feasts of the Lord, and the offerings of everyone who made a free will offering to the Lord.

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. So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and to the Tyranese, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus, king of Persia. Father, we ask, as always, we humble ourselves, we look to you as our help. This is your word, but we need your Holy Spirit's help. And we pray that you would, as always, lead us through these truths.

And that, Lord, the testimony of those two on the road to Emmaus would be our portion tonight, that our hearts would burn within us as you, by your Spirit, open to us the Scriptures. So we come to eat your word and believe like Jeremiah said, it will be our joy. It will fuel our joy. We have come by faith. And in the name of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray.

Amen and amen. This text is clearly rich with detail. At the same time, there is a dominant theme present. Did anybody notice a certain word that was repeated over and over again? Or a couple of words from the same family, same idea?

Just over a dozen times in the first six verses, we read seven, but in the first six verses, the words offer or offering resurface. Maybe you heard that as we went through these verses, which tells us that the prevalent action of these restored exiles and the opening scene is that of worship. Worship. Now, by worship, I'm sure you know I'm not speaking about singing. You and I have heard numerous times from this pulpit offering praise or repeating lyrics or making melody to the Lord from our hearts.

Praise is a part of worship, but worship in its essence is what? Obedience. That's what worship is. A worshiper is one who has decided without reservation to adhere to the will of God in every area of their lives, to surrender to God's prescription and his pleasure, his will, his desire, his plan, his purpose, above everything else. That is what a true worshiper is.

And what we find here in this passage, is that these exiles are seeking to worship God in the way that they were called to under the old covenant. At the same time, we can learn from them. Even as followers of Jesus Christ, who are called to worship him, we can draw out and glean from these observations what worship includes, what worship calls for. And that is precisely how we're going to approach this text. There's many ways that we can come to this portrait, but I want us to do this.

I want us to consider at least six truths regarding worship, which is synonymous with obedience. Six observations as blood bought Christians concerning what it means to glorify God. And be mindful that there there are no order of importance here. This is just simply us looking at general concepts and thoughts related to worship. I was compelled to go about it this way, because the fact that offer and offerings just kept coming at me reading this, and so this is the way we will study this text.

Number one, six truths about worship. Six thoughts about worship. Here's the first one. We must worship God together. We must worship God together.

Some would criticize these exiles in verse one for settling in their towns for a time before going to Jerusalem to do what? What they were really called to do, and that was restore the house of God. But that misses the point entirely. Ezra, by the Spirit, is not underscoring the delayed obedience of these people. He's in fact showing us the precise obedience of these exiles.

And he expects you and I to recognize that because of the time stamp of verse one. When the seventh month came. Now, we've been studying the Old Testament for quite some time, some of us longer than others, but we should be familiar enough with the Hebrew Scriptures to remember that God had called his people under the old covenant to celebrate a total of how many holy feasts each year? There was hesitation there. Seven.

Seven holy feasts each year. You find that spelled out in Leviticus chapter 23. Now, out of the seven, how many called for the people, namely the men, to make their way to Jerusalem to worship God? How many out of the seven? Good.

Three. Three out of seven feasts called for the men of Israel who represented their households to go and march and make pilgrimage to Jerusalem to honor God in a precise way. Now in case one has forgotten which out of the seven demanded pilgrimage. Reference that holds the answer, at least one of them, is very easy to remember. Deuteronomy 16, guess what's rarest?

16. Sixteen sixteen. Let me read it to you and let it refresh your memory. Deuteronomy sixteen sixteen reads, three times a year, all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose. At the feast of unleavened bread, that's number one, At the Feast of Weeks, that's number two.

And at the Feast of Boots, they shall not appear before the Lord empty handed. I don't want to confuse you, but this is important to recognize. So, three out of the seven called for the men to approach the Lord at Jerusalem. Out of the three, two of them, the first two, the feast of unleavened bread and the feast of weeks, were to be observed in the springtime. The feast of Buth, does anybody know?

In the fall. Which month in the fall, according to the Jewish calendar? The seventh month. The seventh month. So, this this should be in the back of our minds as we come to Ezra three, when we learn that in the seventh month, the the people made their way to Jerusalem, and we're told plainly, look back at Ezra three verse four, which feast they recognized.

What was it? The feast of booths. And they kept the feast of booths. But the timing of their obedience is not the only thing that is highlighted by the Holy Spirit. The manner in which they obeyed is also emphasized.

Look back at the end of verse one of Ezra three. The people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. What an awesome picture. So not every feast required the collective effort of the nation to honor God and worship God in a special way. Not every feast.

But these feasts that did call for God to be glorified show us that there is a participation required from the community as a whole to bless God. And it's no different in the New Testament. That there's a way of worshiping God on your own, and there's a call to worship God as one man. And there's so many places in the New Testament we can go to prove that. And the one my mind went to was in Romans.

So let's turn there in Romans 15. I want you to see something very special. This is gonna be very helpful for those whose singular aim is life in life is to please God. If you're serious about that, then you're gonna take these verses seriously. Romans 15, look at verse five.

Paul says, may the God of endurance and encouragement. We looked at a couple of weeks ago on a Sunday, did we not? What a title for our God. The God of endurance and encouragement. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God. In these three verses, Paul speaks about glorifying God explicitly. And notice that they are both connected to a condition. There is a particular exaltation of God that is tied to a togetherness. And that's so clear, look at verse six, That together you may with one voice glorify God.

And it's implied even by the surrounding phrases. Look again. Harmony with one another. That you would live in harmony with one another. And he goes on to say welcoming one another with the end goal of what?

The last part of verse seven, for the glory of God. So, again, if I desire to live my life for God's glory, we need one another. I cannot do this as an individual. I cannot do this as a solo endeavor. It has to be something that is done as a collective group.

And so, yeah, there is a charge for me to personally contemplate and meditate on the things of God and on the Lord himself throughout my day. There is the exhortation to retreat personally and seek God and sing to God and study his Word, but there is a special offering that can exclusively be given via the church, in participation with the members of the body of Christ. And here's what this means for us. If I have, if I have zero interaction with the church, or a shallow rep, relationship with the body of Christ, then I am, whether I intend to or not, I am robbing God of the glory that is due to him. Because my voice needs to combine with other voices in order to glorify God, according to what Paul is saying here.

So now, remember, if worship, when we boil it down, when we really boil it down, is obedience. How am I as a person who has no conviction about the church of Jesus Christ supposed to obey verses like this, for example? If, if I am not committed to a local body, how can I, who am I going to be in harmony with? Who am I gonna show hospitality towards or receive hospitality from? Whose voice am I joining for the glory of God, in a place of prayer, in a place of song?

And so right away in Ezra three, we are reminded that we must worship God together. Develop that conviction about the bride of Christ. It it it really baffles me in terms of my righteous indignation when I hear people saying I love Christ, but I have a different opinion about his church. You have to remember, this church universally is the mystical body of Christ. That's like saying, I I like your face but I don't like your body.

How can you say that you you love Christ but you sever him from his body? It doesn't work. And even in the Old Testament, we see principles and lessons that reinforce this New Testament truth that we must worship God together. That's the first point, but we come down to the second. Let's return to Ezra three, in verse two.

Then arose Jeshua the son of Jozadak with his fellow priest, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiah with his kinsmen, 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. We must worship on the revelation of Christ. Our worship must be built on the revelation of Christ. That's what we get from verse two. You're saying how?

Just hang on. Don't you find it interesting that before there is any attempt to rebuild the actual temple structure, the first thing that the unified people do in Jerusalem is erect the altar. Now, remember this is the bronze altar. The The reason why we know that this is the bronze altar is because they offered burnt offerings on it. There was animal sacrifices placed on this table.

And if we recall, the bronze altar was the very first object one would behold as they entered into the temple vicinity. That's the very first thing you would see. And so, this altar was not immediately tied to the actual temple building. It was separate. It was in the temple courts.

So it didn't require the edifice to be erected in order for the altar to be exercised. But to limit the people's priority of the altar being built to convenience, or just this being something that we can do for the time being, would be wrong. This is not a matter of just doing what they can, this is them operating with the revelation of the spiritual significance of the altar. What is the altar? The altar in the old covenant is where sins were dealt with.

It is where reconciliation with God happened. It was the the instrument that constantly reminded the people of God that what was required for communion with God was spilled blood, and the blood of a substitute. And here's what you have to understand, the altar, in essence, is the basis for all temple worship. Remove the altar and nothing else makes sense. In fact, when the official altar, in terms of the instructions and its purpose, was given to Moses so that he can give it to Israel in Exodus, there is a profound statement that God makes related to the altar that I want to read to you.

It's one simple verse. It's in Exodus 29 verse 43. Just listen to the words. Listen to what God says after He tells Moses what the altar was, how it should be built, and how the sacrifices on it could, should be performed. He says this in Exodus twenty nine forty three.

There I will meet with the people of Israel and they shall be sanctified by my glory. The altar was the meeting place between God and the people of Israel. In many ways, this is where the common man would meet God in the place of sacrifice. And if you think about it, the concept of an altar existed long before there was a tabernacle or a temple. It goes back as early as Genesis eight twenty, when Noah built an altar to the Lord.

It reappears in Genesis twelve and thirteen as Abram, known as Abraham, frequently built altars to the Lord. In fact, he is known as many things, as the father of faith and a man of faith, but he's also known as, for the careful student, the man of altars. He's always building altars, especially early in his story. And that really again just emphasizes just how central and vital, how imperative the altar was to the worship and the communion that the people of God were to have with God Himself. And these exiles in Ezra three understood that.

Before we do anything, we must rebuild the altar. Now, here's where I may surprise some of you here. Did you know that we as Christians have an altar? Does anybody know where we're told that we have an altar? I want you to see it with your own eyes.

Hebrews 13 verse 10. The author says, as he's wrapping things up in this epistle, we have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. Remember what the Hebrew author is doing here. He is writing to Jewish Christians who are being tempted to turn their backs on Christ and go back to the Mosaic system, the Levitical law. And from the beginning of this letter to the end, he is making a masterful defense of the superiority of Christ above everything, including the Levitical system.

And so, he compares Christ to all these different things, these different people, these different practices, and as he is now coming to his final arguments and appeals, he makes this claim. We have an altar. Now, why would he say that? You got to put yourself in the shoes of the original readers. These Jewish Christians, the reason why they're even tempted to go back in the first place is because of the social pressures.

They have been exiled in their own way, ostracized. And so they have been rejected from so many things including this this altar that they have understood and recognized for centuries upon centuries. We just got a sample of just how important this altar is to the Jewish life. And now these Jewish Christians who put their faith in Messiah Jesus of Nazareth are denied access to that altar. And you gotta remember, that's where sins were forgiven.

That's where God met his people. That's where atonement was made. And that's been ingrained in their minds and in their hearts. And with faith, they they now believe Christ is their ultimate atonement, that Christ is the fulfillment of all these other things, but they're they're they're feeling the heat. And they're just thinking to themselves, should we just go back?

And here's this Christian leader, anonymous, but ask me later who I believe it is who wrote Hebrews. It's comforting these believers and saying, hey, we have an altar. Did you know that? And it's superior to the ones that your Jewish brethren have. The ones that they boast in and threaten you with.

It's far greater. It's a greater altar and on it was performed a greater sacrifice. And listen, you may not have access to that altar, but I want to tell you something, those unbelieving Jews don't have access to this altar because it's accessed by faith. And so, what he's really saying, what he's really pressing these believers with is, why would you deny the substance and go back after the shadow? That altar, and that temple and that tabernacle pointed to a greater altar.

And the sacrifices on it pointed to a greater sacrifice. And here you are, you actually want to go back to the signpost, instead of clinging to the actual treasure that it was pointing to all along. Why would you do that? And there are many parallels that we can make between the physical altar and its fulfillment in Christ, but I simply want to emphasize this. In the same way that the bronze altar was the foundation of all worship in the temple, our altar in Christ is no different.

Why you do what you do in terms of obedience is built upon the revelation of who Christ is and what he's done. And in the same way, the bronze altar was the very first thing that you would behold and see. It begins with Christ before anything else. It begins with you encountering the cross and applying His blood and being convinced of his substitutionary atonement before you can endeavor or try anything. Even the placement of the altar speaks of the priority of what Christ has done in terms of how we advance in worshiping and knowing Christ and his glory.

And we're even told that in a way, in this very text, that this altar here is is the primary thing, and every other kind of worship stems from establishing in your heart, Christ is my foundation. His sacrifice is where it all begins. Let me show you that. Just one example. Look at verse 15 of Hebrews 13.

It's in the same context. And he says, through him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. That is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. So, yes, this altar speaks of Christ. The sacrifice on the altar speaks of who?

Christ. The priest who offers the sacrifice is Christ is everywhere. And yet, like the New Testament so often does, though we look at many of these things and see Christ and what he's done for us, there's also underlying truths about what we're called to do. And here's one example. This altar who is Christ, through him then, what do we do?

Well, one of the things that we do is we offer spiritual sacrifices. And in this context, we sing to him. The fruity lips that acknowledge his name. But what's my singing stemming from? The revelation of Christ as my altar.

Why do I preach? Why do I preach? So so I can hope to get to heaven by performing, an exegetical project with my life to show God, hey, I served you. No, no, no. I come up here on the basis that I have been forgiven.

I'm I'm I'm serving God because I know that he has covered me. I've come to this altar. I've been washed. I've been redeemed. And I never have to go and perform another sacrifice on, and neither is God.

It's a once and for all sacrifice. You see, what you do for God in terms of your worship must be built on the foundation of what he has done for you. So that's point number two with what we find here in Ezra, that my worship must be built, must be on the primary foundation of the revelation of who Christ is, symbolized in the altar. I hope that makes sense, because it'll change your life if you get it. But let's come to thought number three about worship back in Ezra, chapter three.

Let's look at it again in verse three. Ezra three:three reads, they set the altar in its place for fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands. And they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening. So, due to the Hebrew wording of this verse, there is little, not big, but just small debate about how the fear in this text should be understood. Is it saying that the people built the altar because they were afraid of the inhabitants of the lands around them?

You have to remember that when these exiles came back after nearly two generations of captivity, they didn't come back to an empty land, did they? There were some of the poorest that stayed back when Nebuchadnezzar came and removed the final group of these Jews. You have to also remember that the 10 northern tribes were taken much earlier by the Assyrians, and then the Syrian leadership substituted them with other strange pagans and peoples with different backgrounds. So the promised land is not completely vacant upon the arrival of these exiled Jews. There's people living there and they don't worship the true God, at least in a true way.

We're gonna find that out in the coming chapters of this book. So are they rushing to build this altar because of fear and anxiety and dread of the neighbors? Or are they doing this despite the fear of the neighboring people groups? Either way, you know what it is clear? The exiles were afraid.

The majority view is that they did this because they were afraid. That's where you're gonna find in most translations. But no matter which way you look at it, there is no debate that they were terrified. And this is a praiseworthy thing because with this very real concern, these exiles did not stop from making a public declaration of their permanent return and their desire to rebuild the dwelling place of God. So here's point number three in terms of worship, and what we can learn about it.

Worship must not cease due to opposition, because opposition will come when you seek to live your life to glorify God. And and this is a helpful reminder of that truth, that your commitment to exalt the Lord and bless the Lord will be met with challenges. It will be met with potential consequences that will tempt you to hesitate to move ahead. And with that, you can also say that there's another principle. That when the Lord opens new doors for us to glorify Him, you can expect satanic attempts to frustrate those advancements.

You know what's interesting? When you go to chapter four, Ezra, look at it really quickly in verse one. We read, when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the return exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel. So now, now the language is getting way more specific. We're not just talking about the peoples of the lands, there are adversaries, enemies of the Jews.

And the moment that they heard rumblings, that these people have not just returned to their towns, but they're actually going to rebuild this temple, things started to go in a different direction. And as I was looking at that passage in Ezra four one, my mind went to a passage in the New Testament, where Paul also spoke about an open door to glorify Christ, and the challenges that came with it. First Corinthians sixteen, eight and nine. Meditating on these two small verses made me fall in love with Paul even more. Notice what he says to the Corinthians in first Corinthians 16 verse eight.

But, I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many what? Reasons, and these, again, two short verses show us some reasons why. Here's the first thing that I thought about. You read earlier, Paul very much desired to spend time with the Corinthians in person. He even said, look, I don't want to just pass by briefly.

I wanna sit with you and engage with you, and not feel rushed. But what was the one thing holding it back according to verse eight and nine? He said, I'm gonna stay in Ephesus because I recognize that there's this open door for me, and I'm not willing to miss it. You know what that tells me about this man? That serving Christ was his priority in all his plans.

That was more important to him than anything else. Everything revolved around that. Left to his own desires, he would have just packed his bags and went and visited the Corinthians for some time, But instead, he's compelled because he understands there's an open door for me here to do something for the Lord. And this is how this man lived. This is how he discerned things.

I'm planting my feet here in Ephesus, because I get to serve the Lord in a special way. And I believe the fact that Paul had that ultimate motivation in life is the reason why doors were opened for him to begin with. Because that was his beating heart. That was that was in his blood. And so, God used him in in mighty ways because, unfortunately, so many professing Christians have service to Christ in in a low category in terms of their priority list.

But not this man. Not this man. I see something that the Lord wants me to do, and I'm gonna stay right here. Now, here's the second thing. Paul knew full well that with this open door to serve the Lord, there would be many many challenges with it, and it didn't change a thing.

This wide door has been open for and with it, many adversaries, I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here in Ephesus. You know, I've heard of some ministers and leaders who have attempted to organize evangelistic efforts, or even bring in debates from those from different religions, and they try to host it in their local church, or organize kind of city wide things. And the moment there's pushback, the moment there are emails, or threats, voicemails of people challenging them, they back down. I I've heard of stories.

All it took was one or two phone calls. All it took was an anonymous letter saying, you do this and you're dead meat. Oh, okay. And they just cancel everything. When I put my fingers on the pulse of Paul in terms of his devotion to Christ, the the feeling I get is that opposition energized the man.

And he just flourished in it. And I believe one reason why is because he had discernment. He understood that when the Lord is ready to do something special, Satan recognizes it. And he's gonna put up a fight. And I think that moved Paul to say we're we're we're we're hitting a nerve here, and we're gonna advance, and we're gonna stay put.

We're not gonna back down. We're not gonna give up. And so we see here in the same way, you and I, if we want to worship the Lord, really honor Him with our lives, should expect internal, which I hate the most to be honest, and external pressures. Especially when you're standing at the threshold of obedience, don't back down. If anything, recognize the strange stirrings as a good sign.

And use it as fuel to say, okay, clearly God is ready to bless this and we're gonna do it no matter what it costs us. We must worship even when there's opposition. Never cease to, no matter what it costs you. Let's come to point number four. In Ezra three, look at verse four.

And they kept the feasts of booths as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the rule, as each day required. And after that, the regular burnt offerings, the offerings at the new moon, and all the appointed feasts of the Lord, and the offerings of everyone who made a free will offering to Lord. I mean, you see the word being repeated, do you not offerings, offerings, offering. We're talking about worship. And here's point number four about worship.

Worship is not always convenient. So we briefly discussed when the feast of Booth was to be celebrated. When? What month of the year? '7 very one of the three feasts that commanded the men of Israel as representatives of their home to come to Jerusalem and worship.

But we didn't talk too much about how the Feast of Booths was to be observed. And besides the the sacrifices and some of the rituals that parallel many of the other sacrifices or feasts rather, What makes this celebration stand out is that for seven days, each of these families were to live in booths, posts, an easier way to imagine it, are tents. These tents for seven days, in order to remember in a very real way how the Lord has provided and protected for them, namely their ancestors, when he had delivered them from Egypt and brought them through the wilderness. So, it was a it was a drama almost to call the family into this experience and to commemorate, you know, the God of our fathers allowed us to live in these tents for years upon years, and he has perfectly preserved us, and he has kept us and protected us. And I'm sure in those tents, they would tell the stories, the stories that we read of in Exodus and Numbers, and recall God's faithfulness up to that moment.

In fact, this must have meant something very special to these exiles. You know why? Because they experienced it in a very real way. They had just come from another wilderness. They had just been delivered from what?

Babylon. So surely this was very fresh to these exiles. But it also must have been scary. Why would it be scary? Well, think practically for a moment.

We learned earlier that they were afraid of their neighbors. These neighbors now that are we got we got the Jews coming back here. And they're noticing that homes are being filled again, and the streets are getting noisier. And now, there's talks about this temple, as we're gonna see in Ezra four. So, you can imagine how scary this would have been.

For the people who not understood, not only understood the threats, the potential threats, but the call to do what? Leave their homes. The Feast of Buth called them to leave their properties, leave their lands. I mean, they just got there. And on top of that, to do what?

I mean, they lived in exile for almost two generations, and in the first year of coming back, they have to live in a tent. It'd be nice to kind of work on on the house a little bit. You know, get some new furniture. How do we know this is the first year of the return, by the way? Let me give you a hint.

Look at Ezra three verse eight. This is we're not we're not looking at this tonight. We're gonna look at it next week. It says now in the second year after they're coming to the House Of God at Jerusalem in the second month, Implying what? That from verse one to seven, all of this is taking place on the seventh month of what?

The first year. So they just got here. They just got here and they recognize, okay, here we are at the seventh month. What is God asking us? Live in a tent for a week.

Our way from Babylon to here. That took us a long time. Okay, fine. We'll live in a tent. But then, the other we're gonna leave everything behind our homes, our You have to understand this, that God in his foreknowledge always knew with these three feasts that called for the presence of God's people in Jerusalem.

He he always knew that this would be a temptation for them. And so, he made him a promise. Let me show you what I mean. This is an important reference in Exodus thirty four twenty four. Listen to what the Lord said.

For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders. No one shall covet your land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year. Do you see that? Wow. The Lord knew even before the people entered into the promised land originally that one of the fears, one of the things that would cause them anxiety with these feasts that says go to Jerusalem is, what's gonna happen to our homes?

What's gonna happen to to our property, our produce? And the Lord says this, look how specific the Lord is. I won't even allow them to covet your land. You know what covet means? To yearn for, to desire intensely.

I won't even let them entertain the thought if you honor me. Worship is not always convenient, but it is always rewarded. And here's what I take from this. This applies to you and me. You honor God's house, He'll bless yours.

You prioritize His house, watch what He will do with yours. That's what I find here in Exodus, and this demanded faith. Again, living in it, living in a tent, the timing is not really the best. They've just gotten back. Let's get situated a little bit.

Okay. Fine. But then to walk away from these things when we're the most vulnerable, that's faith. And I'm sure at some point someone brought up this promise. The Lord assured us that if we go to Jerusalem and honor these feasts, he will not let our enemies even covet our land.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you. So worship is not always convenient, but it is always rewarded. Which brings us to our final point, really, or a couple more points at least. Worship must grow. Look at verse six of Ezra three.

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. So as imperative as the altar and the sacrifices were, the Holy Spirit reminds us that the foundation of the temple was not yet laid. So the priorities were right. You you built this altar, and that's what you were supposed to do. This is the basis for all temple worship.

However, their goal wasn't met. The ultimate goal was to rebuild the whole thing. And they didn't even start really at the foundation level. And had the people stopped with the altar, they just put this together and made sacrifices, they would not have been in the fullness of God's will. So, we're being reminded here, this is wonderful, the altar is great, but there's still much more to be accomplished.

And the principle here is obvious. Worshipers must never settle, never settle, but continually seek to grow and build in your worship. Here's the difference between the people here and us. Ours is ongoing. It's an ongoing pursuit until we meet Christ face to face.

They can say it's done when they rebuilt everything. We can say that only when we enter into glory. But the principles here, look at the principle, our worship must grow, it must never stagnate. We should never be satisfied with wherever we are. And Paul, listen, he uses many metaphors, many analogies to describe our sanctification, And one of the most striking ones is that of construction.

Did you know that Paul used terminology related to construction? I'm talking about building something related to your devotion to Christ and mine. Okay, maybe you don't believe me, so let me prove it. The Corinthians again. He says in first Corinthians three verse 11, for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

And he doesn't stop there. He says in verse 12, now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's works will become manifest for the day will disclose it because they will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. Check this out. Paul, by the Spirit, calls Christians builders. And notice, he doesn't say that we build a foundation.

He doesn't even say that he builds a foundation. He says, I laid the foundation. And the foundation is what? The Gospel. Who Christ is and what he has done.

I laid that foundation, and anybody who has put their faith in Christ builds their life on that bedrock. Christ as savior, Christ as Lord, I'm the recipient of his grace. That's the foundation. However, we all are called to build upon it. And the reality is this, some will build on that truth with the best materials.

And he highlights those materials, gold, silver, precious stones. And some will do it with lesser quality stuff, wood, hay and stubble. And others will not really invest anything. They have the foundation, but there's nothing really to show for. They haven't gone beyond the foundation.

Do you notice here that Paul is not speaking about quantity, but quality? So, the building here is synonymous with your works, not for salvation because the foundation is laid. Christ is your foundation. But to build upon that, he equates it with our works. That's the analogy he's using here.

But he does not mention amount. Did he, did he say any number here? No, no. He's speaking and highlighting quality. You have some things that are gold, silver, precious stones, other things wood, hay, and stubble, and we have the choice what materials to use.

And and the the more valuable things contextually speaks of the purity of your motive. Your character and your conduct. And the prioritization of your service to Christ. And the other things we won't get into, but it involves impure motives. So not what you do, but why you do it.

And even the prioritization of your worship, is it everything? Is it ultimate? Or there are other things that rival it? And really the reminder here, according to Paul's words to Christians for all time is verse 10. Look at the end of verse 10.

We'll just read all of it. It says in first Corinthians three ten, according to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. Be very careful how you are investing on this foundation. What are you really putting into it?

What's your heart behind it? What's your goal? Because there's a time coming when it will be inspected, and that's on the final day, where we will all stand before the Lord and he will take all of our works and pass it through the fire, and it will either remain or it will be consumed. And that is not to determine our salvation, because Paul speaks about even how everything can potentially burn up. Can you imagine that?

It turned to ash, and yet we are still saved. So, he's not promoting a works based salvation, but he is telling us here to be very intentional and strategic and thoughtful about our worship, which is our obedience, which is our devotion. Is it growing or is it weakening? How much attention do we give to it? For many people, their sanctification is a side thought.

There are other so many things that consume them, and it's on the periphery of their ambitions. Well, without you even realizing you, you might not be building anything, or you might be throwing some things at that foundation, but it's wood. It's, hey, it's just gonna be burned up. And there are others who are putting, and notice these are materials that were emphasized at the construction of the actual temple. Gold, silver, precious stones.

Paul is operating with an Old Testament mindset. Do you understand? So even in Ezra three, we learned here that, yes, they built the altar. It's so important, the foundation, Christ, but you gotta go beyond that now. What are you gonna do with your faith?

What are you gonna do with the revelation of what he's done for you? And that's something we have to all pay careful attention to. Here's my last point. Point number six about worship. We're looking at six thoughts, and here's number six and verse seven of Ezra three.

So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food and drink, oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus, King of Persia. This is great. Cyrus not only made a way for the exiles to come back, he put a check-in their pockets. Whatever you need to rebuild the house of God, I'll cover the expenses. Now, how tempting do you think it would be for these people returning to their homes that have been destroyed, their properties, their businesses, to do something with that money for themselves?

Or to to to invest in their community park, or their networks, and their other social realms and ideas. Instead, they took the money and they bought the best of the best for the house of God. They didn't go for the cheap stuff. They went for the cedar from Lebanon. They hired workers.

They said, we're gonna take what was given to us, although this temptation could have been very real to them, to lay the right foundation and continue to build God's house. Here's the last point. Worship must be our utmost priority in every season. Was this a challenging time for these people economically? Yes.

Socially? Absolutely. With the fear even that they had. Wouldn't it be the logical thing to do what? Let's build our walls.

We got enemies lurking. They can take us out at any moment. You know what's amazing? They built this altar, why? Because they were afraid.

So now, if you're afraid of actual imminent danger, physical danger, what are you gonna do? Here's how I'm thinking. Let's let's make some weapons. Let's get some guards. Let's get some watchmen.

Let's build these walls. No. No. No. In their fear, they built an altar.

You know why? Because they understood that the safest place is to be in the place of worship. That when I put God first, I'm the safest. That although, yes, he calls me to practic we're going, we're gonna see this in Nehemiah. There is practical calls for wisdom in how we deal with these things.

But first things first, in this season, even though we're so exposed and so needy, I'm building an altar. And I'm gonna put what I can in God's house. And sometimes, you have to give these kind of cautions, and I am in no way suggesting the neglect of your family, the neglect of your physical well-being. I hope we're all here mature enough to understand what I'm saying. But it doesn't deny this fact.

Worship must be utmost priority, and we see it exemplified here. Who knew that we can learn about worship from a group of people who came back to rebuild something that's not related to us directly? Such is Lord, we echo the psalmist statement when he said that I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandments are exceedingly broad. You never fail to humble us when we think, even for a moment, that we know your word. Even for a moment, that we know your word.

And even though we come to text like this, and have read it over and over again, you always find a way to amaze us of how you can take us to thoughts and bring connections that we never thought were possible. You are an amazing author, and this just reminds us that you are indeed the one who put together this supernatural book. So Lord, we step back, we take it in, we let it sit on our hearts and to seep into our souls, and we just want to rejoice in you. Help us worship you as our priority. Help us worship you when there is opposition, when it's inconvenient.

Help us worship you together, and help us worship you on the basis of what Christ has done for us. Thank you that we have an altar. Thank you that this spiritual altar is greater than any other altar that's promoted. And thank you that that sacrifice that you made on that altar still has power for anyone who would call upon that blood to be applied to their lives. We worship you today.

In song, we praise you. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen and Amen. Let's stand and worship the Lord in song.