Pastor Zach Pummill • April 25, 2021

Sermon Overview

EZRA 1:1–8; 2:1, 64–70

When Israel returned to the Promised Land they had to unlearn all the rhythms and patterns of life they learned in exile, and relearn what it means to be the people of God. As we return after our own season of exile, how have we been shaped and impacted? How can we recommit to being the people God calls us to be?

Sermon Transcript

Good morning friends. My name is Zach, I'm one of the pastors here, and if you're a guest with us today or maybe you're still new here, we are really glad to have you with us. You find this this morning at the beginning of a new sermon series.

On Easter Sunday we talked about being a people that see all things through the hope and power of the resurrection, and that's something you consider on Easter, but the hard part is doing that on the other 364 days of the calendar year. Because the resurrection of Christ is not just some event, it's the event through which we understand all things, it's the resurrection that teaches us how to have hope even when things feel hopeless. The resurrection teaches us that God can bring restoration in the midst of the most heartless devastation. The resurrection teaches us that God is at work even when it feels like He's doing absolutely nothing at all. It's the resurrection that is the ultimate expression of how despite appearances God is at work because God is faithful to His promises. So this new sermon series is about learning to do just that. It's about learning see beyond appearances and trusting that God is at work and is still faithful to His promises.

So today we're starting a new sermon series called "Return." And in this series we're looking at the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. And these books tell the story of how Israel came home to the Promised Land after spending decades in exile in Babylon. But coming home meant that they had to face all of the ways that living in exile had impacted them and influenced them and shaped them and changed them. Why? Because living in exile meant that they were disconnected from people. Living in exile meant they were disconnected from place. Living in exile meant that they were disconnected from their purpose. Living in exile reshaped how they lived, it created new normals where they had to learn how to survive and get by in a world that didn't look like the one they knew before. And so leaving exile meant that they had to unlearn all of those ways that exile had changed them and shaped them, and they had to relearn what it meant to be the people of God.

And so why are we doing this series in these books? It's because we too are coming home after a season of exile over the last year. Each week we see more people return to worship and we see new faces, we see old faces. We see people get reconnected and what a joy that has been, and I know many more plan on returning in the coming weeks. And we're excited about that, and there's a sense of excitement at that homecoming. There's a sense of excitement that comes from feeling like we have turned a corner after this long season that we've been in. But as we come home we also have to recognize and realize that the effects of living in exile are powerful.

In the same way that Israel's exile impacted them, our exile has impacted us. We too have been disconnected from people. We too have been disconnected from place. And in light of all of that, of course there's moments where we feel like the purposes of God have been put completely on pause, or they're seemingly altogether non-existent. But when Israel came home, they had to unlearn all of those patterns and rhythms of life they'd learned in exile and relearn what it meant to be the people of God. It required that they had to recommit to being the people that God called them to be and base their life upon His purposes. But the only way that they would do that is if they believed at the core of their situation that God was with them, that God was working in them.

And so rest assured that even though we are in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah, it does not mean that we are starting a building campaign. Just to put that out there up front early, but if you wanna give, yeah, we have offering boxes at either entrance as we...anyways. Now these books are not ultimately about rebuilding a place, they're about rebuilding a people. So as we return and come home we too must be rebuilt. We too have to let go of the effects of exile and recommit ourselves to being a people that God calls us to be. Why? Because we believe that he is at work, he's faithful, and he's inviting us to participate in that work.

And so this morning as we begin this series the first thing I want us to address, is how exile teaches us how to trust more in appearances, rather than trusting in the promises of God. Exile teaches us how to trust in appearances, rather than trusting in the promises of God. Because exile is powerful. Exile is a place of disconnection, and because of that disconnection, it teaches us how to look and base and judge things on appearance. And when we start to judge things based on appearance, then cynicism, despair, and negativity grow and blossom so easily in our hearts. And don't we know that to be true?

Over the last year haven't you looked around and been discouraged at some point? There've been a lot of hard days, a lot of hard weeks, and a lot of hard Sundays. It's okay to say that things don't look very good right now, and it is discouraging. Faith doesn't begin or faith doesn't exist where we pretend like problems don't exist, that's just ignorance. Faith can only be where we do address problems in the reality of what we see around us. The Church-at-large is struggling. Our culture around us is changing. It's eroding in ways that are unpredictable and different and unfamiliar. So the question really becomes, how does this story teach us how to look beyond appearance and trust that God is actually at work no less than he was before? How do we trust that God is actually at work and faithful to His promises? How can we come home and trust that He is doing something in us and through us?

Well, how did Israel get into exile in the first place? Well, it was through a lot of rebellion, a lot of bad decisions, and a lot of unwillingness to listen. A lot of unwillingness to lay hold of the promises that God had for them. God rescues Israel out of Egypt, and what does He do? He makes them His people. He gives them His place. He gives them a home in the Promised Land. But with that new people, and with that new place, came a new purpose: they were to be a light to the nations. And even though God set them apart from the nations, that wasn't because he didn't want anything to do with the nations. He wanted them to be a light to the nations so that the nations would be drawn in through them to worship of the true and living God. Problem is things never turned out that way. They never even got close to turning out that way.

Instead of being a light to the nations, all Israel wanted to do is be like the nations. They failed to remove the nations from the Promised Land the way that God had commanded them to do. And so as they're living in the Promised Land they start looking around, they start seeing other gods, and they start worshiping those other gods, and they start believing in the promises of those other gods, and they start living by the rules of those other gods. And yet God was still faithful to them. He gave them a king in David to set them back on course and bring restoration. But after David things went south. King after king after king led them away towards other gods, and with those gods came new practices, new rituals, and new ways of seeing one another in the world around them. So, of course, Israel falls into civil war. Of course, Israel enslaved their own people. Of course, Israel oppressed their own poor, because they were committed to living a life that was completely other than what God had for them, and they continued to reject God over and over again.

And it's important when you talk about exile that you realize that that rebellion didn't last for like five minutes and then God got impatient and just got really mad at them. Their rebellion lasted for centuries, and God was patient with them century after century. He continued to send them prophets, calling them back to himself, but they never wanted anything to do with it. And so finally God said, "If you want the nations so bad, then I will send you to the nations." He said through Jeremiah, he said, "I am going to send a foreign power to come and destroy the city, destroy the temple, and carry you off into captivity in exile, in Babylon." That's a hard word and it happens.

But God also gave them a promise, He said through Jeremiah, "After 70 years I am going to visit you, and I'm going to fulfill my promises to you because I have plans for you, not for evil, I have plans to give you a future and a hope. And when that day comes, you will find me." It's that promise that makes exile not about despair, it makes exile about hope that God will not forget them. And it's a beautiful promise that God gives them, but Israel had to go through exile to get there. And in exile, everything changed. They were scattered from one another. They were removed from their place of worship. They had to learn a new language. They had to learn a new culture and adapt to new lifestyles and rhythms. They had to learn how to survive when everything familiar was taken away, all the while, holding on to faith and hope that God would do something, that God would remember them.

And in exile a whole new normal was imposed on them with new rhythms, new patterns for life, and in the midst of that, they saw a global power struggle between Babylon and Persia. They saw kings come and kings go. They saw transitions of power, and here they are, forced to wait and hope that God would stay true to His promises and bring them home. And that's hard in exile. Why? Because exile wears on you. Exile wears you down. Exile makes you start to look around and wonder and doubt in question, "Is God even gonna do anything? Is God at work whatsoever? Is God going to remember us? What will become of us?" And no doubt there were those who tried to remain faithful and remain hopeful, and yet they were discouraged by those who decided to give up faith and hope and go the other way. No doubt they saw some fall away, and say that God isn't gonna do anything, this is just the way life is now.

So Israel saw Persia invade Babylon and overthrow it overnight, and they became, from the Babylonian Empire, now they're a part of the Persian Empire. They see one powerful empire be taken over by an even more powerful empire, which probably just fed even more cynicism and despair, and they thought things aren't ever going to change. We will never be free. Why? Because in exile it's easy to trust in appearances, rather than in the promises of God.

And yet despite appearances, despite how things looked on the outside, God was in fact working. He was moving all of His pieces in place, sovereignly orchestrating the times and the seasons. Because the leader of this new empire was a man named Cyrus, and within a year everything changed. Cyrus issued a kingdom-wide decree out of nowhere, and he said this, "I'm rebuilding the house of Yahweh and everyone who belongs to His people can return to Jerusalem and rebuild the house of God. Israel, you're free." It's through Cyrus, the ruler of the world, that God told His people it's time to come home.

Now that's not just some generic little sweet decree where they're allowed to go back home. That decree was extraordinary. Because not only did Cyrus free Israel to come back to the Promised Land, he also told everyone in his empire, everyone kingdom-wide, to assist those returning exiles that were going back to Jerusalem by giving them gold and silver and animals and goods. That's quite the picture, how all of their non-believing neighbors are literally throwing money at them while they're trying to pack up and get ready to come home. They had to get a bigger van to deal with all that their neighbors had given to them. But on top of that, Cyrus said he was giving back everything that Nebuchadnezzar had taken when he carried them off into exile in the first place. He was giving them back all their items for worship, all the vessels from the temple that he had taken on top of buckets of gold and silver and costly wares to pay for it. He was giving them back their treasure. And to make sure it happened, he put one of his own governors in charge to make sure it was carried out to the "t". Nobody saw that coming, and here it all occurs and unfolds so quickly. Why? Ezra 1:1, "The Lord stirred the heart of Cyrus king of Persia."

Despite appearances the Lord was moving. He was working to move heaven and earth, doing the impossible, to bring His people home. Why? Because he is faithful to his promises.

And over the last year we saw a power struggle too, living in exile, did we not? We saw a transition of power in our country. Everywhere you looked and with that change, it was discouraging, disheartening and scary for so many, and maybe that includes you. And you're in a world that's begging you to judge everything based on appearances, and you feel how easy that comes when you look around. Maybe you look around and you think, "God, where are you? What will become of us? What will become of the Church?" So maybe as you return home, you still return home with a cynicism because the future feels as frightening as it does uncertain.

But what does this story tell you? What does the story ask you to consider above all else? Does it not invite us to look beyond appearance and behold the awesome, immovable sovereignty of our God? The way that God took what was most likely the most powerful man probably to ever walk the face of the earth, and he used him like a pawn on a chess board to willingly free His people, to let them go home, to give back all of their treasure, and to make him willing to pick up the tab for the rebuilding project. Why? Because he's faithful and unstoppable. Despite what appearance is telling you remember that your God is sovereign and no earthly power will ever stop His purposes. Any god whose power and purposes are stopped by earthly power isn't one worth believing in the first place.

Remember that no matter what happens, it's God who orchestrates history to bring about his purposes in Jesus Christ, which means, that despite appearances, in every time and every place he is at work. So the great question is not, do we have power? The question is, do we trust in God's power? And remember who guides the king's heart. Remember who removes kings and sets them up according to his will. As we come home and look to the future, let's look beyond appearances, and choose to let go of that despair and trust and know that God is moving and continuing to bring about his purposes. Our God invites our trust, because he declares the beginning from the end.

And he invited Israel's trust too. So how did they respond? Well, the call goes out, heaven and earth have been moved and the way is open to return, but who is it that actually answers this call?

Well, Ezra 2 gives us a detailed rundown of who it was. It lists out all of these returned exiles in detail, and there's a lot of names and a lot of numbers, but in verse 64 it sums it up and says that there were around 50,000 people that came home. Now, truth be told that 50,000 was probably really discouraging for Israel to see. Yes, 50,000 people came home and answered that invitation, but it was a small, small percentage of the total number of exiles in Babylon. So, just for context, at one point David's army was 600,000 fighting men, and here there's only 50,000 men and women and children and slaves and cattle, they're doing the best they can to fluff those numbers up a little bit. It's a small percentage compared to the total, and based on appearances, that 50,000 would have been discouraging, and of course it is. Why? Because on the flip side of that 50,000 meant there was a lot of people that chose instead to stay home, they chose to stay behind. And certainly the news outlets were running super-duper encouraging headlines like, "Only Small Percentage Of Israelites Willing To Make Return" or, "Faith In Israel At An All-Time Low," "Faith In Israel On The Decline." They lived in a world that begged them to simply look at appearances just like we do.

And maybe some were prevented by age or health and they couldn't make the journey, and of course that's understandable. But maybe there were others that had built a nice little life for themselves in Babylon. Maybe they were comfortable, unwilling to leave a flourishing new career or a newfound social status. Maybe for some, whenever the invitation came, they just realized they no longer care. Maybe for others the idea of returning to a decimated city was too scary and unpredictable. And no doubt it was disheartening for those that were willing and ready to return, to turn and look at those they loved most and see them unwilling to go with them. How discouraging would it have been to say goodbye never to see them again. Why? Because the truth is exile is powerful and hypnotic. Exile is the place we do not want to stay, and yet, we find it is so hard to leave.

And don't we see that same story playing out in our day? The last season of exile has had a dramatic impact on the Church and we look around, ready for the return, and there are so few that have returned. It's estimated that 40% of churchgoers stopped participating in-person or online worship services over the last year. I talked with a friend of mine who's a pastor in Dallas a couple of weeks ago and he has a friend who works for a company that studies churches. And he said that his friend told him that By their best estimates, they predict that somewhere around 90% of churches have experienced a marked decline over the last year and only 3% of churches have grown. And Gallup just came out with the new survey that has been absolutely everywhere lately. And for the first time since they started surveying church membership in 1937, church membership has now dropped below 50% for the first time over the last year, and is now down to 47%.

And when you look at that, it's discouraging, it is disheartening. And that's okay, it should be. We shouldn't just go all Pollyanna and pretend like everything is just sunshine and lollipops, because it's not. And when we live in exile and we're not aware of how it influences us, then we learn that despair that comes from trusting in appearances. We learn to trust in the appearance of numbers and statistics and surveys, but by faith, we trust in the promises of God who puts no trust whatsoever in numbers or statistics. In fact, we serve a God who loves the underdog story, when the numbers aren't even there at all. It's the same God after all, who started his mission of redemption with one man and a call to leave his home country. The same God that absolutely rescued Israel from the house of slavery, and crushed the Egyptian Empire using frogs and insects. The same God that used two cows pulling a cart with the ark of the covenant behind them to crush the Philistines - two cows - how's that for appearance? The same God that used one man on a cross to crush Satan, sin, and death. We look beyond the numbers and by faith trust in a God who remains true to his promises.

And that was the invitation of these exiles, because despite appearance, these returning exiles tell a much deeper story of what God is doing. These 50,000 exiles returned - why? Chapter 1 verse 5, it was God who stirred their hearts to come home. It was God who was at work in them fulfilling his promises to them. It doesn't matter what the numbers, what the surveys what the studies, what the headlines said, they could have hope because God was with them. They could have hope because God made the way for them to come home.

And if you look beyond appearance as these returned exiles in chapter 2, you see a beautiful story of grace that tells you exactly the type of God he is, and exactly this type of story that he tells, and the way that He moves among his people. The first thing you see is Zerubbabel. And Zerubbabel was the great, great grandson of King Jehoiachin. And King Jehoiachin was the last king of Israel. He was a wicked man, he rejected God time and time and time again. And it was while he was king that he watched Nebuchadnezzar lay siege to his city, destroy the whole thing, destroy the temple, and carry his kingdom off into exile. And he was so bad, God said through Jeremiah that he would never allow a descendant of King Jehoiachin to ever sit on the throne of Israel again. He cut off the line. That's bad, and yet, was God done with that family? No, because we see Zerubbabel in verse 2, his great, great grandson sat as governor over Israel to lead them home and lead them in this rebuilding project. He may not be king, but God still gave him a place among his people, the mistakes and the rebellion of his family line and family history did not cut him off. Why? Because he is the God of redemption, using Zerubbabel to redeem this family line where there had been so much rebellion. He's the God who redeems.

And if you look deeper you see God stir the heart of Joshua the priest who was a descendant of Hilkiah the priest. Hilkiah was the priest that found the book of the law in the temple and helped King Josiah bring about religious reform and repentance in Israel so many years before. And God remembered the good deeds of Hilkiah and did not forget his descendants. There was a place for them among His people. Why? Because he's the covenant God, the God who remembers His promises to us, the God who promises to be the God of our children, our grandchildren, or great-grandchildren, and He does not forget. He is the God who remembers.

You see God stir the heart of the sons of Asaph mentioned among these returned exiles. Asaph was the man that King David appointed to teach Israel how to sing and to put music to the songs. Everybody needs a Matt Fuqua, do they not? Why? Because he longs to hear the rejoicing of His people. And you see God stir the hearts of the priests who returned to once again make sacrifices because He's the God of repentance.

And you see some people that desire to return that had proof of their lineage, they possess documentation to prove their ancestry in their family. And why was that important? It's because that documentation laid claim to a portion of the Promised Land that belonged to their family. God was doing more than just calling them home, He was restoring what was lost. He was restoring and returning their inheritance like the prodigal that longs to come home, because he's the God who brings restoration.

But you also see a number that don't have the proof of their family line, they can't prove their ancestry. And most likely it's because they were too poor, it costs a lot of money to own paper in those days. Or maybe if they had it, their poverty in exile destroyed it for lack of safekeeping. Yet here they are listed among the returned exiles. Why? Because there's still a place for them, there's still a place for them among His people because He's the God who reclaims what belongs to Him when we have no claims to lay ourself.

And at the beginning of chapter 2, he calls these returned exiles 'captives', but at the end of chapter 2, after a four-month journey, when they're finally settled into their ancestral land, he calls them inhabitants. Because they are captives no longer, they're home.

And judging by appearances means all that you see is numbers, then you miss the story of grace that God is telling. The beginning of this story of return teaches us to look beyond appearance, to lay aside despair and cynicism, and to trust that God is at work and he is moving. And what do we see happen whenever God moves? He calls Israel to himself, and when he does that, he gives them a people. He gives them a place. And he gives them a purpose. He gives them back the very things that exile took from them. They came home together to live in the place God had for them together, to participate in His work together.

And Rockwall Pres God is telling that same story through us. He's telling us the same story of grace, of redemption, of remembrance, of restoration, of repentance, and reclaiming what belongs to him. And to return and come home requires the willingness to shed and let go of the confines and shake off the rust of exile and move forward by faith that God is moving, God is doing something, and he is committed to his purposes because he is faithful.

How do I know that? Are you still here? After all this, are you still here this morning? Can you hear my voice? Do you see the people around you? Over the last year have you chosen to continue to worship even when it feels like work? Have you chosen to push through the last year even when it feels like faith is futile? Then consider yourself in the position of grace.

Do not let pride creep into your heart as though we are some faithful few. We are here because of the heart-stirring, soul-stirring grace of God and he has not let you go. You are here because he has called you home to himself. Just like Israel, he calls you to himself to give you a people, and a place, and a purpose. He wants to give you a family, and wants to give you a home, and invite you into His work.

Because Christian from the moment that you first believed, you were raised with the resurrected Christ. Which means that your citizenship changed from this world to another world. Your citizenship now belongs to a city whose maker and builder is God, and if that's true, then it means that this entire world is exile - because we don't belong here. It's just that the last year of events has made that reality all the more clear to us. But in Christ you have been given a people. In Christ there is a place that is prepared for you. And in Christ we are on that journey home together. And that's not just some future, Precious Moments, ethereal reality, that's something that God gives us a taste of each and every Sunday. When he calls us out of exile to himself.

He calls us home together, to be together, to feast together, to dwell with him in this place that we belong together, so that we might participate in his work together.

Despite appearances, God is at work to bring about his purposes.

So the question is, are we willing and ready to join him?

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Let's pray.