One of my favorite Old Testament accounts
of the children of Israel making a commitment to live
for God is in the book of Nehemiah. It is a mighty tribute
to God’s mercy. In it the children of Israel praise
God and recount His great mercy toward them. Starting
with Abraham in verse seven and continuing up until
the present time they recall with great thanksgiving
the manifold mercies of God.
Nehemiah 9:16-22a:
But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened
their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments, 17 And refused to obey,
neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst
among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion
appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but
thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest
them not. 18 Yea, when they had made
them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought
thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations; 19 Yet thou in thy manifold
mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar
of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead
them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night,
to shew them light, and the way wherein they should
go. [It never left. Did they sin and blow it? Yes, but
God never forsook them.] 20 Thou gavest also thy
good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy
manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their
thirst. 21 Yea, forty years didst
thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked
nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet
swelled not. 22 Moreover thou gavest…
God is merciful, and He
gives liberally to His people.
Nehemiah 9:30-33,38:
Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst
against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would
they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the
hand of the people of the lands. 31 Nevertheless for thy
great mercies’ sake thou didst not utterly consume
them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and
merciful God. [Hebrews 13:5] 32 Now therefore, our God, the great, the
mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and
mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee,
that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes,
and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our
fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the
kings of Assyria unto this day. [It always comes down
to today. All we ever have is today. Yesterday is a
dream, and tomorrow may never come.] 33 Howbeit thou art just
in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right,
but we have done wickedly… 38 And because of all this
we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes,
Levites, and priests, seal unto it.
I believe this is the
basis for what was done in our Declaration of Independence,
where men covenanted together, where they made a declaration
of what they believed and what they were going to do.
Then they signed their names to it.
The people were thoughtfully remembering the
past and pouring out their souls to God. They verbally
declared their dependence upon Him, and then sealed
it by making a covenant, which they document in writing.
They were really serious, and so that all would know
they meant business, they committed it to writing. Nehemiah
10:1-27 lists all the signatures, all eighty-four names.
Nehemiah’s name is first. Then comes twenty-two
priests (vv. 1-8); seventeen Levites (vv. 9-18); and
forty-four others who were called leaders or heads of
homes (vv. 10-27). Look at verse 28:
Nehemiah 10:28:
And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites,
the porters, the singers, the Nethinims [servants
to the Levites], and all they that had separated
themselves from the people of the lands unto the law
of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters,
every one having knowledge, and having understanding;
Note the two things that
characterized the people whose names appeared on the
document:
(1) They had separated
themselves from all the heathen and their lifestyle
unto the law of God. They
gave themselves to the Word of God.
(2) They had an understanding of what they were doing.
In order to sign the document,
a person had to understand that the appearance of his
name meant that he would be distinctively unique and
unlike the pagans surrounding him. Not only would they
commit themselves, but their commitment included their
wives, their sons, and their daughters. They did it
as families working together.
Although the names of some sons and daughters
appeared on the document, not all the names were listed
because verse 28 begins “Now the rest of the people....”
There were others besides these who were willing to
say, “We’re going to be distinct individuals.
We are not concerned about what anyone else does. We
will not conform to those around us in matters that
really pertain to life.”
Charles Swindoll in Hand Me Another Brick, had
a good take on why it was important for them to do this.
He said it was important because:
… they drove a
“literary stake” into the ground that day.
It became a rallying point; they erected a written monument
that said in effect, “This is our promise to you,
O God. This is our constitution, our declaration of
distinction. We don’t care if anyone else in the
world lives by this. We will live by it. It will be
our guide. Our homes will be distinct. Our philosophy
of life will not be like that of those who live outside
the walls or even of some who live within the city’s
walls. This is something, Lord, that we want to carry
out before You.”
This was their living
sacrifice, their vow or commitment to live for Him.
It would be evidenced in a lifestyle that would set
them apart from those around them. God wants us to make
a similar commitment today. We don’t have to draw
up a document and sign our names to it. We just need
to present our bodies a living sacrifice – to
be faithful, constantly living for him to the best of
our ability. Remember, it is a reasonable service. We
acknowledge what God has made us to be, and we present
it back to him with thanksgiving.
When we acknowledge what God has made us in Christ
and begin living that way we will become more effective
in sharing with others what He has done for us in Christ.
Philemon 1:6:
That the communication [koinõnia, full sharing]
of thy faith [pistis] may become effectual
[energés] by the acknowledging [epignõsis]
of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
When we acknowledge what
God has made us to be in Christ… when we acknowledge
what God has done for us when we were born again of
His spirit and became His kids... when we acknowledge
the magnificence of that gift of holy spirit…
Then we will be able to communicate our faith because
we will be living it.
How do we present our bodies a living sacrifice?
Verse two will give us all those details. We will get
to it in our next session.
