| Introduction The most popular baby names for 2017 were Sophia and Jackson. That means that there is a lot of Sophias and Jacksons out there. There is nothing unique about these names, or if there was, it was lost among the thousands of Sophias and Jacksons. Those of you who are thinking of names for your children may want to consider less popular names than Sophia or Jackson. A list like the one before us provides an amazing array of choices for truly unique names. One cannot go wrong with Bakbuk Hunter, or Mehida Woods, or Bigvai Van't Land, or Azmaveth Kalich. You don't have to worry about your kid thinking you are calling the other Bakbuk. All joking aside, there is a lot of names here, 126 to be precise. These 126 names represent 42,360 people. These are all real people who really lived and whose names are divinely immortalized in the pages of the Scriptures. We don't know anything about the vast majority of these people other than what these verses tell us about them. Yet, they are all here, written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so "that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:17). What can we learn from these strange names who lived so long ago? Why are they here? When we study the Bible, these are questions that we must answer. God hasn't put anything in his Word that is not for our benefit and his glory. Let's try to figure out what we can learn about our God and ourselves from a list of names. We will see that this list and all these names have to do with worship. I. Review from Last Week and a Little More, 1-4. A. Remember that Nehemiah's ultimate goal was to establish a community in which faith in the covenant God of the Bible was real and alive. 1. The wall was a necessary part of making that happen. 2. But the wall was not Nehemiah's ultimate mission. B. The wall is now finished, the gates are up, so now it is time for Nehemiah to move on to the next phase of his mission: revive the worship life of the city. 1. Someone might look at Nehemiah's passion for this city and think that we should have a universal concern for the city. 2. But Nehemiah's passion was not for the idea of the urban in general. 3. His passion was specifically for Jerusalem (and not for Jericho for example). 4. Jerusalem had a special place in the history of redemption that required that it be rebuilt and populated. C. One of the ways that Nehemiah revives the worship life of the city is by enlisting capable men to take over the administration of the city, 1-2. 1. Hanani we already met in chpt. 1 – he came to Susa to get Nehemiah to solve the situation in Jerusalem. 2. We don't know much about the other guy, Hananiah, other than that he was a faithful man and feared God. a. This is really ALL that we NEED to know about him: he is faithful and he fears God. b. May it be really ALL that people know about us: faithful and God fearing. "To fear God means to reverence His majesty, love His glory, obey His will as revealed in the Bible, be afraid of sin, and seek His grace and mercy. It directs both worship and behavior." Joel Beeke D. These two men will be the city managers and their first task is to make sure the city is secure, 3. 1. At first glance, this is a confusing directive. a. Why have the gates open around noon when the customary time would be dawn? b. As a matter of fact, some ancient cities would close their gates for about an hour around noon because the guards tended to get sleepy after lunch and more susceptible to attacks – Rome was overtaken by the Vandals at noon. 2. Nehemiah wanted to reduce the number of hours the gates had to be guarded. a. There isn't a ton of people applying for the guard positions. b. So, the city managers need to make the city as safe as possible with whatever resources they had. E. The reason they needed to do more with less as far as the guards went was that the city as a whole was kind of empty, 4. 1. For the couple of months the wall was being built, the construction workers lived in town. 2. But now that the work is done they moved back to their farms and villages. 3. The people who did live in Jerusalem lived in half-destroyed houses. a. For most of the world's history, city life was not attractive. b. Open-air sewer, lots of sickness, expensive and scarce food, the smells. 4. The urbanization of society is a fairly new thing – 2008 first time world population evenly distributed between urban and rural (Population Reference Bureau – www.prb.org). II. The Need for more People Leads to a Census, 5. A. In order to develop a vibrant culture of worship in Jerusalem, Nehemiah needed people. B. This census was divinely inspired – God put in his heart. 1. This is an expression that people like using a lot to mean all kinds of different things. 2. Usually it is used to justify something we want to do. a. This desire may be good and wise, or bad and foolish. b. But the subjective spin that God put in your heart makes so that no one can question it, and it sounds pretty good. c. More on this next week. C. The Lord puts in Nehemiah's heart to call all the people in Judea to register in Jerusalem. D. The method Nehemiah chose to use is checking the families that are currently living in Judea against the original list of those who returned from Persia with Zerubbabel. E. And that's why the list is here – this is the corrected record of a particular kind of lawful citizen of Israel. III. Who Belongs Where, 6-72. A. The particular kind of legal citizen Nehemiah is looking for is the kind that could work in the temple and help the people of God worship him. 4. Gatekeepers (temple guards), 45 5. Temple servants, 46-60 6. Those who said they were Levites but couldn't prove it, 61-65. B. This list is first found in Ezra 2 as the original record of the arrival of the first Jews who returned from exile. 1. The lists are similar but there are differences. 2. Differences mostly because of new arrivals, births, and things of that nature. C. Have you ever noticed how important genealogies were for the post-exilic Jew? 1. You see major genealogies in Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 and 2 Chronicles, which are the four post-exilic histories. 2. Why was it important? In order for them to be able to be identified as Jews/Israelites, they needed to make the connection between themselves and the Israelites who were in the land before the exile, especially the Levites and those from Judah. 3. This genealogy connects the people of God through a longer period of time than the right now. a. These lists of names help us realize that we are not part of something momentary or new. b. They help us see that we are not the first ones. c. They help us understand that we are not alone even though at times it seems that way. d. They help us see that we are part of something that is much bigger than ourselves, and much more important than each one of us. e. This list works much like Hebrews 11, reminding us that we are not lone rangers, but that we are connected to each other because we are connected to Christ by faith. f. The wall is done, but it is the people who make the church. D. This list also gives us an idea of the massive nature of the work of worshiping God corporately and of the massive importance of it. 1. There are 43,360 people included in this list, the vast majority Levites, 66. 2. Whether we want to admit or not, how important something is is demonstrated by allocation of resources. 3. The corporate worship of God in the Church under the Old Covenant was vicarious. a. Other people, the professionals, worshipped God on your behalf. b. Jesus changed that when he opened the doors of heaven, so that people like you and I can worship God without having to go through another human. Heb. 12:18-24 – For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. (For they could not endure what was commanded: "And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow." And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.") But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. c. If God were going to write another list of those who were the professionals, those who were involved in the corporate worship of God, your name would be in that list. E. This list also shows us that only those who have been properly set aside and recognized by the covenant community are admitted into the corporate worship of God. 1. There was at least one family that could not prove their lineage, 63-65. a. It seems like these were well-known people. b. Notice that Nehemiah does not debate who they are – descendants of Barzillai, a faithful friend and supporter of king David! c. Yet, 600 were not able to worship God till such a time it could be proven that they were members of the covenant community that went beyond their saying so. 2. This has to do with the concept of holiness. a. God has set a people aside for himself and that's the people who he calls to worship him together on his day. b. This people has been identified by divinely instituted markers that are objectively discernable by people other than themselves. 1) In Nehemiah was having your name on a list. 2) In the Church under the New Covenant, church membership. c. If they are not willing or able to meet those standards, they are barred from the corporate means of grace, 65. 3. Subjective holiness follows objective holiness. a. We live set-apart lives because we have set up by God. b. We are objectively set apart by our baptism which engrafts us into the visible Body of Christ. c. That engrafting into Christ is demonstrated by a commitment to a local church. d. That commitment is followed by obedience to the Word of God – subjective holiness. Heb. 12:14-15 – Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled…. F. This list helps us see the investment of previous generations so that we can worship God now, 70-72. 1. These were the moneys collected for the construction of the temple under Zerubbabel and Haggai. 2. The generation that paid for the construction didn't get to enjoy the temple that much because it took so long to build it – but Nehemiah's generation gets to benefit from it! 3. Every generation of Christians stand on the shoulders of previous generations of Christians. a. We tend to be guilty of what C.S. Lewis labeled, "chronological snobbery." b. We tend to think that we live in the most important time, in the best of times. c. We tend to think that we always know better than those who came before us. d. Yet, we are here today because men and women were willing to give of themselves so that we could be here. "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." Tertullian in A.D. 197 during the persecution under Septimius Severus 1) Think of the costs involved just to the previous two generations for us to be here today. a) In 1964, a group of people decided that they should invest into starting a Bible Presbyterian church in Olympia. b) In the early 1980's, another group of people gave of themselves to make this property and building happen. 2) We can think of all kinds of people of generations prior to our own who invested themselves in us. 3) That's the biblical way of doing things! One generation pouring itself into another! Ps. 78:5-7 – For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children; that the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, thatthey may arise and declare them to their children, that they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments…. 4) What is the legacy that your generation is going to leave to the church? a) And when I say your generation, I do mean your generation. b) Not the one before yours and not the one after yours. c) What is your personal, costly, individual contribution to the legacy of your generation? d) Are you thinking about more than yourself? G. This list helps us recognize our own finiteness – all these people died. 1. Everyone in every list of names in the Bible died. 2. It didn't matter how rich and powerful they were, they died – Why? Rom. 3:23, 6:23a – … for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…. For the wages of sin is death…. a. If we connect every name in all the lists of names in the Bible, and in all of history, back to the first name, we will see that we all connect back to Adam who disobeyed God and brought death upon all of us. b. We die because we are sinners – descendants of Adam. 3. Thankfully there is another list where countless names are also found. Phil. 4:3 – And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life. a. These names are written in blood – the blood of the Lord Jesus. b. And we are added to that list by faith in Christ. Rom. 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God iseternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. c. The names in that list will never taste death because Christ has died for them. Heb. 2:9-10 – But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 4. A moment ago, we talked about the legacy that you are going to leave for the next generation. 5. There is no greater legacy than the testimony of your genuine faith in Christ. a. Of your great need of him. b. Of the salvation he brought upon you as you believed in him. "Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior." John Newton close to his death "It is a great thing to die; and, when flesh and a heart fail, to have God for the strength of our hearts, and our portion forever. I know whom I have believed, and he is able to keep that which I have committed against that great day. Hence forth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the lord, the righteous judge, shall give me that day." John Newton
All of this brings us back to worshiping God. Nehemiah goes through all this trouble so that God's people could worship their God. Christ died and rose again so that we can worship God. This is the case because we were made to worship God. Man is at his best when he is worshiping God through Jesus Christ. You and I are at our best when our lives are an act of worship to God who saved us through Jesus Christ.
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