Title: Then and Now / Topic: The Church and Discipleship
Today’s Reading: Nehemiah 7; Nehemiah 8; Acts 1
Scripture: Nehemiah 8:3,6,8,12 & Acts 1:14
3 He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law. ...6 Ezra praised the LORD, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, "Amen! Amen!" Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. ...8 They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read....12 Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.
14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
Observation: I made some comparisons between the believers practices as a group when they assembled together both past and present: #1 – Ezra read from the Law for 5 -6 hours straight without losing the attention of the audience. They were eager to hear what God had to say in His Word. Today a lot of people get upset if church lasts longer than an hour (and that's including worship too, not just the reading of the Word). #2 – When Ezra led worship after reading the Word, all the people reponded together with enthusiastic, physical, and verbal praise and worship. #3 – The Word was taught and explained so that everyone could understand it. We still do this today in church with the sermon. #4 – They celebrated together with joy because they understood the greatness and goodness of God and because God himself commanded celebration (God likes parties). #5 – They joined together constantly in prayer. Something we don't do much of at all when we meet together as his disciples today.
Application: In both the Old and New Testaments there were certain constants of believers being together. Some of these we do well today and others we need to improve in. I think we need to pray every time we're together, especially as the time of Jesus' return is so much closer today than it was then. We need to develop greater attention spans and a love for hearing the Word of God read. We need to grow in our ability to respond together in worship as a unified expression of praise to God. We need to cultivate the "joy of the Lord" in our midst.
Prayer: Father, help us, your Church, to grow in our love for you as shown in the unity of our expression of worship, our joy in the hearing and learning of your Word and in our praying together to see your kingdom on earth advanced.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
2 Comments:
Cynthia,
Our short attention spans are one of the greatest threats to the growth and maturity of the church. People don't want to be taught in detail. They just want the highlights, like on TV sports shows. I look forward to a day when the hunger for the Lord returns and people will be willing to pray, read, and be taught without worrying about the time.
Good post,
Michael
The other thing I wanted to comment on was the unity factor you mentioned in your post. How wonderful it would be if our church really understood this value and responded accordingly. There is real power if everyone will act as one -- each surrendering his or her own personal likes and dislikes to move together as a team. I think of a precision drill team or a choir or orchestra -- how everyone works together for a unified result. There is power there which can never be achieved with disconnected individuality being the prevailing attitude. "Lord, help us. Amen."
Michael
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