ANSWERING THE CALL
Ezra 1:1-11 (KJV)
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.
And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.
Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.
And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered.
Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods;
Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.
And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives,
Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand.
All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.
I do not know who the first person was to say, “If God ordered it, God will pay for it.”
It’s not found in the Bible in those words.
And I think it can be easily misunderstood and abused.
But I do notice in the Bible that it is a Biblical truth.
· You do not ever hear Noah worrying where to get the money to build the Ark.[1]
· God gave Abraham all that he needed to make the trip to the Promised Land, and to dwell there the rest of his life.
· God gave Israel everything they needed to traverse the wilderness for 40 years.
I only see money being an issue a couple of times in the New Testament.
· One time Jesus met the need by having Peter catch a fish and pull a coin out of his mouth.
· Another time Jesus took a few loaves and fishes and fed thousands with it.
It has also been my experience as a preacher.
Not that we have always had lots and lots.
I remember a time when Anita and I made a huge decision to take $80 dollars, almost everything we had, out of savings to buy a tent.
It was a major purchase we thought was an investment in our little family.[2]
Neither do I want to make it sound like every idea I had for the ministry was successful.
I remember being excited to report at a fellowship meeting that our church had averaged $1000 per month offerings for three months.
I can still see the look on one of the preacher’s faces.
It was something between appalled and pity.
I remember a family attending our church approaching me and saying, “You report less than $300 per week in giving.” It turned out that he thought he could pressure me to do things his way by manipulating his offerings to the church. I figured out then that it was not a great idea to publish the weekly offering count!
I don’t want to make it sound like all you have to do is say you are doing something for God and you’ll have all of the money you want.
It doesn’t work that way at all.
But I can say, without hesitation that if God orders it, God pays for it.
That’s exactly what we see in Ezra chapter one.
Before the children of Israel ever went into Babylonian captivity, God had already said through Jeremiah that they would only be there seventy years.[3]
And 150 years before that God said through Isaiah that the man who would release them would be named Cyrus.[4]
· God ordered it decades beforehand.
· God paid for it in Ezra chapter one.
God ordered and God provided
I. HE PROVIDED OPPORTUNITY THROUGH CYRUS
Ezra 1:1-2 (KJV)
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Seems like the biggest hurdles to the work of God is very often government bureaucracy.
We started the church in Astoria, I knew very little about government things.
We began meeting in a family’s home but that wasn’t going to last very long. That family was mad at me before the first month was out – and we were living in a motor home in their driveway!
We had almost no money – no steady offerings and no monthly support.
I eventually was able to get this man to rent his abandoned gas station building alongside old highway 101 to us. He was willing to take a risk.
We began holding services in there.
· We put out a sign
· I began knocking on doors
· The newspaper came and did an article on us
And then the county got in touch with me. Seems like there is this government thing called a “Conditional Use Permit.”
I went down to see what I had to do in order to get the permit.
The costs were way out of our reach.
· We would have to change the direction doors swung
· We would have to install curbs to restrict the flow of traffic
· All sorts of other things and
· All had to be done in 30 days
It was completely out of our ability.
I didn’t know any better, but I had heard that one of our senators, Mark O. Hatfield, was a Christian. I wrote him a letter asking for help.
He wrote me back saying that it was out of his jurisdiction, but that he would forward a copy of his response to the county noting his concern.
We met in that building for 3 years and I never heard from the county again.
· It wouldn’t have mattered who understood that Israel’s seventy years of captivity was up.
· It would not have mattered who felt led of God to lead a group of Jews back to Israel
God had to provide a government official to let it be so.
Second
II. HE PROVIDED PEOPLE THROUGH A CALL
Ezra 1:3-5 (KJV)
Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.
And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.
Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.
· There was someone who stayed
· There was someone who went
· There was someone who led
· There was someone who followed
God has never yet created two identical people.
Brother Poling was the oldest of identical twins. He said that even as teenagers his dad could not tell them apart.
That’s very identical.
But his brother was
always slightly larger,
always slightly more adventuresome – more of a risk taker, and
the two of them were totally different people spiritually.
· You don’t have to be exactly like anyone else
· You don’t have to think exactly like anyone else
· You don’t have to do exactly like anyone else
I just urge you to be, think and do, as GOD directs and calls you.
· Someone is going to be called to be a missionary
· Someone is going to be called to be a pastor
· Someone is going to be called to be a Sunday school teacher
· Someone is going to be called to support and encourage his preacher
· Someone is going to be called to an effective soul winner[5]
· Someone is going to be called to be a significant giver[6]
Be sure your call is from God and not what you want to be from God and
Be sure you obey that call that is from God
And then just be faithful being the Christian God called YOU to be.
Third
III. HE PROVIDED CAPITAL THROUGH OFFERINGS
Ezra 1:6 (KJV)
And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered.
I think this is an interesting phrase
“they strengthened their hands with vessels of silver and gold…”
There is no question about it that we can do a better work, a stronger work, with sufficient resources.
God’s work does not need money.
A preacher can step on soapbox on a street corner and proclaim the Word of God.
If he doesn’t have a soapbox, he can stand on the corner and still proclaim the Word.
But if he can have a microphone and speaker, he’ll be more effective.
If he can have a piece of property to assemble the saints, he’ll be more effective
If he can have a building on that property to shelter the saints from the weather, he’ll be that much more effective.
God’s work does not require money.
But the hands of God’s workers will be much stronger if they have some financial backing.
What God orders, God pays for
· He provided an opportunity through Cyrus
· He provided people through a call
· He provided strength through offerings
Last,
IV. HE PROVIDED FURNITURE THROUGH FORGIVING
Ezra 1:7-11 (KJV)
Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods;
Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.
And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives,
Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand.
All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.
Often times
· The vessels of the Temple
· The Ark of the Covenant
· The Tables
· The basons
· The Alters
Oftentimes those things are called the furniture of the Temple.
Nebuchadnezzar tore the Temple down stone by stone and stripped it of all of its gold overlay.
He took the furniture of the Temple:
· The vessels,
· The basons,
· The chargers and
· The knives
Those things he did not destroy but carried them back to Babylon and put them in his own treasury.
But Cyrus, haven take all that from Babylon, was stirred by God to give it all back.
What Israel thought the enemy was taking, was really only God putting it in savings.
Do you ever feel like the more you serve the Lord, the less you have to show for it?
Do you ever feel like the enemies in this world just keep stripping you of everything that matters to you?
Just keep living for the Lord.
Stay faithful:
· to Him,
· to His Word,
· to the church He has placed you in
And I promise you
· I am confident
· I have banked my whole life on
· What we have all lost in this world has merely been saved up by God for us in heaven.
Conclusion
If God ordered it, He will pay for it.
· He provided an opportunity through Cyrus
· He provided people through a call
· He provided strength through offerings
· He provided treasures laid up for their future
And He will provide for you
· An opportunity of service
· A personal calling
· Strength for the work and
· A treasure in heaven
[1] Since it took 120 years, I am guessing it was a “pay as you go” project. J
[2] The first time we used it, Bohannan was still in a crib.
[3] Jeremiah 29:10 (KJV)
For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
[4] Isaiah 44:28 (KJV)
That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
[5] Though all can and should win souls.
[6] Though all can and should give according to their ability