As Superbowl approaches, we watch the brackets be filled in as football players work hard to prove their worth on the field in the pregames.  Quarterbacks use their minds as well as their agility to execute the plays that have been diligently practiced and drilled into each player. Receivers keep their eye on the one throwing the ball and will give all they have as they perform incredible moves with their bodies to catch anything thrown in their vicinity.  Blockers work hard against the opposing team to move their team members forward. Tacklers do all they can to bring the opposing team members down. Each player wants to be the best in the work they have been assigned to do. We don’t have to know everything about this game to know the desire of each team.  Each team of players want to get across the goal line more often than the other team to win the trophy! And, they will do anything to get it done!

We read yesterday how the Gentiles of Judah and Jerusalem tried to block the rebuilding of the temple. But God used elders and prophets to secure permission to resume building.  Life can be very difficult on earth, especially when arrogant people who are full of themselves because of jealousy and envy when others pull together victoriously to build something new.  These people love self-made power and control so they are opposed to God and those who love Him back.  But what is truly beautiful about the troubles the arrogant cause is this: God knows. They don’t have to tell God of the unfairness executed by the opposition. God knows and He knows all the players.

God sees our hearts, He knows our story.  And God is always with us and helps us.

Our Pastor taught us these truths yesterday that add to our study today:

• God has not, is not, or ever will not give up His authority over heaven and earth.
• God is the creator and designer of all He has made.
• God owns all that He has created. 
• God knows how each part of His creation works because He designed our inmost being.

God knows us. We humans, “made in the image of God” are at the top of Design Creation work! What God desires will happen. What God promises will come to pass. God’s Plan never fails or gives up on us—even if we give up on Him. God is faithful even when we are not.  God’s love never fails and is unchanging.  His mercies are new and fresh each day!  God is compassionate and patient with us.  He doesn’t expect perfection but surrender.  Because of His grace, He gave us His Son to redeem us from our sins in Jesus Name.  Yes, there is no one like our God!

GOD AT WORK—

We need to know that God’s work will carry on whether we join Him or oppose Him.  Whoa, what?  Yes, God does not need us to do His work. Does this burst our bubble of self-worth? Only if we have not fully surrender all we are to God.  But here’s the good news of surrender; because we are created by design to work, He invites us to join Him in His work as He faithfully fulfills His work in us!  Read that again with a pause.

Shocker, to some: Life is not all about us and the work we do as much as we so easily think.  Life is God. Life is all about God molding and shaping us to be more like Him as we work.  That’s why Jesus calls his followers “to seek first God, then the others things will be added…”  We must willingly surrender our lives to him as an offering for His use. We will never be the same when we do!

Jesus tells us that God’s agenda is lighter and easier to manage.  He keeps us in harmony with His will to relieve the stress we put on ourselves that comes from our carnal overthinking and overachieving in the work we do for ourselves. God reminds us that we are not placed on this earth to compete with others in the work—not His plan.  We are created by God to work together as this is His plan for our good and His best.  We work enthusiastically, Paul writes to the church, with all our hearts, minds, and souls so that we may please Him and bring Him glory— “so that no one can boast.” We don’t try to outdo God’s work; we are His work! Our obedience to God demonstrates our love for God!  Life becomes less about what we do; but who we are in Christ!

We are reminded in our passage today that God never promised an easy life, but he did promise to always be with us. Watch how God’s influence supersedes the actions of secular authorities to accomplish His desires. God wins.  Every time, God wins in the end when all is said and done.  To God be the glory!

Ezra 6

King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon. ² A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it:

Memorandum:

³ In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem:

Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid. It is to be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide, ⁴ with three courses of large stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid by the royal treasury. ⁵ Also, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; they are to be deposited in the house of God.

⁶ Now then, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and you other officials of that province, stay away from there. ⁷ Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site.

⁸ Moreover, I hereby decree what you are to do for these elders of the Jews in the construction of this house of God:

Their expenses are to be fully paid out of the royal treasury, from the revenues of Trans-Euphrates, so that the work will not stop. ⁹ Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, male lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine and olive oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem—must be given them daily without fail, ¹⁰ so that they may offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven and pray for the well-being of the king and his sons.

¹¹ Furthermore, I decree that if anyone defies this edict, a beam is to be pulled from their house and they are to be impaled on it. And for this crime their house is to be made a pile of rubble. ¹² May God, who has caused his Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to change this decree or to destroy this temple in Jerusalem.

I Darius have decreed it. Let it be carried out with diligence.

Completion and Dedication of the Temple

¹³ Then, because of the decree King Darius had sent, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates carried it out with diligence. ¹⁴ So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. ¹⁵ The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

¹⁶ Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy. ¹⁷ For the dedication of this house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred male lambs and, as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, one for each of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁸ And they installed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their groups for the service of God at Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses.

The Passover

¹⁹ On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover. ²⁰ The priests and Levites had purified themselves and were all ceremonially clean. The Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their relatives the priests and for themselves. ²¹ So the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the unclean practices of their Gentile neighbors in order to seek the Lord, the God of Israel. ²² For seven days they celebrated with joy the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because the Lord had filled them with joy by changing the attitude of the king of Assyria so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

In my past God called me to plan and implement numerous short term mission trips to various countries for young adults. In our pregame training drills we taught students God’s truth to be known and lived while on the field of play:

• We are going to join God in His work that is in progress.
• We are will be not be doing a work we think they cannot do.  That is arrogant.
• We will not do God’s work to or for them but with people like us who love God. 
• We will humbly come alongside others who are in progress of doing God’s work that we have been invited to join for a brief time.
• We look forward to learn from the experience by offering to do whatever is asked from us that will be of help in God’s work. 
• We come to make the load lighter—not heavier for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
• We will come into all groups we will meet with a smile. A smile translates in all languages.

These principles apply at home as well.

Our invitation to join God in His work comes with power and authority to complete it.  We begin with what Jesus commanded with a promise;

“Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”—Jesus, Matthew 28:18-20

“Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.”—Paul to the church, Ephesians 6:7

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:3-6

What a privilege to join God in His work by His invitation with His help and Presence!

What a privilege to walk humbly with Him as we work and serve with gladness.

What a privilege to talk with Him daily to receive His agenda for our day ahead.

And what a privilege to see His glory at work in others which lifts our praise to Him!

Lord,

Thank you, thank you, thank you for inviting me, your child, to Your work. I will serve You with gladness so others will be drawn to the benefits of trusting and obeying you, too!

In Jesus Name, Amen