Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20100912.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Ezra: Following God For Reconstruction After Group Defeat
Part IV: Helping The Group Best By Doing Our God-Chosen, Personal Assignment
(Ezra 2:70 et al.)
  1. Introduction
    1. When the institution of the marriage, family, church, business or government of which we are a part needs renewal after some kind of spiritual defeat, we can personally respond in one of two errant ways: (1) we can become discouraged and give up trying to do our part, or (2) we can assume a role in excess of what our divine assignment is and collapse under the pressure we place upon ourselves.
    2. The solution is to notice what the individuals in Israel in Ezra 2:70 et al. did upon returning to the land of Israel following the Babylonian Captivity, and we apply that activity to our era as follows:
  2. Helping The Group Best By Doing Our God-Chosen, Personal Assignment, Ezra 2:70 et al.
    1. In the dispensation of the Mosaic Law, God planned for Israel to occupy the Promised Land, Joshua 1:2-4.
    2. The people were assigned by lots under GOD (Joshua 14:2) to specific plots of ground for their dwellings, and each person was to dwell in his God-assigned plot, Joshua 13:1-21:45.
    3. Accordingly, for the nation Israel to be renewed in blessing after her captivity, every Hebrew was to set up his home in his God-chosen plot. Ezra 2:70 reports that this is precisely what occurred (as follows):
      1. The priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers and the temple servants lived in the cities God had assigned their ancestors under Joshua, Ezra 2:70a,b NIV, ESV; Jos. 20:1-21:45.
      2. The rest of the people settled in their Biblical, God-assigned tribal lands, Ezra 2:70c; Jos. 13:8-19:51.
    4. These arrangements were necessary for the spiritual edification of the nation (as follows):
      1. Joshua 20:1-9 indicates that the six cities that were set aside as cities of refuge were scattered evenly through Israel so that those who accidentally slew another could quickly find asylum. These were each cities of the Levites, designed to utilize the justice of God under their teaching of the law applied to all matters dealing with the slaying of mankind by man, Zond. Pictorial Ency. of the Bible, vol. 1, p. 869.
      2. Joshua 21:1-45 directed the Levites be given cities throughout the land of Israel. "This distribution provided a spiritual influence over all the people, since no one lived more than 10 miles from a city in which Levites lived," Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to Joshua 21:2.
    5. In similar form in the dispensation of the Church, God has gifted various believers with various spiritual gifts, and assigned them to function in the Body on a worldwide scale for its edification, Eph. 4:7-13.
    6. As such, the individual believer should note that the welfare of God's people does not rise or fall with his personal ministry alone, but that he is part of the whole Body of Christ, Romans 12:3, 4-5.
    7. The individual believer is thus to use his individual gift where God assigns him to minister, Rom. 12:6-8.
    8. For our personal information and application, we supply a list of some of the ministry gifts (as follows):
      1. The "starter" gifts God uses today include: (a) apostle (Eph. 4:11), a foundation builder [although the office of apostleship is long since closed, cf. Bib. Know. Com., N. T., p. 634-635]; (b) evangelist (Ep h. 4:11), one equipped unusually to evangelize the lost; (c) pastor-teacher (Eph. 4:11), one who can both shepherd (guide, protect) and teach God's Word; (d) pastor (Acts 20:17, 28; 1 Peter 5:1-4), an elder gifted to guide, counsel and protect others by upholding God's truths and (e) teacher (Rom. 12:7), one who is gifted in explaining the harmony and detail of Scripture truth, and in applying it to one's walk.
      2. The "sustaining" gifts include: (a) serving (Rom. 12:7), helping others be efficient in their ministry; (b) exhortation (Rom. 12:8), motivating other believers unto godliness; (c) discerning spirits (1 Cor. 12:10), one who readily discerns true and false ministrations; (d) showing mercy (Rom. 12:8), one who helps spiritually defeated believers; (e) giving (Rom. 12:8) and (f) leadership (Rom. 12:8 NIV, ESV).
Lesson: When Israel returned to the land of Israel after the defeat of the Babylonian Captivity, her renewal was aided by every Hebrew returning to his God-assigned plot to rebuild there, Ezra 2:70.

Application: May we realize that our role in helping an institution of which we are a part be restored after its failure is for us to stick to God's personal assignment for us. God does not want us to do what He assigns others, nor does He want us not to do our part, but to do precisely what He directs us to do!