“…and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.”

 

 

Ezra sought to pass on what he had learned.  

 

To start off we need to recognize and take note of the fact that teaching takes place after Ezra himself had first applied and practiced what God had revealed.

 

The order here is significant.

 

This is not one of those “those who can’t do; teach” things.  

 

This is important, and I think a qualification of those who would teach.   

 

These things that we talked about previously – discipline, obedience and an understanding of the importance of applying truth – these should be evident to some degree in those who teach God’s word.  It’s something to look for.  

 

We’ve said before that the acts of studying God’s word and practicing it are not limited to a certain group of believers, but is something we all need to be doing.

 

What about teaching?  

 

Is this something everyone is to be doing?

 

We know that God commanded the Israelites on multiple occasions to, “teach these things” diligently to their children.  They were to pass on God’s law faithfully to subsequent generations. 

 

“You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.” Duet 11:18-19

 

This was a responsibility that they had – and it’s a responsibility that we have as well.  

 

So in a general sense, I would say, yeah, we all need to be teaching.

 

Just in living each of us are teaching – through our actions or words – this is especially true in relation to children who take in everything, but even amongst adults.  

And the extent to which I am faithfully studying, and practicing God’s word is the extent to which I am going to be an effective teacher. 

 

TEACH – train, exercise in

 

It’s this concept of training others.  

 

We’ve said how all these things that Ezra is doing are acts of pursuing the LORD.  

 

How is teaching an act of pursuing the LORD? 

 

What is the importance of it? 

 

It solidifies truth in our mind.

 

So we don’t forget it.

 

What happened when Israel was not faithful to what the LORD had told them to do?  When they didn’t talk about these things to their children, they didn’t speak of them in their house or when they walked by the way or when they got up and laid down?  

 

They forgot the LORD.  This is what lead to every problem Israel found themselves in.  They did not remember who God was and what He had done.  They had a responsibility not to forget and to make sure their children didn’t forget.  

 

This is one of the things that teaching does – this regurgitating truth. When you train for something you do things over and over until they’re instinctual. Until your body moves seamlessly and can do things automatically and without thinking.  

 

Studying, practicing and teaching truth makes it instinctual. 

 

It becomes my instinctual response to whatever is happening.   

 

As I was thinking about it, it hit me that teaching is a natural result of studying

 

When we learn something new from God’s word – or see something we’ve never seen before, there is an excitement that follows.  I hope this is something you’ve all experienced.  It’s exciting and I just can’t wait to tell someone about it. 

 

That’s actually one of the ways I got started teaching.  It was through the desire to study.  My Aunt led a study in the book of Colossians many years ago and it was geared specifically on how to study. What questions to ask – and was something I’d never really been taught before directly or at least didn’t take note of.  And it kind of opened up a whole new word to me – it opened up truth to me.  It came at a time in my life when I was really trying to seek the LORD and He answered by teaching me how to study His word.  

 

So, I started to study.  I studied through the book of 2 Peter on my own. I don’t remember why I chose that book or what led me to it, but it will always be special to me.  I committed it to memory – something that I learned can be very beneficial for a passage you are studying. Maybe especially for me as I don’t have the best memory.  I’m not suggesting you memorized the entire book of Ezra, but maybe the key verses.  I would encourage any of you who are studying something to commit a portion of it to memory. 

 

Anyway, what came along with my desire to study was a desire to share what I had learned.  This started small, just a post here and there on Facebook, and maybe in a few other situations where opportunity came. But then I started to email my thoughts to a good friend of mine, who noticed something that I hadn’t really accepted or was maybe hesitant to, and she put together an event that provided an opportunity for me to teach more formally. I don’t think she realized exactly how much she had done for me.  It made me not just recognize, but acknowledge a gift. And along with it an accountability.  We are accountable to use those gifts that the LORD has given.  

 

I didn’t mean to go off on a tangent, but in thinking of this aspect of teaching, I want to specifically encourage those of you watching this who might be potential teachers.  Who are specifically gifted in this way. We need you.  But I also want to point out, that even if you are not specifically gifted in this way, that does not negate your responsibility to share what you have learned. Those are some of the most encouraging times I have been a part of.  When you share what you have learned in God’s word -- those are times that are empowered by the Spirit, because they were wrought by the Spirit. Don’t keep that to yourself. Don’t hold those back from one another.  This is how we grow, and it’s how we grow together.  It’s how we aide one another in pursuing the LORD.

 

Interesting that it says that Ezra set his mind to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.  

 

He went to God’s people – that was his audience. 

 

This is where these gifts need to be used first.  

 

Truth sustains us – it’s the very breath of a believer.  You could say to study is to breathe it in, and to teach is to breathe it out. It completes the cycle. 

 

It fulfills the admonition to encourage and strengthen one another to be faithful and to press on.  This is how we pursue the LORD. 

 

These things are all a part of it.   

 

So, we have studying, practicing and teaching the word of God.

 

As we close out this verse, I want to go back to the previous verse –

 

Verse 9 – 

 

“For on the first of the first month he began to go up from Babylon; and on the first of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, because the good hand of his God was upon him.”

 

FOR Ezra had set his heart to study…”

 

It says the good hand of his God was upon him FOR he had set his heart to do these things.

 

What does this tell us?

 

I think we learn here another very important aspect about pursing the LORD.  We’ve already seen what it is and how we do it – but here we see the result of it.

 

The LORD honors those who pursue Him. Those who honor Him, those who obey Him.  

 

This is a principle that we find throughout God’s word. 

 

In 2 Chron 14 and 15 we have an account of the reign of king Asa.  When he became king it says, “he did right in the sight of the LORD.  He removed the foreign altars and high places and cut down the Asherim, and commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers and to observe the law and the commandment.”

 

And because of this, because of his faithfulness the LORD had given Israel rest on all sides.

 

But he didn’t allow that rest to make him lazy – he used it.  He took advantage of the land being undisturbed to fortify the cities

 

“Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours because we have sought the LORD our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered.”

 

The LORD honored Asa because he sought Him. 

 

Now does this follow that if we do everything we’re supposed to, everything will be good in our life? 

 

In one sense you could say yes.  Because as it says in Psalms – the nearness of God is my good.  He is my good despite what I might be going through physically or emotionally and He does not change.  His goodness does not change.  What does and can change is our closeness and our communion with Him. Unfortunately, I think that’s something we’ve all experienced to one degree or another. Through stubbornness and pride we refuse to submit, refuse to obey, to seek Him – and so lose a close fellowship with Him, and with it we lose a part of that goodness. We lose our joy and our ability to see things through the eyes of Christ.  To see everything that goes on in this world through the perspective of God’s sovereignty and ultimate glory. 

 

I think a lot of times when we think of God’s goodness we are looking for something tangible. But this is not always the case. God certainly does outwardly bless and provide for His children, but the fact that He is good transcends whatever our physical situation may be.  Was He any less good to Paul when he was in prison or Stephan as he was being martyred? Those who walk before God faithfully and wholeheartedly carry His goodness with them because they carry His very Spirit.  They have within them the ability granted thorough Christ to draw near. 

 

James says “draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” 

 

There is however, a contingency. 

 

Later in the chapter Asa’s faithfulness was tested.  The Ethiopian army came up against him

 

“Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, “LORD, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.” So the LORD routed the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar; and so many Ethiopians fell that they could not recover, for they were shattered before the LORD and before His army.”

 

“Now the Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded, and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the LORD is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.”

 

This is an interesting statement – “The LORD is with you when you are with Him.”  

 

When we are with Him.  What comes to mind when you say you are with someone.  You’ve thrown in your lot with them, allied yourself with them, what they do you do and you do so unashamedly and with complete loyalty. Committed to the same cause.

 

Loyalty is really a word that comes to my mind when I think of this being with someone. I’ve given to Him my allegiance, my devotion, my respect and fealty. There is a bond between us that has been forged through experience and the revelation of truth.

 

The LORD was with Asa because Asa was with the LORD

 

Listen again to his prayer:

 

“Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, “LORD, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.”

 

You see Asa’s humility.  He says there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength – he recognizes his own situation before the LORD.  He sees himself as in desperate need. 

 

And he sees the LORD as the only one who can meet that need. The only One who is able.

 

So, he marches against this army in His name – under His banner.

 

To be with the LORD is to hold up His banner.  To fight under His colors, and to wear them proudly. 

 

What does this have to do with the good hand of the LORD being upon us?

 

This is the cause that Ezra was committed to.  The cause of the gospel.  Diligently pursing the truth of God through individual study, personal obedience and faithful teaching. Ezra was with the LORD, and as a result, the LORD was with Ezra. 

 

the LORD is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him

 

That’s a promise. And when we do, when we find Him, we will experience that goodness. 

 

And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.” – Ps 9:10

 

“The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing.” – Ps 34:10