Gottesdienst 31.05.2026
Durch KI transkribiert – bei Fragen meldet euch bei [email protected] Wir haben heute das Vorrecht auf Brian Kinzel zu hören. Er ist der Bruder von Sheryl. Er hat lange Zeit mit seiner Familie in der Ukraine gedient. Er ist jetzt aktuell in Israel und darf dort dienen. Sie haben fünf Kinder. Er hat auch in der letzten Woche uns bei der Hirtenkonferenz das ein oder andere Mal gedient. Wir sind einfach froh, dass er hier ist, dass er uns heute am Wort dient und wir das Vorrecht haben, aus dem Buch Nehemiah zu hören und uns zu freuen und zu sehen. Wie Gott auch Brian gebrauchen möchte, um uns Christus ähnlich zu machen. Brian, thank you very much. You may come on up. Good morning. It’s a joy to be with you. Praise the Lord that we get to meet together for worship. So for me this is always the best part of the week, right now. Okay, maybe just before this when we were singing. So normally I understand what we’re singing. Danke Jesus, I understood that. But in all seriousness, it’s always a joy to meet with believers in every place. So I’d like you to turn in your copy of the Bible to Nehemiah chapter 8. And I really want to explain one phrase today. The joy of the Lord is your strength. And the question we want to answer today is, how can we rejoice when we have trouble? Sickness, financial difficulties, relationship problems. How can I rejoice when I’m living in a war? I also want to show you that this passage also explains that the joy and holiness go together. I want to show from this passage that God gives us joy by his Holy Spirit when we understand his truth. And this joy that God gives us is the key to holiness. So really we can say the main topic of this passage is that holiness and sorrow do not go together. Why did I study this passage? Well they said that my wife and I live in Israel. And we were under attack from Iran for a long time. And I don’t know if the news says this, but the missiles that Iran shoots at other places, Israel, are huge. And so we didn’t feel safe. And because of the war all the flights were cancelled out of Israel. We were supposed to go to a conference in Los Angeles. So it was supposed to be a great conference. Our children lived there, so we didn’t get to go. We didn’t see our children. And we didn’t get to see our grandchildren. What I found is that war goes really well with stress. And I found that this feeling of stress didn’t really help me grow in holiness. So when I thought about my situation, I realized that other people have bigger problems than I had. And we thought of our friends that are serving in the army in Israel. And they’re risking their lives to keep us safe. And I realized, if I had this problem, then they have it even worse. In other words, this is an important topic. I’ll ask Lucas to read verses 9-12. Nehemiah 8, 9-12. The whole people cried when they heard the words of the law. He said to them, go, eat, drink sweet food, and send out parts of them for which nothing is prepared. For the day is holy to our Lord. And do not be deceived, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. And the Levites complained to the whole people, saying, be quiet, for the day is holy, and do not be deceived. And the whole people went there to eat, drink, and send out parts of them for which nothing is prepared. For they had understood the words that were given to them. I want to show you that this passage explains two reactions when someone understands the word of God. The first is sorrow from sin, and the second is joy from God. Now let’s talk about the historical background of this. The events of the first part of the book of Nehemiah occurred in Jerusalem in the year 446 BC. Jerusalem was in the province that was called Yehud, which was a small province in the very huge Persian Empire. So we know that the population of Israel was taken into captivity by the Babylonians. And only a very small portion of those Israelites returned to the land. Around 50,000, this book says. And so this is a very small minority of Israelites that had a lot of trouble. First of all, their country is destroyed, and they’re surrounded by people who were not glad that they returned. And so these Israelites were under constant threat of attack from their neighbors. And so the situation was terrible. So in this situation we read about Nehemiah. Who was he? Well, at the end of verse 11 in chapter 1, he says, I was cup-bearer to the king. Now as the name says, the cup-bearer is the official who brought wine to the king. And he was supposed to try it first to make sure it wasn’t poisoned. But he had much more responsibility than just drinking a little wine. He worked in the presence of the king. And the cup-bearer was in charge of the signet ring of the king. In other words, he was responsible to sign all the documents that came from the king. So he worked as the personal assistant and administrator of the king. And so because of that he was also the chief accountant of the king. In other words, he had tremendous responsibility and authority. And so Nehemiah asked the king to send him to Jerusalem and he asked for finances to rebuild the wall. And of course his situation was very challenging, difficult. And as he began to organize the rebuilding of the wall, the neighboring peoples were not happy and even gave him death threats more than once. Despite all that, he was able to finish the wall in 52 days, which is amazing. So let’s talk about the specific context of chapter 8. What we just heard read came immediately after the public reading of the Law of Moses. So this huge crowd of people assembled with their wives and their children even. And it says from early morning until midday they listened to the reading of the Law of Moses, the first five books. And so the passage we’re looking at is the reaction after they heard the Law. And as I said, we see two opposite reactions in this passage. The first reaction, sorrow from sin. It says in verse 9, all the people were weeping. Why were they sad? It says, when they heard the words of the Law. This means that they were crying from a sense of guilt. They were crying from conviction. So what we see expressed is the pain that the conscience was bringing to their souls. It’s important to note that this wasn’t a few people. It wasn’t a few people in the crowd that were coming forward to repent. It says in verse 9, all the people were weeping. And also it’s important to note, this wasn’t superficial sorrow. Three times the leaders tried to stop them. Verse 9, do not mourn or weep. Verse 10, do not be grieved. And then in verse 11, it says, be still, do not be grieved. In other words, they tried hard to stop them and it was difficult. Now the scriptures say that it’s impossible to repent without this sense of sorrow that the people felt. Now to repent is more than feel regret over sin. But it is certainly not less than that. So we have many examples in scripture of people who were sad because of their sin. One example, King Josiah. It says when he heard the words of the law, similar to here, he tore his clothes. Second Chronicles 34, 19. And we know that to rip your clothes in the ancient world was a sign of sorrow. Now it’s important to understand too that in the ancient world cloth and clothing were much more expensive than they are today. Because it was all done by hand. So to rip your clothes means you’re ruining hours of labor. It’d be like saying, and he went out and crashed his car. Another example. How did Peter react when he heard the cock crow after he denied Jesus? It says, and he went out and wept bitterly. In other words, the scriptures say that when someone understands their sin, they cannot but help feel sorrow. Well, how does the law of God make us sad because of our sin? Well, firstly, the law of God shows us what’s right and wrong. Romans 7.7, Paul explains this. He says, what shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be. On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the law. For I would have not known about coveting if the law had not said, you shall not covet. When we read in Leviticus, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, we understand that it’s wrong to hate your neighbor. So the law of God shows us God’s standard of righteousness. This is right, this is wrong. It gives us a point of comparison for our behavior. Also, the law of God shows us who we are, which is what James says in chapter 1, verses 23 and 24. Could you read that for us? 23 and 24. So, God’s revelation shows us who we are, like a mirror. Hebrews 4.12 says, the word of God is living and active and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. So that’s what happened to these people when they heard the law read. They heard God’s standard of righteousness. It showed them who they were. This first reaction, sorrow that comes from sin, is so important and it’s really needed. But we normally don’t seek pain. And so normally, sinful people try to avoid thinking about their sins. And we often ignore the pain that our conscience would bring to our soul. Most people prefer the pleasure of sin. But sin brings what? Pain, regret, sorrow, more problems. So when we understand the scripture, we will understand our sin. But not all sorrow is bad, Paul says. In 2 Corinthians 7.10 he said there is a sorrow that leads to repentance. For godly sorrow produces repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world brings death. So God does not intend for us to stay in the state of sorrow. Which then leads us to our second point, joy from God. The second reaction that someone gets from understanding the word of God is joy from God. What is this joy? Now I’m learning Hebrew and I know the word joy. So in our bomb shelter I look at this verse and it’s a different word than I know. And the word that’s used here is only used a handful of times in the Bible. So they used a different word maybe to get their attention. Perhaps they use it because it’s an Aramaic word and they’re trying to remind them because maybe they spoke Aramaic better than Hebrew. But this word joy, it’s like the other words for joy in the Bible too. What does it mean, the joy of the Lord? It means the joy which has its source in God. It’s the joy that comes from God, that’s why it’s called the joy of the Lord, it’s coming from him. It’s like the phrase the word of God. The word that God gives, so this is the joy that God gives. And the word strength here, it says the joy of the Lord is your strength, it really means fortress or place of refuge. And it describes a place where people or soldiers would go to find protection from the attack of an enemy. Very similar to what my wife and I were doing in our bomb shelter. So how can we have joy in this shelter? How is this joy that comes from God a source of protection? First of all, in this context, the protection here must be the protection that comes from the judgment that God promises for people who break his law. If you read the first five books of the Bible, you’ll see that God promises certain consequences for those who transgress his law. Which is why the people felt sorrow. Because they understood that they had not kept God’s law. And in fact they would have understood that all the trouble that had come on their country was because they had broken the covenant. It’s one thing to experience trouble, difficulty. But it’s a whole different sorrow when you realize, I’m experiencing this because of my own stupid actions. But why are the leaders telling them, stop crying? Because they saw that the regret they showed over their sin was a sign of repentance. And if someone has repented from their sin, then God promises them protection, atonement. The law is filled with this one message. The way to reconciliation with God is through sacrifice. Paul writes about this in Romans 5, 11. About how someone can have joy. He says, not only this, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. So boasting in God is a form of joy. And rejoicing in God because we’ve been reconciled with Him. We sang about this. Your blood has washed away my sin. I once was your enemy. Now I’m seated at your table. We know we’ve been reconciled to God because He’s received us into His family. He’s made us His children. So above all this passage is teaching that the joy that God gives by His Holy Spirit is because He’s freed us from the consequences of our sin. Let me say that more accurately. Even in the consequences of our sin, God will grant us forgiveness. So we can have joy because we know that God has granted us forgiveness. And I know that’s what these leaders were saying to these people who were crying. The joy of God is a refuge from us because it protects us from temptation. When I have joy in my heart, I am in a fortress that protects me from temptation. When my heart is filled with joy from God, I am impervious to the temptations that the world sends. Matthew Henry wrote that the joy of the Lord is a weapon against our spiritual enemies. He said the joy of the Lord keeps us from those pleasures that the enemy uses as bait on his hook. We see this beautifully illustrated in a happy marriage when the husband loves the wife. When the wife loves the husband, they’re not looking for love in all the wrong places. They’re glad to be together. The joy they receive from their relationship protects them from temptation. And this is exactly the message of the joy of the Lord is my protection. When I sense the joy that comes from God, I’m happy in my relationship with him and I don’t want the pleasure of sin. The temptation these people were facing was to be overcome by guilt. If you read chapter 9, they have this long confession of their sin. They go on and on confessing all the things that their people and their leaders have done. It can be easy for someone who’s facing terrible consequences to be overwhelmed by guilt. But that’s not what God wants for us. God instead intends for us to have joy. And that’s what the leaders were telling the people. Stop weeping. Don’t be overwhelmed by guilt. So everywhere in scripture we see that God intends for us to have joy. We see that in the Garden of Eden. How did God make the Garden of Eden? It was the perfect place. And God said, you shall surely eat from all the trees. Okay, except for one. But we see all the trees except for one. Another example we see in this context is the holidays that God gave to Israel. The first day, the seventh month was the Feast of Trumpets. And we can read in Deuteronomy how God commanded them to celebrate their festivals. Deuteronomy 16, 14. Speaking about the Feast of Booze. You shall rejoice in your festival. And then he lists everyone that could possibly live there. In the end of the verse you shall have nothing but joy. So the command of God is only joy. Someone is frowning. Stop it. It’s against the law. God wants mankind to be filled with joy. Practically speaking, how does God give joy? Right here we read about it. He said, go have a holiday. Verse 10. Eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, send portions to him who has nothing. So special food, special meal gives joy. And let’s say you don’t have much. Your neighbor sends you a portion. You’re not ready for the holiday, but he helps you. Another source of joy. Everyone should rejoice, even people who don’t have as much. Now there’s another source of joy we read in this. These people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions and to celebrate a great festival. Why? Because they understood the words which had been made known to them. When we understand the revelation that God has given us in his word, it gives joy to our hearts. I’m sure it’s happened to you. You’ve read a verse a lot of times. And finally you understand it. And it brings joy to your heart. Psalm 19, Vers 8. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. Revelation 10. John ate a scroll that the angel gave him. What was the content of that scroll? It was all the judgments that God was going to bring on the earth. Not necessarily a pleasant subject, right? But even so it was sweet as honey. To understand that God’s judgments are righteous also brings joy to the heart. In the context here we see another source of joy. Worship. In chapter 12 we read about how they organized the dedication of the new wall. It says they organized two choirs. So not just one music team but two. But this was a big music team. And so they went around and finally they met. So we can imagine how the singing got when the two choirs got together. And look at verse 43. Even the women and the children were glad so that the gladness of Jerusalem was heard from afar. They had gladness because they worshipped. Friends, we were created for worship. And when we fulfill the purpose for which we were made, our hearts are joy. We are doing what we were made to do. Now I think preaching is important. But worship is the purpose of life. The music team, their ministry is eternal. It says the gladness of Jerusalem was heard from afar. So what did they hear? Those people that were far away. Well, they heard the singing. But that’s not what it says. It says the joy was heard. Because the singing was the outward expression of what was going on in their hearts. Now the most important point is not that God gives us these different sources of joy. It is true that God gives us many reasons to rejoice in life. Holidays, good food, friends, family. But the most important source, it says, is the joy of the Lord, God himself. And this is a huge topic in Scripture. Paul talks about it in Philippians 4. Remember that verse? Rejoice in the Lord. Why? Because the joy that comes from God is our refuge. Again I will say rejoice. Another beautiful example. Psalm 16, 11. In your presence is fullness of joy. So the psalmist says, when I worship God, when I’m in your presence, I’m overwhelmed with joy. But he actually says fullness of joys, plural. Now as in English, in Hebrew they don’t normally say joys, plural, they just say joys, singular. And so the psalmist is trying to explain how overwhelming this joy is. It’s like many joys. Okay, so it could be, it’s probable that some of you have real trouble, real sorrow. And it could be that you don’t see an end to this sorrow. There are problems like that in life. Where do I find joy? I was looking through the Psalms for verses on joy. And I found this one I want to show you. Psalm 31, 8. He says, I will rejoice and be glad in your loving kindness, because you have seen my affliction, you have known the troubles of my soul. First of all he says, your loving kindness, your faithful love to me. And the psalmist understood that God knew his sorrow. Maybe no one else understands your trouble, your sorrow. God sees, he knows. Jesus experienced more trauma, more sorrow, more pain than anyone else. He understands that. And it says that he stands at the right hand of God to pray for his own. That certainly is a source of joy. God understands. So this joy is a refuge and provides protection and brings holiness, it says. So my testimony is that when I repented, no one told me about joy. They didn’t say, Brian, if you repent and turn from your sin, then you’ll be happy. No, I was overwhelmed with guilt because of my sin. And so I did, I asked God for forgiveness. And then afterwards I felt this. I didn’t know what it was, but I really liked it. It was the Holy Spirit giving me joy. Cheryl and I were raised not far from the Sierra Nevada mountains, huge mountains. So I think most days of my life I saw those mountains. And I realized, they’re beautiful. Why didn’t I see that before? The blinders had been taken off my eyes. So friends, if you want joy, seek the face of God. The true unchanging joy comes from knowing God. That he promises refuge, protection from the guilt and punishment of sin. Let’s pray. Father in heaven, we thank you that you’ve offered us forgiveness in the Lord Jesus. And Lord, we want that for everyone. We’re thankful for it in our lives. And Lord, we confess sometimes it’s hard to rejoice. So help us to remember you and your love for us. And we ask it in Jesus‘ name.