I'm not really a negative Nellie

We're ready to dive into chapter nine of Ezra!
In this chapter, we are going to read about the sin of the people, and about Ezra's reaction to it.

Last week, I was pretty tough on y'all. And this week? To talk about sin? Are you thinking I'm a negative Nellie? I'm just following along where the Spirit leads me!
And this is not necessarily negative, either, for when we have agreement with God about sin, we will turn away from it and He will bless us abundantly!
You remember when we talked last week about the society of today, and how the culture is accepting of immorality? If we are not careful about where we turn our eyes, or what we invest our time in, we are liable to be immersed in a sinful environment.
Sexual sin.
Taking God's name in vain.
Greed and dishonesty.
The list goes on. On television and in the movies, and on podcasts (see, I'm up to date!) sin is excused, chuckled at, or overlooked.
It just doesn't shock us anymore.
We've grown desensitized to it. Then we minimize it. And justify it. Or we ignore it.
In fact, when we see someone reacting in a godly way toward sin, do we look skeptically at him or her? Do we mutter about their being extreme, or carried away, or making a mountain out of a molehill? How judgmental! How intolerant! Surely he knows he is a sinner, too. Certainly she must not dream that she's without sin.
So, after casting our own stones at the person, we go back to business as usual.
And we wonder why God doesn't bless our lives more than He does.
Ouch. That got my toes, too.
Got a bandaid handy?

I'd like to ask if we could read the ninth chapter of Ezra before we meet again to study. We should take our time and really picture the events in our minds. If we get caught up in the story and read the following chapter, too, that is OK!
Chapter nine tells us of Ezra's reaction to the sin of the exiles who returned to Israel from captivity in Babylon. After he had led a second group back to the homeland, and returned the vessels to the temple, it was reported to him that many in Israel had sinned by taking pagan wives. Not only the ordinary citizens, but also many priests, Levites, and leaders had done this.

Ezra didn't exactly take this in stride.
He didn't chuckle and say, "Well, people will be people. It takes all kinds to make a world."
He tore his clothes.
He pulled some hair from his head and his beard.
He sat down, appalled.
He was speechless until the time of the evening offering. (By that time, a number of godly people had gathered around him.)
Ezra rose up, then fell to his knees and lifted his hands to the Lord.
He confessed the great sin of the people, and even identified himself with them, even though he'd not personally sinned in this way.
Although we don't hear much about it, his prayer ranks among the great confessions in our Bible. It's similar in some ways to the prayers in Nehemiah and in Daniel, and it shows the reaction of a godly man toward sin.  He recognized the sin; he was grieved by it, and he confessed it to God.

How a person reacts to sin tells a lot about that person. Do we hear about adultery and then tune our ears to hear the juicy tidbits? Do we hear of someone's financial sins of greed or gambling, and listen harder for the details? I believe that if we do, it reveals we do not hate that sin. We may even be vulnerable to it ourselves. Now, I will agree that even as I've repented of sins, I've not pulled out my hair or destroyed my clothing - that part of the equation is in the culture of the Jewish people. We can still learn from Ezra, though, to be so concerned and saddened by sin that we have an overwhelming desire to sweep it from our lives and do better. We can make certain that we don't ignore it, or overlook it, or justify it. We will study this further in our posts this week.

See? I'm not a negative Nellie. But I'm going to keep that box of band-aids handy. (Grin)

That's entertainment!

In the world of business and finance, it's the numbers that are important. Numbers can make or break a company. A CEO. An entrepreneur.
Bigger numbers.
Better numbers.
SUCCESS!
Wait a minute.
Is this the way we should look at worship, too?
I've heard people say, "We shouldn't criticize any method that God is blessing." They interpret the "blessing" as that which draws a large crowd. But do large crowds really mean that God is in it?

This is where we have come full circle; we've come back to the start where we talked about better hot dogs, more flavors of ice cream, etc. Let's add in louder praise bands, too, since we talked yesterday about music. (Grin) All of these are things the "purpose driven" churches use to pull in more people. Are they successes?
Think about the prophets of the Old Testament . . . many of them faithfully proclaimed the truth of God their entire lives. Some of them saw little (or no) fruit for their labors. According to the man-centered model of today, the prophets were losers! Failures!
Here's a question for us: is it better to appear successful in the eyes of man, or be faithful in the eyes of God?
Here is another: how much of an influence does the world have on our Sunday morning worship services?
We are unquestionably a culture that loves to be entertained. Like the Roman crowds of old, we flock to (and support with our dollars) entertainment options. Our churches have caught on and pack people into enormous auditoriums. One is reminded of the old phrase, "Lights, camera, action!" as the worship leader and backup singers perform, followed by a skit, and concluded with a short message from a pastor who knows how to help us find our purpose in life.
I'm not attacking anyone who likes these types of services. I'm just pointing out that in an effort to grow their churches, many pastors and their assistants adopt worldly methods.
Many people today love to go to the movies, concerts, sporting events, etc. and many who profess Christ are among them. In some cases, Christians reveling in the same sort of entertainments is revealing . . .

This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. (I John 1:5-7)

Quite frankly, in this day and age it's extremely rare to find a movie (or a television program) that is fit for Christian consumption! Sexual explicitness, violence and bloodshed, occult themes and bad language, even abuse of God's name . . . have you ever noticed that the Hollywood "elites" go out of their way not to offend ethnic groups, homosexuals, transsexuals, environmentalists, feminists, illegal immigrants and more? But Christians, Catholics, Mormons, and Jewish people are all fair game!
These people consider themselves "liberals" and "tolerant." Pretty much anything goes, right? They view themselves as generous, tolerant, and un-traditional.
They are totally disdainful of conservative people -- especially if they are conservative Christians! Recently a popular quarterback was excoriated for expressing his support of a "take your Bible to school" day. You would have thought he had advocated for mistreatment of animals, the way that they came after him, circling like sharks around a wounded prey.
(As a side note, a statistic that I found from 2005 noted that movies with a strong Christian world view from 2001 through 2005 earned two to seven times more money on average as movies with strong non-Christian world views. Not sure what the statistics are now, but it might be interesting to research.)

All of this to say, why would we want to adopt the "lights, camera, action" mentality in our churches? Why do we equate the drawing in of large numbers with success? It is starting to be obvious that too many followers of the Lord hold a worldview that is more aligned with the world than with the Bible.
And this brings us to an important question about our worship: would Jesus be comfortable in a service such as we attend? Is it a service that is focused on fun? Is the sermon calculated not to offend anyone? Is the gospel told, or left untold? Are the lyrics of the songs Biblical?

Years ago, the "What would Jesus do?" concept was very popular. It encouraged people to ask themselves would I want Jesus to look over my shoulder at what I'm reading? Would He be pleased with what I'm watching on TV, or the movie I'm seeing? Nowadays, we could also include, would He like what I posted on Facebook, or would He be happy with that text I just sent?

In the same way, we can apply this to our church. First of all, there's no perfect church. Anywhere. After all, it's full of sinners. (Grin) But hopefully, they are striving to be more like our Savior. If we are in a church that teaches the Bible, that's an awesome start. If our pastor does more than offer a "feel good" message, but truly teaches from the Word, then we are in a good place. Are the songs focused on Jesus? Do they edify, and encourage our praise to God? Is the congregation coached in how to be welcoming to non-believers? Are we encouraged to witness each and every day of our lives? If these things are true, we can be sure that we are in a worship environment that pleases God, and that helps us to grow more and more like Him.

Lots and lots of people doesn't mean success.  It might just be entertainment.
Christians who are on fire to be all they can be, to tell others about Christ, and to glorify Him -- that's success!

What about the music?

I don't know for certain, but I'm betting that music is one of the most hotly contested parts of worship in today's churches.
What to use.
What not to use.
How to use it.
What's Spirit-filled?
What's "too much like the world"?
There are godly people on both sides of the equation.

All across America, and some other countries, too (at least the ones that still allow churches and gatherings), we can find a wide variety of worship music. Some churches will not utilize any instruments at all; they only use the human voice to praise Him. Some will use a piano and an organ, but frown on the use of recorded accompaniment or sound "tracks." Other churches will have a mini-orchestra playing during the worship time, and still others have praise "bands" that rival those at a concert.
Are there "right" and "wrong" ways here?
I believe so, and I will explain . . .
Many churches today are allowing music to be used in their services that is not glorifying to God, and even has unsound doctrine in it. Music is a powerful medium, and can effect the body, mind, and emotions.  You know the term, "ear worm"? It's referring to the fact that music often stays with a person -- songs roam around in our heads after we hear them. We are remembering snippets, phrases, and words as the song repeats in our minds and on our lips. Music is an extremely effective teacher!

That brings me to our first point: the lyrics of worship music are vitally important. If we would not allow just any book to be used in our Bible studies, then why would we gloss over the lyrics of our worship songs? They must have lyrics that glorify God, remind us of His character, tell of His sacrifice, or exhort us to be more like Him.  There are a few old hymns that contain some incorrect theology; I've heard some hard-driving music that presents the death and sacrifice of Christ in absolutely correct doctrine. It's a matter of style.

What about the instruments? Now we are getting to the question of "style." I don't believe that instruments are good or evil in and of themselves. It's the motive and the intent in choosing/using particular instruments that gives us pause. Instruments can create a mood, a message, or an atmosphere, but that comes from the musician who is utilizing them.
Musical instruments have been around since before the flood. They can all be used to glorify God, or to glorify someone (or some thing) else. Some people are very well-intentioned, but very legalistic, too. They will say, for example, that they don't see the drums used in the Bible, so it must be wrong to use the drums in church worship.  If we study the definitions, though, we will see that the timbrel mentioned in scripture was a percussion instrument that could be played with the hands or with sticks. There are many verses that talk about some pretty noisy instruments being used in worship: horns, cymbals, and more! Apparently, it's not the decibel level but the motivation and intent of the player that counts!

Another observation of mine (see, I'm warning you this is my opinion) is that some worship and praise music appeals more to the flesh than to the Spirit-filled believer. The problems come when the songs don't focus on Christ and have little or no beneficial lyric content. I'm concerned that much of it is way too repetitive, and the singers even begin to focus inwardly and end up in a trance-like state. If we are not entranced, we are at best singing words that are pretty shallow in theology - and some even have false doctrines.
I believe we need to examine the songs we listen to and sing along with; are they focused on Christ, or on a feel-good personal focus? Are they sound theologically? Do they glorify God?
Let's look at a couple of examples . . .

“Great is Thy faithfulness,” O God my Father, There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

This grand old hymn tells us that God is faithful; He is unchanging; He is compassionate; He will always be. Sound theology here.

Great is the Lord, He is holy and just, by His power we trust in His love. Great is the Lord, He is faithful and true, by His mercy He proves He is love. Great is the Lord and worthy of glory, great is the Lord and worthy of praise. Great is the Lord, I lift up my voice, I lift up my voice, great is the Lord, great is the Lord. (Rita Baloche, Maranatha Music)

This worship song tells us truths: God is indeed holy, just, powerful, faithful, and loving.
Another song that comes to mind is a more recent one, called "This I believe - the Creed" by Hillsong and by the Newsboys. It's a powerful reminder of many of the faith doctrines we hold dear, and also a reminder that Christ will return.
I'd rather not post examples of unsound doctrinal songs, since the internet is a very powerful thing. The more you post something, the more power it has! But I think you see my point.

One last thing to consider is the person, or choir, or instrumental group who is presenting a worship song or worship music. Are they praising God? Is their focus on Him? Or, and this is a fine line, are they "performing" for those who listen. I truly believe that we can know the difference from the singing, the body language, and from the testimony of the singer. If they are keeping their eyes on Christ, and honoring Him, they are truly praising Him from the heart.

Music is truly a gift from God. His people sing! Even if we have a choir or choral group or soloists, corporate worship (congregational singing) should be the primary means of praise in our worship services. Church worship music should be about praise of our God, and edification of the believers.

Let all who have breath and life praise the Lord!

Fire and brimstone (do we need that?)

"Oh, I don't know if I want to go to church. They always talk about the blood. It's kinda gross."

"Can't that preacher talk nice? He's always talking about Jesus and the blood and sin. I think I'll stay home and watch that nice man that talks on Sunday mornings. He smiles a lot, too."

Have you ever heard anyone say things like that?
I hear heads nodding.
Some churches in our world today have lost sight of an important truth: without blood, there is no remission, no salvation, no forgiveness, no wiping out of sin.
Also, some of the "purpose driven" churches of today have assumed that the gospel is offensive, but that it can be made palatable. If presented correctly, it can be inoffensive.
No?
No.
The Bible tells us that the gospel is, by it's nature, offensive to those who hate God. Actually, even to those who are indifferent - because it's really hard to be indifferent to it. (Grin)

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. (I Corinthians 1:18, 23-25)

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.  (I Corinthians 2:14)

Do we need to be reminded of the blood of Christ?
Is it helpful to hear preaching that is centered on His sacrifice?
In a word, yes.
Since the teaching and preaching of the pastor, or leader of a congregation, is so significant in our worship, we need to be certain that we are listening to the kind of teaching that will benefit us and equip us for the work of the kingdom.
A great place to start is to focus on Jesus. A pastor preaching Christ highlights the preparation needed for our lives; it gives us the foundation we need for each day, and shows us how to stay the course. It not only informs people, but transforms them, as well. When we are reminded of His great love for us, we are inspired to live for Him, and we have a much deeper sense of the purpose of our lives.
Gospel preaching helps us to understand the teachings of Christ and the meaning of His sacrifice. It helps us to incorporate this knowledge into our everyday lives. We are renewed in our commitment to show His love and compassion to others, and if the way before us seems misty and unclear, gospel preaching can re-establish our faith in our Father.
As we discussed yesterday, unbelievers who hear the gospel presented may hear the call of the Holy Spirit on their lives. Believers will hear the guidance that they need. God's Word will be effective for both believers and unbelievers; He says it will accomplish what is needed:

As the rain and the snow    come down from heaven,and do not return to it    without watering the earthand making it bud and flourish,    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth:    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)

Do we need fire and brimstone in our worship? Probably not a constant diet of it, no.
Do we need to be reminded of Jesus' death and resurrection? Absolutely!
It's important to linger on the thoughts of what His sacrifice cost Him, and gives to us . . . .

Jesus' blood did away with sin. It's not just covered up with the sacrifice of animals.

But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:26b)

Jesus' blood paid for our redemption. We are no longer slaves to sin.

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (I Peter 1:18-19)

Jesus' blood not only brings us forgiveness, but also reconciles us to our Father God.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13)

After His blood cleanses us, it continues to wash away our sins by sanctifying us daily.

How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! (Hebrews 9:14)

When we make mistakes, Jesus intercedes for us and the Holy Spirit convicts us.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. (I John 2:1)

It's not just a new start -- it's a brand new life!
And just in case the devil reminds us of our sins, we can remember what the prophet said, and tell him this:

Do not gloat over me, my enemy!    Though I have fallen, I will rise.
Though I sit in darkness,    the Lord will be my light. (Micah 7:8)

Without the blood of Jesus Christ, our Savior, the cross is just two beams of wood. Gospel preaching is an important part of our worship - it will inspire and equip believers for their daily work, and it will persuade nonbelievers to start a relationship with Christ.

Thoughts on worship, continued

You're still here?
I didn't scare you off?
(Grin)
Good! I'm glad. Let's talk some more . . .
In the gospel of Matthew, our Savior said "I will build my church."
Paul described Jesus this way:

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. (Ephesians 5:25b-27)

Do we see any echoes of this in the "purpose driven" churches of today? That's our question for this week.

Many of the modern churches assume that the primary purpose of Sunday morning worship services is to attract unbelievers and reach out to them. While this IS an exemplary goal, let's see if it matches up with the New Testament church......

40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:40-47)

Let's look at some other verses, too:

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Ephesians 4:11-16)

 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.  (I Peter 4:10)

From these verses, we can infer that the purpose of the church's gatherings is to worship God, and to equip each other for service, whether by exhortation, by teaching, by encouraging, or by any other gift that the Spirit gives to us. Paul mentions that the efforts should result in our being full of faith and knowledge, and keeping a spirit of unity and love.
Evangelism has a place in the worship service - please don't misunderstand me here - but Paul and Peter both seem to stress a priority on equipping Christians. Perhaps our best clue to evangelism is that we are told to do that each and every day of our lives:

And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. (Acts 5:42)

Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, (Philippians 1:27a)

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

It can be truly difficult to plan and carry out worship services that are welcoming to guests, evangelistic of those who are not yet believers, but still working to equip Christians for the work of the kingdom of God.
Let's look at things that we can do . . .

First, we can invite non-believers to visit! That's important; if they aren't there, they can't hear the gospel, right? So invite them to come!

Next, make the worship understandable.  How would a first-time guest feel, visiting the service? Would they understand what was going on? Probably THE most important - would they feel welcomed?  It's not a bad idea to prompt as you go, or offer a few words of explanation for things as the service progresses. At one time, our family had an opportunity to attend a service of another faith, and it would have been great to have a "translator" beside us! We need to make sure that our visitors understand, and feel welcome, not awkward.

Thirdly, we should make it easy for people, when their hearts are stirred, to come to faith. As Paul said, we need to be ready to give answer when people ask about our faith. They should see a difference in the people within the church service, and they will want to know "why?" We can wait and speak to folks we know are visitors -  not hightail it out the door as fast as we can. The buffet at the local meat-n-three will still be hot and fresh if we take time to talk to (and perhaps pray with) people who are visiting.  Some visitors may not wish to talk, but would like to follow up with their questions privately -- cards to fill out can be helpful, as can an online presence on the church's web site. Some churches have regular meetings for non-believers; they offer classes to answer questions and facilitate that journey to faith in Jesus.

All of these are wonderful strategies, and fit in well with the example of the New Testament believers in the verses above.
I hope that some of this is helpful as we think about our worship this week.

Thoughts on worship

God will bless our worship

The whole point of this incredible trip that we've been studying was to worship God. Ezra moved over five thousand people across nine hundred miles of desert, and carried incredible treasures with him, just to be able to worship God by offering sacrifices at His temple in Jerusalem.  (And we grumble if we have to endure traffic and a lack of coffee to make it to church services.....)

Worshiping God at His house was so important to these people that they were willing to suffer hardships, danger, and inconvenience. They were willing to uproot their families from where they'd been living in exile and go back to the homeland they'd heard about.

As soon as they made it to Jerusalem (no small feat -- they were blessed in being able to avoid robbers and ambushes), they rested, and then carefully accounted for all of the items that they had brought for the temple. This was important, as we've noted, to be able to send back a report to the king that everything was accounted for. No mistakes. No losses.

Then it was time to offer sacrifices to the Lord.

Then the exiles who had returned from captivity sacrificed burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven male lambs and, as a sin offering, twelve male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord. 36 They also delivered the king’s orders to the royal satraps and to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, who then gave assistance to the people and to the house of God. (Ezra 8:35-36)

I kinda think they worshiped like Jonah did, after all they had been through:

But I, with shouts of grateful praise,    will sacrifice to you.What I have vowed I will make good.    I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord. (Jonah 2:9)

The entire Old Testament sacrificial system pointed forward to the day when the Messiah, Jesus Christ, would offer Himself on the cross as atonement for our sins.

For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. (Leviticus 17:11)

The rules and the rituals all pointed to that day. The instructions about an animal without blemish, and all of the things that the priests and the people did . . . everything was a foreshadowing of the work that Christ would do for us on the cross.

In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. (Hebrews 9:22)

The sinless Lamb of God:

 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! (Hebrews 9:13-14)

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace (Ephesians 1:7)

Our sins are forgiven!
Our worship must always focus on Jesus Christ, our Savior.

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14)

I believe this is the whole message of this chapter - if we exalt Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross, God will honor our worship, our faith, and our work for Him. The people (and indeed, Ezra himself) were not perfect. We will see an example of that in the next chapter that we study. I guess we can be assured that there will never be a "perfect" church on this earth, until Jesus Christ returns. We are all prone to the influences of the world, our sinful flesh, and the devil, too.

But just because the church is not perfect, doesn't mean that it can't be good. We can be a people who seek holiness, even if we have not yet achieved it. We can seek Him and experience His blessings if we have faith, integrity, and worship that is focused on Christ.

God will bless our integrity

In the eighth chapter of Ezra, we read of a significant treasure offered by King Artaxerxes:

Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, namely, Sherebiah, Hashabiah and ten of their brothers, 25 and I weighed out to them the offering of silver and gold and the articles that the king, his advisers, his officials and all Israel present there had donated for the house of our God. 26 I weighed out to them 650 talents of silver, silver articles weighing 100 talents, 100 talents of gold, 27 20 bowls of gold valued at 1,000 darics, and two fine articles of polished bronze, as precious as gold.28 I said to them, “You as well as these articles are consecrated to the Lord. The silver and gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your ancestors. 29 Guard them carefully until you weigh them out in the chambers of the house of the Lord in Jerusalem before the leading priests and the Levites and the family heads of Israel.” 30 Then the priests and Levites received the silver and gold and sacred articles that had been weighed out to be taken to the house of our God in Jerusalem.

The scholars tell us that the value of all of this wealth in today's terms would be millions of dollars. There's gold, silver, and vessels made of bronze listed there. I read one commentary that said it would have amounted to more than thirty tons of precious metal and finely made vessels.

These verses indicate that Ezra divided up all of this treasure for the temple among the twelve people that were chosen for this task. Each one received a certain amount of material that they were responsible for. It was weighed before being handed to the carrier, and then once they arrived in Jerusalem, it was weighed again, to make certain that there was complete financial integrity.

Ezra was concerned about making sure that when a report went back to the king regarding his offering to the Hebrews' God, that there was no way any could go astray - no chance for greed, corruption, or mismanagement.
He made sure that the chosen carriers were aware that they were accountable to deliver that amount of treasure to God's house in Jerusalem. And sure enough, when they got there, everything was numbered and weighed, and all was well. Now, I suppose there may have been one or two who grumbled about whether or not Ezra trusted them, because after all, God was watching all that they did. But God has always valued good accounting. Good stewardship. That doesn't mean that we all have to undergo training, learn how to keep ledgers, and wear visors while we pore over columns of numbers. (Grin) But it's a good principle to remember - honesty in stewardship is important.

There are many verses we can point to, that illustrate this. Let's focus on some in the New Testament: like when Paul was talking about bringing an offering to the Lord's people:

For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man. (II Corinthians 8:21)

He was referring to his careful handling of the gifts for the poor Christians in Jerusalem. He knew that if we don't work hard to be accountable, we can expose ourselves to temptation and to accusations from others.
Paul also said:

So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man. (Acts 24:16)

Even in what we humans would consider "small matters," we must try very hard to show honesty and integrity.  Jesus told us:

 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much." (Luke 16:10)

Integrity means total honesty in financial (and other) dealings. Ezra knew this, just as Paul did when he counseled the Ephesians:

when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. (Ephesians 4:21-25)

In our relationships in the world, we represent the Lord Jesus, Who is the Truth. We may be the only gospel that some people "read." So it makes sense that we must honor God with our faith and with integrity, and that He will bless our efforts for accountability and honesty.
More from Ezra 8 tomorrow!