We are almost done with this study, “Rebuild our Broken Walls and Others,” through the book of Nehemiah. Last Sunday, we learned that God recognized all the people of Israel who volunteered their time, efforts, and resources for the Recovery Temple Project in Jerusalem. The Lord recorded all of them as the people of the faith in the Holy Scripture.

In our text for today, Nehemiah planned a joyful dedication service with music for the Lord. After completing the broken walls and gates and reforming the spiritual hearts of the people of Israel, Nehemiah made a happy celebration at the House of God. Joy is one of the divine characteristics we, as Christ’s church and Christ’s followers, can have. When an angel of the Lord shared the story of Christ’s birth with shepherds, one central theme was related to holy gladness: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10). This heavenly delight is designed for all people, regardless of their background. This divine satisfaction is given by Christ alone to all of us despite our diversity.

This morning I want us to explore this delightful venue at the tabernacle of Jerusalem. One fascinating thing we will soon learn from this glorious event is the impact of praising the Lord by the people of Israel at the temple. “The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away” (Nehemiah 12:43). Through this observation, I also want us to look at how to make cheerful melodies in God’s sanctuary and our spiritual hearts as they did in Nehemiah’s day.

Firstly, the people of Israel sought holiness before they celebrated the dedication of God’s dwelling place (Nehemiah 12:27). Nehemiah asked the priests and Levites to purify the people of Israel, including the musicians and gatekeepers, and the walls and gates of the temple (Nehemiah 12:30). Before the religious leaders did it, they purified themselves first according to the regulations King David, the initiator of God’s temple and King Solomon, the builder of that tabernacle (Nehemiah 12:30,45). Nehemiah wanted to cleanse everybody participating in that religious ceremony and every item dedicated to God before the service. He knew that sacred joyfulness came from the right relationship between God and people.

Our pleasant Christian minds come from our genuine fellowship with Christ. King David asked God in the Old Testament: “Restore to me the joy of your salvation… Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise (Psalm 51:11-15). David lost divine delight when his sin was not forgiven. He cried out to the Lord to create “a pure heart” while repenting of his sins (Psalm 51:10). After receiving God’s pardon, he confessed how blessed he was. He also sang to the Lord with many wonderful psalms. When we read the Bible in the New Testament, particularly in the epistles of the Apostle Paul, we may recognize that Christianity is the most joyful faith. One frequent encouragement Paul shared with his readers was to “rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:3). He showed another example of this truth. He was content in any circumstance, even staying in prison. The primary reason was that Paul held on to the following message: “Christ died for our sins and rose again for our everlasting lives, according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). All the various situations he had been in were challenging; however, he could praise God gladly due to his faith in Christ’s cross and crown.

One of the blessings I as a preacher have is about a spiritual cleansing process. Before I present the Word of God from the pulpit, I always remind myself that God wants me to hear His Word first. I receive my God-blessed sermon through repentance of my sins and belief in God’s hope before preaching to His congregation. I am so thankful to God for giving me this divine opportunity of being sanctified and praising the Lord with a pure spirit in this sanctuary. We need to ask ourselves whether our singing is like the people of Israel in Nehemiah’s time. Holy and happy melody starts with the humble awareness of our brokenness or damage in spirit. Friends, let us rejoice in the Triune Lord while reflecting on the Word of God, repenting of our sins before Christ and resembling His godly characteristics with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Secondly, the people of Israel glorified the Lord while singing to the Lord with “hymns of thanksgiving” (Nehemiah 12:27). When they were kept captive in a foreign land, they were not allowed to praise God. The people of Israel returned to the holy city, rebuilt the damaged temple of God, and reformed their spiritually broken hearts. After that, they were so happy not just due to the fulfillment of the ruined tabernacle outwardly but also the inward reformation of each person’s destructive temple. Nehemiah invited two choirs to “give thanks” to God with all musical instruments (Nehemiah 12:27,31,40). The two great companies of singers and musicians marched in different directions around the wall. Later, they joined together while going into the house of God. Nehemiah led one choir group and the people, and Ezra led the other. They all enjoyed themselves while magnifying what the Lord had done for their country, temple, loved ones, and themselves. They praised the Awesome and Great God with thankfulness for His presence, protection, and provision. As stated earlier, the sound of the sacred ceremony taking place at the tabernacle would be loud enough. On top of this music, the gladness of the people of Israel participating in that divine assembly would be shared with even those living outside Jerusalem.

Our celebration with our brothers and sisters in God happening in this sanctuary on Sundays and/or our daily devotion to the Lord in our places is one way of expressing our gratitude to God. Singing sacred melody is one method of showing our dedication to God. Authentic praise we provide for God does not originate from our outward circumstances but depends on our inner focus. According to the Bible, today is the day the Creator God has made for us to rejoice in Him and be glad in every moment. Do we appreciate our God-prepared precious present time? One famous hymn written by Johnson Oatman Jr. encourages us to be thankful for the many blessings we experience in our faith journey. The second verse of this song goes like this: “Are you ever burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear? Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly, and you will be singing as the days go by….” Again, we need to question where our focus is today. When we count God’s blessings and name them one by one, we cannot but praise the Lord with all our hearts and strengths. A joyful heart is like good spiritual medicine (Proverbs 15:13).

Think about how blessed we are this morning. We can be grateful for God’s tremendous power and work in our loved ones’ faith journey and ours. We are obliged for God’s supernatural presence upon our loved ones’ health, relationships, memories, possessions, talents, and ours. We are indebted for God’s unchanging love and grace upon our loved ones’ lives and ours. One more time, imagine how fortunate we are with God’s help to worship the Lord. This morning, we can freely approach God as we are. We can listen to the Word with sincere longing. We can respond to the Lord with our adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. In addition to all these benefits, we are given this divine privilege to praise the Mighty and Merciful God with our inner and outer sounds in this joyful gathering. Have we stopped singing to the Lord? If we have lost our happiness in God, we need to pay attention to Christ and ask the Holy Spirit to restore His joy and worship the Triune Lord.

Thirdly, the people of Israel dedicated themselves to the Lord with togetherness. The women and children also joined in that delightful celebration. Besides praising the Lord at the House of God, the people of Israel brought portions of their harvests to the temple storerooms (Nehemiah 12:44-45). Those offerings were used to maintain God’s dwelling place and support the temple workers. Those contributions were also set aside for the other tabernacle servants even though they could not participate in that assembly (Nehemiah 12:47). They would be busy doing other tasks or duties outside the temple. Whatever the reasons were, all the tabernacle volunteers were given God’s care by the people of Israel. That loving unity could make the people of Israel have a wonderfully harmonious and joyful celebration for the Lord. The devoted team spirit or oneness the people of Israel had would have made the happy and holy sounds spread even beyond the temple of Jerusalem.

This morning God is pleased with us since we are making a joyful noise to the Lord in unison. Our human voices are incredible from God’s point of view. If we sing to the Lord with all our hearts together, we can make God smile at us. It would not matter to God whether we are in or out of tune with the music. The most important thing is whether we praise the Lord with all our souls and one spirit. We are different because we all have our God-given unique DNA, in other words, divine nature and attributes. Despite this variety, we all have our God-inherited command: “Loving the Lord with all your hearts and Loving your neighbour as you love yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39). Jesus also gives us a new command: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another” (John 13:4-35). If we follow Christ’s footsteps, we can make one beautiful melody before the Lord. Again, our physical sounds in singing can be diverse, but our spiritual minds toward God should be the same. With the spirit of togetherness, we, as Christ’s church and Christ’s followers, can fulfill our God-privileged mission – Communicating our “faith, hope and love by supporting and serving our congregation and the local community.” We need one another. We can be better together.

To conclude this message, I invite Barb to share one inspirational story regarding the spirit of oneness in God’s Heavenly Choir. After that, Dan will lead us in an offertory prayer. Then, we will sing to the Lord with a pure, thankful, and united mind. Amen!

*In this sermon, I have used some thoughts from the various messages based on the text, Nehemiah 12:27-47.