The people have been engaging in a great covenant renewal with God. They have heard his word eagerly, they have confessed their sin humbly; now they are going to reaffirm their commitment to him resolutely and absolutely.
Here are the 2 halves of a real relationship with God: confession and commitment. Both are needed for a balanced, healthy and fruitful Christian life. It is the second aspect that we are going to explore as we look at this chapter. Although it's not been deliberately timed, there is no better way to face the start of a new year than to focus on our commitment to God and on his covenant of grace.
1. A Binding Agreement
The people's strength of resolve to live for God is seen in the fact that they set down in writing their commitment to obey his law and seal it with official seals. Nehemiah takes the lead, with the other leaders and the priests who are specifically named but the rest of the people are included too. Each one of them owns the part they will have to play if the whole community is to live before God as they should.
That strength of resolve is further seen in v.29 where they "bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God". Clearly this is no light-hearted commitment. They are saying that they recognise the justice of incurring God's wrath should they fail to honour the commitment they were making.
This is a very impressive and solemn declaration of intent. The fact it is outwardly and visibly expressed does not mean it wasn't genuine. They clearly are not going through the motions but mean what they say. To express themselves in so public a way and with a written record of their commitment would help them to keep a check on their living out what they have said.
Some believers have at times written their own commitment to God and their resolves to live in certain ways and it can be very helpful to do so. We need to guard against it being merely outward but rightly done it can be a great help.
But whether we write something or not, there is an outward and visible declaration we all make when we sit at the Lord's Table. His table and the meal we share there are all about God's covenant of grace with us. To share a covenant meal is to affirm a commitment to that relationship. As we remember that Jesus died for our sin, so we are affirming that we will now live for righteousness. It is not something to be taken lightly, however often we share in it.
They made a binding agreement and were resolute in their commitment to God. Is that something we want to share?
2. Separate...for the sake of the Law of God
The people expressed their commitment in writing but they also expressed it in life. Specifically, mention is made here of how "they separated themselves from the neighbouring peoples" (v.28). This is a recurring note in Nehemiah and is one we need to grasp.
They were called to belong to God, to be holy. That entailed separation from all that would dilute their commitment to the Lord, hence this action. But it is vital that we grasp that this is not a 'holier than thou' separation into a ghetto. They are separated from the world for the sake of the world. The same holds true for us today. We are not to conform to the ways of the world but rather we are to show to the world a new way of being, God's way of being.
Notice that it says they separated themselves from other peoples "for the sake of the Law of God". At the heart of their action was the desire to conform to what God had said.
Now, we must not think that they were legalists who only wanted to keep God's law for personal merit. They were committed to his law because they were committed to him. Having experienced his restoring grace as evidenced in the rebuilding of the wall, they now commit themselves to live a life worthy of such grace.
The implications of this for us are considerable. It challenges us to what extent our lives are different from the world - not in trivial ways but in the big issues of love, integrity, service and purity. The only lives that will impress others with the beauty of the gospel are those lives that radiate the transforming power of the gospel.
And then it challenges us to ask why we seek to obey God's word. Is it to gain his favour or because we have it? Are we motivated by gratitude to God or other reasons?
3. Keeping the Law: In Full, In Spirit
They were resolute in their commitment to God; they showed that in their separation from the peoples for the sake of the law of God. But, as some has said, "a vague statement of good intentions is not sufficient: a confession of faith needs to be translated into a practical and visible change of lifestyle and practice" (Williamson). That is exactly what we see in the rest of the chapter.
i) In Full - Their obedience to the law is comprehensive; they want to keep it in full. That is seen in the way that the 3 things mentioned here (marriage to other peoples; Sabbath keeping and providing for the needs of the temple) cover the 3 main divisions of the law (civil, moral, ceremonial).
Their approach is not the pick'n'mix that is often the case today (with us too?). Because they have been overwhelmed by God's grace, they want to respond with overflowing obedience.
They were not seeking to limit what the Lord may demand of them; their commitment was open-ended and open-hearted. It was to make its mark "upon every day of the life of the community, and of every member of it." (McConville).
ii) In Spirit - The other aspect of their approach that commends itself to us is the way they sought to interpret the law to their specific situation. They were concerned with the spirit, not simply the letter. We don't have time to look in detail now but in each of the areas mentioned, they went beyond what the law strictly said.
And to do that cost them, as the details regarding the temple provisions show. It hurt them to apply God's word and fulfil it in spirit not simply in its letter. Reflecting on that, one writer has noted that "For modern Christians...there is also a cost in discipleship. Do we regard the best of all we have, in terms of material wealth and natural endowment, as belonging first of all to God? Do we seek to apply God's standards with rigour, and a sense of how they apply to the situation in which we are now? The idea that much of the Bible is 'out of date' is little better than an excuse for not listening to it." (McConville)
iii) But we must notice that their major concern is for the temple. Why? Because of their concern for God's glory. What are we going to major on in 2002? It's quite clear what the world is majoring on: £260 spent for each man, woman and child in the January sales and mostly on self. Some of that is no doubt prudent but the spirit of the age is self-centred.
Our Lord's words are very searching here...(read Mt. 6:31-33).
Where does our heart lie? With the glory of God in the gospel or someplace else? Will he come first in our prayers, in our living, in our giving? If we have truly grasped the nature of his grace, the choice will be an easy one to make.
