Celebrate Well
“Hi, I’m [insert your name here], and I like to party.” It’s just true! You do. We all do. The way we each like to party looks a bit different, but we all like to celebrate. Think about all the great stories end at a medal ceremony, or a wedding, or a party gathered to celebrate a victory. We all want to party, but do we do it well?
At the end of the book of Nehemiah, in chapter 12, there’s a party to celebrate everything that’s happened in this story. After people get invited and come from all over for the party, here’s what verse 27 says: And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in all their places to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres. The people got together to celebrate the wall being built around their city, and they celebrated well. What can we learn about how they partied so that we can be better partiers?
They Planned An Elaborate Party
The planning that happened at this party was incredible! Many people had to be invited, so you know someone was in charge of spreading the word. Two choirs had to have practiced and known how to surround the city. This wasn’t an impromptu party; it was well thought out so that the party could be truly celebratory. As someone who kind of likes working out logistics, this kind of seems fun to me. But most people hate logistics. Here, it’s cool to see how the planning led to people partying well and enjoying God’s goodness together. We need people who are gifted at logistics to help us plan our weekly party at Harbor West so that we can come and enjoy God’s goodness together on Sunday morning. If you’d like to be a part of the planning, send us an email! You also have the opportunity to plan parties at your home in or your community in such a way that people can come together and enjoy God well. Detail-oriented planners unite! You’re needed for good parties.
They Dedicated The Victory To God
Verse 27 tells us that the purpose of the party was dedicating the wall to God. That really is incredible. It would have been so tempting to dedicate this wall to Nehemiah, the man who came from Persia and had the vision to build this wall. From a human standpoint, it couldn’t have happened without him! But all throughout Nehemiah, we see people recognizing that this wall couldn’t have been built if God weren’t sovereignly behind it. They rightly saw that the blessings in in their life to be celebrated came from God. When you party, whether it’s for your birthday, a graduation, a holiday, a victory, or for some form of entertainment (like my recent Stranger Things season 2 party), do you recognize that the good gifts you’re celebrating come from the good God of the universe? How do you express it at the party? These people made sure that everyone at the party knew that God had been good and blessed them with this good thing.
They Were Thankful To God
In verse 27 they came together to express their thanks to God. We see in verse 31 that the two choirs were singing all about how thankful they were to God. Expressing our thanks to God specifically identifies us as God’s people. Unbelievers are consistently described as people who don’t give God thanks. Romans 1 says: For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. People who don’t believe in God don’t give God thanks. So, if you want to be identified as a person who believes in God, thank him openly for the things you celebrate.
Don’t skimp on celebrations. Don’t do the bare minimum. Go big. Our parties show how we long for the eternal celebration where we’ll party with Jesus forever. These people in Nehemiah 12 came together to celebrate how God provided protection, safety, and security through this wall. Each week our church gathers to celebrate how God has provided protection, safety, and security through Jesus. Come join the celebration!