It Begins with Worship
Ezra 3 records the spiritual recentering of God’s people after exile. Before walls are raised, before the temple stands, before safety is secured, worship is restored. The chapter teaches that restoration begins not with rebuilding structures but with re-establishing right relationship with God.
Ezra 3 shows us something deeply countercultural and profoundly theological: God does not begin with rebuilding circumstances—He begins with restoring worship.
Truth #1: When Everything Is Broken, We Begin by Coming Back to God (Ezra 3:1–3)
- Ezra tells us that the people gathered “as one” and rebuilt the altar.
The altar was the place of:
- Sacrifice – where sin was acknowledged
- Atonement – where guilt was covered
- Confession – where hearts were humbled
- Access to God – where relationship was restored
Before anything else could be rebuilt, the relationship between God and His people had to be restored.
When God is missing, nothing else works.
But when God is restored, everything else has a future.
Returning to God means more than showing up.
It means reorienting the heart.
It means:
- Repentance before progress
- Worship before work
- Surrender before strategy
Truth #2: Worship Reorders Our Hearts and Calls for Surrender (Ezra 3:3–6)
Before Israel could rebuild anything else, worship had to be recentered—because worship had been displaced.
“They offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD…” The burnt offering was not casual worship.
It was total surrender.
This was Israel declaring once again: “We belong to the Lord.”
Worship is not the absence of fear—
it is the right ordering of fear.
Fear does not disappear when we worship.
Fear is repositioned when we worship. Fear is driven down when we lift our eyes up, our hearts up, and our praises heavenward.
Worship isn’t the result of peace—it’s the declaration of trust in the middle of uncertainty.
Truth #3: God Rebuilds Through a Worshipping People Who Give Together (Ezra 3:7–13)
This isn’t the work of a gifted few—it is the faithful obedience of the whole people of God.
Ezra wants us to notice something vital: “True worship never stays contained—it moves outward.”
Worship that is real always produces action.
That’s the connection Ezra is quietly but clearly making:
Worship leads to generosity.
Generosity fuels God’s work.
God’s work blesses God’s people.
Ezra 3 leaves us with a simple but searching invitation.
When God’s people worship together, they build more than buildings—they build faith.
When life is broken…
- Start with worship
- Start with surrender
- Start with obedience
- Start together
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