Text: Nehemiah 3:1-32, Title: Git-R-Done! Date/Place: NRBC, 9/16/17, PM
A. Opening illustration: tell about the mission team from Petsworth that really got her done in April of 2003
B. Background to passage: A burden was born, a king was won, a midnight moonlit ride was taken, and a speech that was given, and people were ready to build. Now what? A lot of writers, teachers, and preachers skip this chapter, because it is kinda like all the begets in Gen 5. But this is a very important chapter with some helpful admonitions for us. But these men get to work. Nehemiah as a wise leader continues to do things right in order. And so we will see several more things that he does along with the people that make this project happen.
C. Main thought: In our text we will see how the people rose up under Nehemiah’s leadership to begin the work.
A. Division and Delegation (v. 1-4)
1. The first part of Nehemiah’s plan was to break the job down into smaller manageable units. Best that we can tell, he divided the wall, which was about a mile and a half long, into about 40 or so. So each unit, assuming it was divided evenly, was about 65 yards long. Then he was fine with delegating responsibility. He let go without letting up. He was not a micromanager. He was definitely seeing the project through, just not as a control freak.
2. Ex 18:17-21,
3. Illustration: like when you wash the car or mow the yard, you do sections at a time, It was said of Sangster: “his greatest grasp of leadership was knowing the importance of delegation and of choosing assistants with care…”
4. Whether you are talking about a home entertainment function like a birthday party or about a group that ministers like a church or Sunday School class, when there is a large job to dividing up the labor is good. This is how I think that we could cut our own grass and vacuum our own carpet. This is how we can pull off large ministry events, or consistent care from within our group. But I can’t do it all, and I am not saying that you expect me to. I am just looking at Nehemiah’s example, and if we want to follow it, there must be delegation to willing and passionate individuals. And with that comes management, not micromanagement.
B. Everybody worked Efficiently (v. 6-12)
1. In this list of people working, we see that all kinds of people did the work. We see priests, people from the surrounding villages, tradesman, city officials, women, bachelors, temple servant, city police, and merchant, etc. And Nehemiah wisely set them working near spots that were they had a vested interest. He set the priest to work at the Sheep Gate, had several at work around their homes, police near the citadel, governors near their offices. Therefore they worked harder, better, and lost less time in transit. And it worked so well that several groups did another section.
2. Argumentation
3. Illustration: I’d rather put 1000 men to work than do the work of 1000 men, a recent survey of workers across the USA, nearly 85% said that they could work harder at their job. More than half claimed they could double their effectiveness "if (they) wanted to." Each One Reach One, JWs do it this way, Amish,
4. It takes lots of variety to get the work done. However God has designed you, you are important to the kingdom and to the ministry of this church. But to have an effective church or ministry or family everyone has to do their part. The goal of modern ministry strategy is to get every member in ministry of some sort, but it has been more like a football game at a stadium at most churches—with 80K people screaming and watching, while 22 wear themselves out in need of a break. A side benefit to ministry within something you enjoy is effectiveness and efficiency. This is why it pays to know your spiritual gifts and serve in areas where you can be best used. This also helps combat ministry fatigue. And if you are passionate about something, you will do it much better than someone just trying to maintain the ministry.
C. Disregarded the Disenfranchised (v. 5)
1. One statement Nehemiah makes is that one group of people didn’t want to help. They for whatever reason felt like this wasn’t a good idea. We are not told why the nobles of Tekoa did not work, but we know that it didn’t slow Nehemiah down. There is some speculation that the city of Tekoa was close to Geshem the Arab’s territory, and thus it was not viewed as a friendly act to go and help them rebuild, although the people of Tekoa did go help. But Nehemiah didn’t spend much time with them, he just went right on. But he only notes it. He didn’t go and visit them, or write a letter, but kept focus.
2. Judges 5:23, Pro 22:10,
3. Illustration: James Boice the late Presbyterian commentator says, “there will always be some turkeys in the bunch.” Someone gave me a parable one time about a pastor/shepherd who was leading some sheep, and he had to decide whether to slow down and go back and get some of the sheep that weren’t keeping up or leave them in the dust. He went back, helped all the sheep, they began to multiply, and everybody lived happily every after in Parable Land…tell about the pastor one time who promised to read the turkey’s tithing record if he caused a stir about this particular issue, in growing CPs you are told that you shouldn’t expect the people that you start with to be there always,
4. There are always going to be those in a group that don’t get it. They always want to be against everything just for the sake of being different and cantankerous. We don’t have to be overly confrontive, just put our minds and muscles to the work we have been given. There are sometimes that you have to leave your children to make them get with the group. And there is some fine line between leaving a rebellious and selfish sheep, and losing a whole group of sheep. But what we see here is that everybody else mentioned from other groups and towns gets it, except for the nobles of Tekoa. And he and we should say very sweetly get right or get left in Jesus name. And to be honest, when there is serious rebuilding going on, not everyone is willing or able to handle the change. For we must note that there are 3.3 billion lost people with little access to the gospel, and 70,000+ in three counties that are unchurched. We don’t have time to be fussing over things which are petty and trite.
D. Effective at Encouragement (v. 20)
1. Another small note that Nehemiah gives us is that he was an encourager. In this verse we see a word inserted that is not in most of the account. This man “carefully” repaired his spot in the wall. In the two mile stretch of wall that Nehemiah was trying to rebuild and keep people going, there was a man whom Nehemiah took the time to pay close attention to how well he was working. He was a Barnabas—a son of encouragement.
2. Acts 4:36, Eph 1:16-19,
3. Illustration: “Encouragement is oxygen to the soul.” "If you want to change people without giving offense or arousing resentment, use encouragement." "Encouragement is food for the heart, and every heart is a hungry heart." The confession I made to one of our church members that I was thinking about them, and meant to drop them an email, and I didn’t. Pastor Jose’ had the same testimony. Kathy was so encouraged because the Dr that never complimented anyone said that she was doing well. Stinnett and his researchers identified six qualities that make for strong families. The first quality and one of the most important to be found in strong families was the quality of appreciation. Families that are strong are strong in part, Dr. Stinnett concludes, because family members express to each other their appreciation for what the other members DO and for who they ARE.
4. In our world of techno-communication we seldom have time or think about encouraging one another. But the reality is that we live in a world starved for an encouraging word. And this like other used to be standard operating procedure has become a mental discipline. We have to train ourselves to let people know that we care for them. Try it for a week—make up your mind that you are going to compliment your spouse about something good they have done each day. You might wonder: what if they don’t do anything worth affirming? Just see if it works miracles. One of Gary Chapman’s five love languages is that of affirmation. Try it in your Sunday School class. And be sincere about it. But we should do it, even if we don’t feel it.
Closing illustration: There is an organization near Chicago with approximately 12,000 members
It requires each one of its members to give up one day’s earnings every week which averages out to about $110 per person equaling about $1.3 mil a week to further their cause.
When a person joins this organization they must agree to stand up for their organization and those in it to the point that they sell out to it completely making an oath that they would die for the cause.
They unconditionally accept what they are told to do and obey without hesitation the leadership of this organization.
Their entire life revolves around this organization so that even what they wear identifies who they are black & gold - this organization is known as the Latin Kings - a street gang.
A.
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
