Anybody who is reading today’s newspapers can understand at least a part of Nehemiah’s frustration. The newscaster reported from Saudi Arabia this week that when fall comes in a few more weeks the midday temperature will drop all the way down to 110°! Tough times in the Middle East!
But I’m sure the last six weeks or so had been the toughest and yet the most exhilarating weeks in Nehemiah’s life. Tough, because of the heat; because of the exhaustion of long, long days of work; because of the details to be thought through and managed; tough because the enemy was always at hand, and carrying a shovel in one hand and a weapon in the other was a guaranteed way to pick up a nervous breakdown.
But they had been exhilarating weeks too -- exhilarating and exciting and fulfilling because the work was going so well. So much accomplished in so short a time under such extreme circumstances. Nehemiah in only a few months’ time had conceived the plan to rebuild the city walls, had gotten permission to do it, put together the funds and the manpower, motivated the workers, and was now nearly finished with building the wall around the city of Jerusalem.
The only thing that had really troubled him had been the opposition, the naysayers and the critics, the cynics and the footdraggers, who had tried to work against him.
Two Sundays ago you and I met Sanballat the Samaritan and Tobiah the Ammonite, as well as Geshem the Arab, who tried to ridicule the wall-building project, but we also saw that when you are at work for a Kingdom-building God, you don’t have to be intimidated. You don I t have to be frightened by the "what-ifs". You just go ahead and do what God calls you to do, no matter what kind of put-downs you hear. And we heard the powerful counsel of God’s builder, Nehemiah, “Do not be afraid … remember the Lord, who is great and terrible … and fight [for what you believe in].”
And then last week we watched as Nehemiah confronted some frightened folks within his own workers -- people who felt they had been cheated and exploited, people who thought their own safety was at stake; and we saw that Nehemiah cared more about people than about the wall, that he took care of his hurting people – but that at the same time he did not lose sight of where he was going and what he was about. And we learned that people want to be remembered, people want to be able to leave behind something of value. We learned that the way you do that is to sacrifice, that you carve out a legacy of giving and caring and building something that lasts. And so last Sunday we prayed together Nehemiah’s repeated prayer, "Remember me, O God, for my good, for all that I have done for this people."
Now today, with the wall just about finished, you might expect that all of Nehemiah’s conflicts would be past him. You might expect that the only thing that is left is to have a dedication ceremony and start thinking about retirement. But not so. Not so. Nehemiah is walking along the wall one day, checking out the work, and messengers bring him a letter. The letter was written as if it were an invitation, but Nehemiah smelled a rat in this summons. Let me share the story with you: Neb. 6:1-16
A few months ago the toy stores were abuzz with excited customers when a new product came out. The new product, the new toy, was called the Wacky Wall Walker. The Wacky Wall Walker.
The Wacky Wall Walker was the brainchild of a Japanese entrepreneur who lives in Georgetown. The Wacky Wall Walker was nothing more than a lump of rubbery stuff with some protrusions on it that looked a bit like spider legs. And the idea was that you just threw it up against the wall and there was just enough stickum on it that it would stay there for a couple of seconds -- part of it would let go -- but that would let the next leg touch the wall and hold for a few seconds -- until it too would let go … and so on and so on. It looked absolutely like a huge tarantula parading down your wall, but it was actually nothing more than a blob of sticky, rubbery stuff with legs.
Now this thing cost practically nothing to make, it required no skill to use it, it was a sticky blob of nothing. But it sold like hotcakes. Everybody had to have a Wacky Wall Walker. And the Japanese fellow reportedly made more than ten million dollars off of selling Wacky Wall Walkers!
Now my only regret today is that I don’t have any to pitch out here and show you. Two or three weeks ago I said something about feeling playful and warned you that I would be doing something slightly crazy! What I had in mind was punctuating each point of the sermon by throwing a Wacky Wall Walker up against the wall.
But I’ve talked with all the toy stores about getting them and they all tell me they’re gone, all over and done with. It seems that the life span of toy is pretty short ... which gives me some hope that by Christmas we won’t have to see any more Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! But I cannot throw a Wacky Wall Walker up against the sanctuary walls the way I wanted to. You’ll just have to play with them in your imaginations.
But here’s what I want you to take home, based on what God’s builder Nehemiah experienced: God’ s people are wacky wall walkers. We Christians are wacky wall walkers.
I
First of all, we are wacky. We are wacky, we look crazy, because we don’t follow the values and the standards of the world. We come at things from a different angle. We perceive things in a different way. We have our own agenda -- an agenda, which the world thinks, is wacky and crazy and ridiculous.
And so the danger always is that the world will distract us from being what we ought to be and doing what we ought to do. The danger is that because what we believe in looks so wacky, so crazy, to the world that they will try to divert us and distract us.
And when they do, it will do us harm. It will do the Kingdom harm. And we must not let ourselves be put off the track.
Nehemiah reports, "Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, Come and let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they intended to do me harm." In fact, Nehemiah tells us that four times they sent this invitation -- the world is very persistent, you know. Folks who want to run a trip on you and take something from you are very persistent. Salesmen just don’t give up on you. Bill collectors keep on sending their computerized messages at you. Telemarketers call you every night at dinnertime. Folks who want to take something from you are very persistent and are very, very distracting.
But listen to Nehemiah’s reply; listen to God’ s builder, listen to the wacky, wacky wall walker -- wacky because what he is about looks so ridiculous to the world:
“They sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner …’I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it to come down to you?’"
"I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it to come down - that’s a key phrase, come down -- to you?"
If you want to be a Nehemiah; if you want to be God’s person, God’s builder; if you feel at all called to be anything, do anything of value, then you are going to have answer the same way wacky wall walker Nehemiah did: I have something important to do; why should I come down to where you are, just because you think I’m wacky?
You feel an urge to share your faith with a neighbor; that neighbor is not a Christian, but you feel that God would want you to present Christ to that neighbor. Now the values in our world say, "Live and let live. Whatever he wants to believe, that’s his business. You’ve got no business interfering with somebody else’s religion".
That’s what the world says to you. Evangelism looks wacky to our world. But Nehemiah says, "Be wacky. Be different. Be a wacky wall walker, and don’t come down. Don’t come down from sharing what you know to be the truth, down to the world’s bland tolerance. Don’t come down from telling like it is, unpopular though that may be; don’t come down to the world’s way of "Live and let live." Don’t come down. Stay with the important things to which God calls you no matter how peculiar they seem to the world.
It’s rather like what I’ve heard said to young people some times: if God is calling you to be a missionary, don’t settle for something as little as President of the United States! Don’t settle for what somebody else thinks is valuable! Don’t come down!
It’s been popular in recent years to say that the world should set the agenda for the church. By that it’s meant that we in the church ought to listen to and respond to the needs of the world.
Well, yes, of course. But I want us to do it on our own terms. I want us to do it with the values and the beliefs we hold dear. I want us to keep our character as a church. And so if and when we create ministries of compassion, as I keep saying; if and when we open up our houses or some other buildings to the human needs that are out there -- I do not want us just to be landlords for the city. I do not want us just to serve the politicians’ agenda. I do not want us to come down from this wacky wall walker thing we’ve got; I want us to be free to be the church, free to offer a witness, free to teach people about Christ.
Do you see what I’m saying? When we get to the place where we are carrying out ministry, it has to be our kind of thing. If you get a drug addict off drugs, fine; but don’t come down from offering him Christ instead of some new addiction. If you get an unemployed man a job, fine; but help him find a way to work for Christ.
Don’t come down from all that Christ calls us to witness to and to teach and to share; don’t come down just to do the world’s agenda, even though the world thinks we are wacky, wacky wall walkers.
II
Second, we are wacky wall walkers. We are building something that the world needs, whether it knows it or not. And we are not building something for ourselves. We are building the walls of Jerusalem, we are building the Kingdom for the sake of the world, and not for ourselves. We are wacky wall walkers.
Now notice what happened with Nehemiah after he had sent back the letter four times. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem sent the letter the fifth time, and this time it was an open letter, that is, it was read out in public. And it said, "It is reported that you and the Jews intend to rebel; that is why you are building the wall; and according to the report you wish to become their king."
It is reported that you are intend to rebel and that you, Nehemiah, want to be king, and that is why you are building the wall.
The world very seldom understands our motives; it thinks we are wacky, crazy; or it thinks we are selfish. The world is very, very likely to assume that whatever we Christians do is not for them, but for us. The world assumes we are selfish, and does not understand that we are building walls, building for the sake of the world, not for ourselves.
My friends, you and I live in a world that is very suspicious of Christians and of churches. The folks you work with and live with suspect that churches are out to get their money, out to get their bodies so that our body count can be big, out to get their influence. The folks you live and work with do not understand that at our best we want to build walls for them, we want to help them and defend them and do what is best for them. But they just do not understand.
The Washington way, you see, is to assume that everybody wants power, everybody is out to use everybody else. And they assume that Christians and churches are the same way. We get political candidates and writing and calling here, asking for endorsements, asking for time from this pulpit. I’ll tell you what I said to one advance worker; I said, "Your man is welcome to worship here, if it really is to worship. But I will not recognize him, I will not give him time from the pulpit, and I will not endorse him." I just don’t think that’s what we are about here.
But the world assumes that we are out to build influence and power and does not see that we are here to give ourselves away and to build what the world needs. Nehemiah’s response to the charge that he was building the wall so that he could become king: “No, you are inventing these things out of your own mind … they hoped that our hands would drop from the work, and it will not be done."
Ah, you see, Nehemiah is a wacky wall walker; he is going to do for them what they need, though they assume it is all for selfish reasons. But it is not. It is for them.
You and I have a task to do in the world, and that task is to share our faith so that others might live. Our task is to build the walls, to build the Kingdom, for the sake of others. Our task is not simply to build this church but to build the Kingdom.
Hear me now. Our task is not simply to build this church, but to build the Kingdom. Our task is to share the Gospel here in this community and around the world, whether or not we personally benefit.
And I know the world thinks we are self-serving, the world assumes we want them here to serve us, but that’s just not true. I remember one day sharing my faith with a student at the University of Maryland, helping him see what Christ could mean in his life; and when it was all over and he agreed that he wanted to become a Christian, he surprised me by saying, "And when I join a church, I think it’ll be the Catholic church, where my parents go”. Wow! I had a hard time for a while with that! No baptism statistic for me! No feather in my Baptist cap! But I had to remember that I am building the wall, not trying to make myself king.
Let me open my own heart about this just a little. I’ve tried hard to look at my own motives; I keep on trying to discern what is in my own heart and mind these days. I believe I am telling you the truth.
If I urge you to do evangelism, it is not because I want a bigger church and some kind of successful record; it is because I want to see people cane to know Christ. If I urge you to do outreach, it is not because I want a more influential church; it is because, quite simply, people need the Lord. If I urge you to give a tithe, ten percent of your income to Kingdom causes, it is not because I want a bigger salary or more staff; it is because I want us to be able to do more and give away more and gain more of the joy of sharing.
We are wacky wall walkers; we stay with the business of building for the world what it needs, not what helps us get bigger and stronger and richer. And we remember with the songwriter, "Only what you do for Christ will last."
III
But finally, we are wacky wall walkers; we just keep plodding along in the way our God has called us to, and we do not allow ourselves to get trapped in byways and diversions; we do not permit ourselves to get caught in compromises. We just keep plodding along and walking the wall and doing what we’ re supposed to do.
Now once again, the world assumes that you and I as Christians are out for number one. The world assumes that you and I as Christians are just as selfish, just as pleasure-driven, and just as rotten as anybody else. And so the world assumes that we can be lured into a trap and therefore can be derailed from our task.
Nehemiah, up there on that wall, had rejected four times the invitation to come down and be sensible; no, he said, call me wacky if you want, but I am pursuing Kingdom values, not yours. And then when the fifth and final letter came and accused him of selfish ambition, Nehemiah had rejected the accusation and had insisted that he was a wall walker, a wall builder, building for them and not for himself.
But now Nehemiah’ s enemies try one more trick. They hire a man named Shemaiah, who represents himself as God’ s prophet. Shemaiah says to Nehemiah, "Look, Nehemiah, you are in trouble. Your enemies are coming after you and they intend to kill you. I have an idea: come with me into the sanctuary of the Temple, and you will be safe there. They will not violate the sanctuary of God to shed your blood, and you can save your skin if you will go into the inner court of the Temple with me.”
Now the trouble with that is that the inner court was for priests only, and Nehemiah was not a priest. The trouble with that, in other words, is that it was a holy place, where Nehemiah had no right to be, and it would have been sacrilege for him to have gone in there. It would have violated what he understood to be God’s command. Nehemiah saw that this advice at its core was saying, "Hey, look, you’re just flesh and blood, after all. Save yourself. Take care of yourself. And if you violate some little religious rule, so what. Look out for number one!
Oh, but listen to the words of Nehemiah. Listen to the perception and the wisdom of God’s master builder, "Should a man like me run away? Would a man like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.". Oh listen to the courage and the determination of God’s master builder, Nehemiah, "I will not run away. I will not violate God’s law. I will not set foot where I do not belong. I will walk on this wall. I will keep on keeping on. I will walk in the way of God. I will be a wacky wall walker"
O people of God, hear me. Do not yield to the world’s assumption that you are just like everybody else. Do not give in to the world’s invitation to ignore the law of God and just enjoy yourself and forget where you are going and where you are walking. Walk in the way and stay in it!
I am saddened, as I expect you are, by the public revelations of the trap into which the catholic Archbishop of Atlanta has fallen. It’s embarrassing for the whole church, just as were the Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart episodes of a few months ago. But I am just disappointed that these men took the pleasure-driven way and did not continue to walk in the way which they had chosen. They just forget to keep on walking the walls, walking the way.
I am saddened, as I know all of you are, by so much that has been revealed about the Mayor of the nation’s capital. Whatever you think about the jury and whatever you think about the United States Attomey, surely you have to be saddened by so much of the mayor’s personal behavior. I do not accept … I cannot accept … his artificial division between public behavior and private morality. What’s right is right all of the time; what’s wrong is wrong, any place, whether in city hall or in the hotel room. Anyone, in any place of responsibility, has to walk in the way, walk in the right path, and cannot permit himself to be entrapped and fooled into thinking, "I’m above God’s law."
Your calling as a Christian is to be a wacky wall walker, to walk in the path of integrity. Walk in the way. Stick to what you promised God at your baptism. Stay with what you professed when you came to Christ. Don’t cut comers. Say with Nehemiah, God’s master builder, "Should a man like me run away? I will not go".
I hear the old spiritual encouraging us, "Keep a-inchin’ along, keep a-inchin’ along, Jesus will come by and by. We’ll inch by inch till we get home, keep a-inchin’ along. Oh, trials and troubles on the way, but we must watch as well as pray, keep a-inchin’ along. Jesus will come by and by."
And when he does he will be looking for wacky wall walkers.
