Summary: There are literally 100’s of 1000’s of people who have had great starts but only a very small percentage of those people have a great finish. Jesus was only 33 years old when he finished his mission. He said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me.

Resolve to Finish

Nehemiah 6:1-9

Clip of River City miracle http://www.cdol.com/saints/miracle.html

The New Orleans Saints had just scored a 75-yard touchdown on one of the wackiest plays in NFL history Sunday, then next-- just as unbelievably -- John Carney missed the extra point with no time left.. The result was a 20-19 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars that dropped the Saints out of the playoff race and was one of the most twisted, cruel moments history of Saints. But it speaks to our Scripture today. It is much easier to start something than it is to finish it. I found that with repairing my house. I worked 4 months straight 8-10 hours a day on my house and then my family moved in. We had a finish carpenter move down here to finish our house and he and I worked another four months until we finished. But we still had the punch list. Our carpenter moved on to other jobs and I set the punch list aside for a few weeks which then became months. I was tired and quite frankly sick of working on the house. And I was under the impression, there was less than a day’s work left. The catalyst was the news we were being appointed to this church. Our carpenter and I each put in more than 45 hours each to finish the house. I don’t think I would have ever finished had it not been this new appointment! Starting something is easy but finishing it is where the difficulty comes. It doesn’t matter if it’s a project around the house, your education, your marriage, your career, finishing is difficult.

There are literally 100’s of 1000’s of people who have had great starts but only a very small percentage of those people have a great finish. Jesus was only 33 years old when he finished his mission. He said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me.” And it was at the end of his life, while he was dying on the cross, Jesus was able to say, “It is finished. I have finished the work you have given me to do.” And that’s where I want to be. How about you? So how do you finish and finish well? Nehemiah gives us six keys.

First, have a compelling life focus on the finish line. Nehemiah is a pretty obscure figure in the Scriptures and yet he is remembered for one thing: completing the wall of Jerusalem, which effectively allowed the economy and city of Jerusalem to be rebuilt. People who finish well are known for one compelling life picture or mission. Now the difference between a person who finishes and everyone else is that most other people try to accomplish about 50 things in their lifetime. And for a great person their life is about that one great thing. When you have a compelling life focus, it gives you clarity and clarity gives you the freedom to say no. No is a powerful thing to say but it is also one of the hardest. When you have clarity about your life purpose then you can’t live up to the expectations of everyone else. People who finish know that their life is to be about their one great thing and then do it. It is this compelling life focus which provides the resolve to finish.

Dorothy Haskins tells about a noted concert violinist who was asked the secret of her mastery of the instrument. This is what she said, “There are many things that used to demand my time. When I went to my room after breakfast, I made my bed, straightened the room, dusted, and did whatever seemed necessary. When I finished my work, I turned to my violin practice. That system prevented me from accomplishing what I should on the violin. So I reversed things. I deliberately planned to neglect everything else until my practice period was complete. And that program of planned neglect is the secret to my success.” Only a compelling life focus gives us the will to finish. People who finish have this compelling life focus which gives them the resolve to persevere through resistance, setbacks and distractions.

Second, avoid distractions. Verse 4: “Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.” Four times the enemy comes and tries to distract Nehemiah from finishing the walls and four times, Nehemiah sends back the same response. “"I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?" Distraction and opposition will always come when you commit in faith to the work of God. God demands that I have only one god in my life. That’s hard. I don’t want to have just one God, I want to worship the god of the sports car, I want to worship the god of lust, I want to worship the god of the larger house. There are a multitude of gods we want to worship. But God demands that there be 1 god in our life because you cannot serve two masters. It’s easy to say I believe and follow Jesus but quite another to live up to the calling and demands of worshipping just one God. Demonstrating fidelity to one God means always placing God first in my life. Part of the challenge for us is to keep the big picture of life God wants us to live.

Now here’s the thing about distractions: they’re not necessarily bad things in and of themselves. When Jesus took Peter, James and John to the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah, appeared in their glorious splendor, and talked with Jesus about his coming death. “Peter, John and James saw Jesus glory and the two men standing with him. As they were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." Luke 9:28-33 In other words, let stay and bask in the glory for awhile and enjoy the moment. But Jesus knew that if they stayed then it would delay the start of his journey to Jerusalem and the cross. Many times, avoiding distractions means choosing between the good and the best, between the things of the world and the great things of God.

Third, be unswayed by gossip and negative accusations. “Then, the fifth time, Sanballat sent his aide to me with the same message, and in his hand was an unsealed letter” It was the custom in Nehemiah’s time that when you sent a letter, you sealed it with melted wax and pressed a signa ring which hand your letters on it so the recipient would know it was from you. The purpose of the seal was so no one else would see it. If it was broken, then you would know someone had read that confidential letter. So when the letter to Nehemiah arrived unsealed, that meant it had probably been read and gossip had started to spread. Nehemiah wasn’t just hearing personal attacks on his character himself, now Sanballat was making sure that everybody else heard it on the way before Nehemiah ever received it. In other words, he was making sure the rumors spread.

Here’s the thing about rumors: you never know if they’re true. Here’s a few false rumors circulating on the Internet which people have bought into. Big companies don’t do business via chain letters and there are no computer programs that track how many times an email is forwarded, let alone by whom and you’re not going to get a $1000 or a free vacation. 2. Proctor and Gamble is not part of a satanic cult or scheme, and its logo is not satanic. 3. The Gap is not giving away free clothes. 4. There is no kidney theft ring in the United States. No one is waking up in a bathtub full of ice. The National Kidney Foundation has repeatedly issued requests for actual victims of organ thieves to come forward and tell their stories. 5. There is no one in Africa who inherited several million dollars and needs to find a bank account in the US to put it into and will give you several million dollars to do so. Just because someone said that “we checked it out and it’s legit”, does not actually make a rumor true! Whether you know if they’re true or not rumors circulate nonetheless, even in the church, and many times you feel powerless to fight it.

So what do you do in the face of rumors? Nehemiah responded 3 different ways. First, he denied the rumor. Look at verse 8: “I sent him this reply: ‘Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.’” That’s the best way to respond to a charge like this -- just a flat denial. He doesn’t try to disprove the accusation but merely states, “That is a lie. There is no truth in it.” Second, he sought God’s support. verse 9: “They are all trying to frighten us, thinking, ‘Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.’ But I prayed, ‘Now strengthen my hands.” Nehemiah simply prays, “Lord, do not let that happen. Strengthen me to work all the harder.” Third, he went back to work. They were on the last lap of the race and the finish line was in sight. He took care of his character and trusted God to take care of his reputation. And that allowed him to refocus his time and attention on the task of rebuilding the wall and keep his nose to the grindstone. That’s the thing about rumors: if we don’t handle them, they handle us. They can distract us and refocus our time and energy away from our purpose.

Romans 8:31-35 puts it this way: “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” God is for you and he has given you grace, undeserved love. You are chosen. It is God’s choosing of you which justifies you and gives you worth and value in life. Jesus Christ is standing for you and defending you before God. No one and nothing you say or do can separate you from the love of Christ.

Fourth, don’t rely on your own strength. The reason we begin to waver and slow down in finishing the work is we rely on our own strength. The key to Nehemiah finishing the walls was that he realized that he could not do the work on his own. So he called upon God to help him finish the work before him. Zech. 4:6 ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.’ We’ve got to make the same realization. We are powerless to complete the work God wants us to do without the power of the Lord. It is only by the power of His Spirit. God needs people who understand they are weak, but who are leaning into the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish great things for the Kingdom! For it is not by our might or power but it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we accomplish God’s will when we allow the Spirit to work through us

Fifth, act on intuitive faith and trust. Most people who follow God have cognitive belief but not intuitive trust. Cognitive belief is knowing God, who he is and what He is capable of. Intuitive trust is not only knowing God and having trust in him but also stepping out in faith and acting on it. It’s trusting God to provide whatever is needed when you are doing his work. It’s not waiting until all of the supplies and resources are in hand but stepping out in faith and trusting that God will provide what is need when it is needed. This is what enabled Nehemiah to go forward and continuing working on the walls even in the face of opposition. When his other tactics failed, Sanballat aligned himself with other neighboring nations. They began to organize their armies and an imposing force arises. What does Nehemiah do? He prays to God. Most people would call in the great army or panic but Nehemiah turns to God. This is where most people compromise and begin to make a deal with the enemy or fail to finish out the work of God. But followers of God act out of an intuitive trust in God and his calling upon their lives and stay committed to the work of God.

Of all his disciples, why did Jesus choose Peter to put in charge of his church? How many times can we count in the scriptures that Peter failed or denied Jesus? Peter is as impulsive as they come. Do you remember when Peter and the disciples are on the Sea of Galiliee and suddenly a storm blows in. The disciples have their eyes on everything that is going wrong and they have this fear of what’s going to happen. And all of a sudden, Jesus comes walking to the disciples on the water. Because of the storm they can’t make out the face of this figure approaching them and so they think it’s a ghost. Peter thinks he sees Jesus. This is the difference between cognitive belief and intuitive trust: Peter says, Lord if it is you, tell me to come and go out on the water. Jesus says, “Come!” and Peter’s out of the boat and starts walking on water. The disciple must have been yelling, “Peter, you idiot, what are you doing? You’re going to drown!” Yet Peter is walking on water! But then he looks down at his feet and the miracle before him taking his eyes off Jesus and he sees the storm swirling around him and he begins to sink. Now a lot of people would think Peter was a failure. But even great believers can be distracted for a moment and Peter was. Followers of Christ who accomplish God’s will have intuitive trust and know even when they begin to sink or fail, they can cry out, “Jesus save me!” and he will lift them up. Great believers keep stepping out and taking great risks for the kingdom, even after their failure. They keep acting on this compelling life purpose. Jesus didn’t create anyone for failure. Everyone was created for a great life purpose. You have one life, no comebackes or do overs, live it! Here’s what he said, You didn’t choose me, I chose you and appointed you to go out and bear fruit, fruit that will last. That’s why you’re here.

Sixth, stay focused on God’s will. Unless we are constantly pursuing the work of God, things can get off track in a hurry. When Nehemiah arrived back in Jerusalem and found out what was going on, he gently and lovingly reminded the people of their vision to follow God…..Well, not exactly. Actually he cursed them and pulled out their hair, but I’ll let you read that part of Nehemiah 13 yourself. The point is that as their leader, he confronted the problems and got the people back on track and he was bold about it to say the least. If you don’t stay focused on the Savior, his call upon our life and the work for which we have been created, then it is too easy to get distracted or sidetracked. It may just start with one small step off the path but then that leads to another small step which leads to another and then another. And before you realize it, you’ve lost your way and no longer are following God or pursuing the things of God.

A Chicago youth pastor was taking a group of teenagers during Spring Break to Florida to do evangelism on the beach, where the people were! But his fear, of course, was distraction, and so to keep the teens on task, he assembled a large cross almost five feet tall. Before they climbed on the bus to head south, he explained that they were going to take the cross with them everywhere they went: into restaurants, on the beach, to their rooms at night. At first, this was odd to them; lugging the cross around was even a bit embarrassing. Soon, though, it became for them a point of identification, a silent reminder of who they were and what they were about. The night before going home, the youth leader gave each kid two nails, and explained that, if they wanted to live their entire lives committed to Christ, they were to nail one nail into that cross and keep the other. Fifteen years later, one of those youth, now a stockbroker, called the youth pastor and told him that he still had the nail—and that it served to remind him that, whenever he was tempted to lose focus, the core of his life was his commitment to Jesus.

What part of your life do you need finish. Is it your marriage? Is it your career? Is it the relationship with your children? God doesn’t give up. No matter where you are in life, you did not choose Jesus, Jesus chose you. He didn’t choose you to lose. He chose you to finish what he has called you to do.