MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
(This is the tenth of a Leadership series featuring Nehemiah. Some ideas & illustrations in these messages were based on or benefited greatly from, to varying extents, the book “Hand Me Another Brick” by Charles Swindoll.)
ILL. Years ago, while driving down in the old South, I found myself going down a country road which led me by a large, neglected looking cemetery, seemingly out in the middle of nowhere.
Noticing a historical marker by its entrance, I stopped & discovered that it was a Civil War cemetery, containing the bodies of soldiers killed in a battle nearby. So I spent a little time walking through it, looking at the rows upon rows of white crosses, & reading some of the names & the regiments to which they belonged.
There was an old wall running right through its middle, with rows of crosses on both sides. Confederates on one side of the wall, Union soldiers on the other.
I left that cemetery feeling rather depressed. Here were men who had died & been buried far away from their homes & loved ones. In those years right after the Civil War maybe some of their families traveled the long distance to visit their graves, but no more. From the condition of the cemetery it was obvious that very few people visited it any more. Forgotten, unknown, but not to God.
ILL. Years ago my grandfather told me that I had a great, great uncle who fought & died for the South in the Civil War, & that I had another great, great uncle who fought & died for the North. But I don't know their names. You see, as a young kid I never got around to asking my grandfather to tell me more about them. And now for many years it has been too late.
I'll probably never know their names, or where they are buried. I may have walked right past them in that cemetery, & never knew it. Forgotten, unknown, but not to God.
ILL. Ethel & I have also visited Arlington Cemetery at Washington, D.C. Here lie the bodies of veterans of all of our wars. This is not a neglected cemetery, for hundreds of thousands of people visit it every year. Maybe you have been there, too.
It is an awe inspiring sight, there on the hillside above the Potomac River. But to me, most impressive of all was that tomb which is continually guarded, the "Tomb of The Unknown Soldier." In recent years several more bodies have been added to that tomb, one from each of the wars in which our men have died. But on that original tomb are engraved these words, "Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God"
Their names are not known to us. Yet they, along with many others, shed their blood for us, that our land might be free. Unknown, but not to God.
But it isn't just a nation's soldiers who give themselves to a cause, do their duty, pay the price, & then are forgotten or unknown. It happens among the people of God, too.
I. FAITHFUL SOLDIERS OF GOD ARE OFTEN FORGOTTEN, TOO BUT NOT BY GOD!
For several weeks now we have been following the experiences of Nehemiah & the people of God as Nehemiah leads them in overcoming all kinds of opposition & in rebuilding the walls around the city of Jerusalem. Then, with the help of Ezra, the Scribe, he has led the people in a revival back to God.
A. It was a glorious time in the history of Jerusalem, but Nehemiah & Ezra didn't do it alone. They were joined by a great host of people who dedicated themselves also to the service of God - people who gave themselves to God, did their duty, paid the price - but who are completely unknown to us.
In Nehemiah 11 we find a long list of people whose names are unknown to us not only unknown but almost unpronounceable. I challenge you to go through that 11th chapter & pronounce the names there. For us today it is virtually impossible!
I wish that all Bible names were like David or Daniel. But, unfortunately, they are not, & here we have some of those unknown & unpronounceable names.
B. But before we can understand the 11th chapter of Nehemiah we need to get a little background. And the background is found in the 7th chapter, so let's back up for just a moment & read a few verses there.
Nehemiah 7:1-2 says, "After the wall had been rebuilt & I had set the doors in place, the gatekeepers & the singers & the Levites were appointed. I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah the commander of the citadel, because he was a man of integrity & feared God more than most men do."
Hanani & Hananiah are only mentioned in the book of Nehemiah. They are not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible. We know that one was a brother of Nehemiah & the other was a commander of the fortress who was a faithful man & feared God more than most men do. That is all we know - a couple of nobodies who did their jobs & then passed on into historical oblivion.
C. Now here is the picture: The wall project has been finished. Ezra had already built the temple, so both the wall & the temple were complete - but the city was missing one important ingredient - people!
Go down to Nehemiah 7:4. It tells us, "Now the city was large & spacious, but there were few people in it, & the houses had not yet been rebuilt."
ILL. Do you remember the little finger exercise we learned when we were children in S.S.? "Here's the church / here's the steeple / Open the doors / & here's the people."
We could make up another one for Nehemiah. "Here's the gate / & here's the city / Open the gate / & my, what a pity / No people!” Everything else necessary was there - the wall was there - the temple was there - but no people! What is a city without people?
D. Why were there no people in Jerusalem? The reason is two fold, I suppose.
1. First of all, building a house in Jerusalem was hard work. The city had been completely destroyed 160 years before. What had once been a great city had been laid waste. The walls & every building had been demolished, torn down. Boulders & ruins of buildings were everywhere!
So before anyone could build a house in the city they would have to deal with all the rubble. And that was going to take a lot of time & effort before they could even start on the task of building their home! So most of the people had decided that it simply wasn't worth the trouble to rebuild amidst the ruins of Jerusalem.
2. Secondly, they didn't feel safe in Jerusalem. For 160 years the walls had been down & the city open to marauders.
So during these years the people had built new homes & towns outside of Jerusalem. It was much easier to build & fortify their new homes in these suburban areas than it was to clean up & rebuild Jerusalem.
So they are comfortable. They have planted their roots in the soil, & they are just as content as they could possibly be. And it has been this way with them for years. Then Nehemiah came, & now there is a wall around Jerusalem once again.
And the temple has been rebuilt - but nobody is living in the city. Well, almost nobody. Nehemiah 11:1 says, "Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem, & the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the remaining nine were to stay in their own towns."
II. SOME OF GOD'S PEOPLE WERE DRAFTED, & SOME WERE VOLUNTEERS
A. Do you understand what happened? The people knew that Jerusalem had to be rebuilt. It was their capitol, their holy city, a testimony to their unity, & a symbol of their covenant with God. God's temple was there, & only when Jerusalem was strong & secure once again could they in their little towns feel strong & secure again.
But who would want to leave their comfortable homes in the suburbs to start all over again in the city? Nobody, that's who, but somebody had to do it, so the people decided to have a draft. They cast lots, & every 10th family was drafted to move back into Jerusalem.
The people really didn't want to leave their homes & move into Jerusalem, but it had to be done. So those who were drafted responded to the call of duty.
Now, notice vs. 2: It says, "The people commended all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem." That word "volunteer" is a very interesting word. In Hebrew it means "to incite, to impell from within, a tremendous urge from within to do something."
So here we have two groups of people: #1 - the group whose names are chosen by lot, who are drafted, & who are going to do their duty & move into the city.
#2 the group who said, "I don't have to move into the city, but I am going to do it anyway. I volunteer to do it!"
Nobody told them that they had to do it, but because they loved Jerusalem - because they loved God - they were willing to sacrifice their homes & all their comforts & move into the city. They were willing to clean away the rubble - callous their hands - build a house - & rebuild once again the holy city of God.
Their names are lost. We have no idea who they were. But how impoverished we would be if they had not made their anonymous contribution to rebuild the city of Almighty God. Unknown, forgotten, but not by God.
B. That is the way it has been in the history of our nation, too. When danger has arisen there have been times when our nation has used a draft. In the eyes of our young men someone had to fight the "war to end all wars" - someone had to "make this world safe for democracy" - so those who were drafted did their duty, & fulfilled their obligation.
Others volunteered. They loved life just as much as did the next man, but they saw the terribleness of the enemy, & the justice of their cause, & something within impelled them to do what they could for that which was right, even to pouring out their "last full measure of devotion." Unknown, forgotten, but not by God.
C. That is the way it is in the church, too. Christians have a tremendous responsibility to be the water of life in a world that is dying in sin - to be the light in a world that is falling into the darkness of sin - to point men & women, boys & girls to the only Savior this world will ever know.
Some of us have to be drafted. God has given each one of us a gift, talents & abilities to be used in His service. He has equipped us to fill some special need in His kingdom, but we wait to be asked, to be drafted. Why? Is it modesty, or uncertainty, or timidity?
Whatever the reason, as the old hymn says, "There is a place for every worker in the vineyard of the Lord." So don't turn your back on the call. Do your duty with gladness fulfill your obligation serve your Lord!
And some volunteer. The church, more than any other body on the face of this earth, needs volunteers. It needs people who are "incited, impelled from within" to do God's will in their lives.
ILL. It needs people like Martin Luther who said, "God helping me, I can do no other." It needs people who will say, "I cannot do everything, but I can do something, & God helping me, I will!"
CONCL: Every once in a while I am asked, "Who is your favorite character in the Bible?" I suppose that when I am asked that question that I am expected to answer with “Moses” or “Abraham” or “Peter” or “Paul” - one of the great leaders known by all.
But what if I were to answer “Mephibosheth” or “Onesiphorus” or “Habakkuk”? You would probably think that I was a bit strange, because those names are almost unknown. And yet, they are among the willing nobodies who made their contributions in the service of God. Unknown, forgotten, but not by God!
In Matthew 20:25-28 we read: "Jesus called them together & said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, & their high officials exercise authority over them.
“Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, & whoever wants to be first must be your slave - just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, & to give His life as a ransom for many."
Folks, I want you to realize that, while our ministries, our service for God, may not be greeted with thundering applause from the multitudes - they are not unnoticed. God never forgets that which we do for Him.
Also remember - our rewards are not dependent upon the applause, either, but rather upon our faithfulness & our willingness to serve.
Let us echo again the determination, “I cannot do everything, but I can do something, & God helping me, I will!”
We are a part of God's great army. I thank God for you, & I pray this morning that if you feel your service is insignificant that you will be reminded how important you really are. You are a vital part of His body here & without you the whole body, the church, suffers.
INVITATION.
