Ever had this experience? You are excited about being a Christian and living for God, and then something happen and everything changes.
• The warm fuzzy feelings suddenly fizzle. You lost interest in anything spiritual.
That's not bad or wrong. Feelings come and go all the time.
• What's bad is when we let those “cannot be bothered” feelings stay and keep us from doing what is right.
That's called apathy, or being lukewarm. You let it stays too long, you are going to slide backward. We call it backsliding.
• In The Screwtape Letters by C S Lewis, the devil was teaching his nephew Wormwood (the apprentice devil) on how to tempt people.
• And he ends, “I, the devil, will always see to it that there is a bad person. Your job, my dear Wormwood, is to provide me with the people who DO NOT CARE.”
Jesus warned us about being apathetic. That’s the charge He levelled upon the church of Ephesus in Rev 2:1-6 – they have forsaken their first love.
• This is a challenge when we live in a comfortable environment like ours. We live cluttered lives with many attractions to entice us.
• The sense of our need for God is not always there. Reading His Word daily is a challenge. To pray regularly is difficult.
The key to overcoming apathy is not by trying to crank up some good feelings about God or the church.
• The answer God gave to the church of Ephesus is this: Repent and do the things you did at first (Rev 2:5).
• You need to start doing the things you did at first. Like? Get back to (1) talking to God (praying), (2) get back to listening to what He has said (the Scriptures), (3) do something practical for God.
Nehemiah was born in an era just like us. He had not suffered wars like his forefathers. He was born in exile.
• He lived in a comfortable environment, in the palace of a Persian king.
• He was a cupbearer to the King. He tests the King’s wine at each meal. A man who stands that close to the King must most likely be educated and smart.
Despite all these privileges and comfort of the Persian Court, Nehemiah had not forgotten his identity.
• He has not forgotten God’s agenda for him and his people.
• He was concerned about God’s will. He responded to a need that God has placed before him and got himself into the history book.
• Can one man make a difference? Yes, if God is behind him.
But God always stand behind His plan and purpose. The question is, are we?
• Are we standing behind His plan? Do we really care about God’s will? Are we concerned that God’s will be done?
• My sermon title today is “Does Anybody Really Care?”
• Nehemiah cared and changed history. Let’s learn from him - Nehemiah 1:1-11.
(1) Be ZEALOUS for God’s Glory
1:4 “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.”
• His first reaction was a sob. He cared enough to weep, and mourn and fast... for days.
• Have you ever had such experience? You are bothered by something, so much that you couldn’t sleep, you couldn’t eat, or you just sit there and cry?
Nehemiah was concerned about the welfare of his people, no doubt about that.
• He was concerned about the state of his home city Jerusalem, we can be sure.
• But more than that, in his prayer we sense something bigger than these. It wasn’t just a social concern, it wasn’t just a physical concern; it was a spiritual concern.
• It was a prayer of contrition, a prayer of confession.
He was saddened by the shame they have brought upon the Name of God.
• He was concerned about God’s glory; he was burdened for God’s glory.
• They were supposed to be a people chosen by God, to be placed in God’s chosen land, as a testimony to the nations, that Jehovah God is one true God.
But they have failed in this miserably. The people sinned against God and turned from Him. God warned them, again and again but they ignored His warnings.
• To cut the long story short, they eventually lost their land and their people were scattered all over as captives.
• They had brought shame to God’s Name. No longer were they pointing people to God.
Nehemiah ends his prayer with this line: “O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name.”
• We want to honour Your Name. We want to repent and rebuild our land, and restore our testimony.
• Nehemiah’s heart was burning for the glory of God. He was determined to reverse the past shame. He was determined to set things right.
Are you zealous for God’s glory? Is God’s glory a concern to you? Do you have a burden for God’s glory?
• When God puts a burden on your heart, don’t try to escape it. If you do, you may miss the blessing He has planned for you.
• Let us glorify Him more this year, in everything we do or say. This is our goal.
• And we pray that God will continue to watch over us. We do not want to shame His Name. If you are in such a state now, pray the prayer of Nehemiah.
Nehemiah’s desire was not a simple one. Rebuilding the city walls was a mammoth task.
• It was now about 140 years after the fall of Jerusalem (586BC).
• And over the past century, remnants of the Jewish people (led by Zerubbabel, Ezra) had already returned but they failed to rebuild the walls because of the oppositions from surrounding dwellers. Nehemiah prayed. That was his first response.
(2) Be PASSIONATE in Prayer
This is the first of 12 instances of prayer recorded in this book. This book opens and closes with prayer (Neh 13).
• You would see through this book that prayer was a habit for him. He unburdens his heart to God!
• He was a man of faith who depended wholly on God to help him. He succeeded because he prayed.
• The news was sad and overwhelming for him. He was sad but not hopeless. He was depressed but not defeated.
For believers of God, we are not helpless in the face of problems. We do not have to sit idly by and just accept whatever life deals our way.
• We are called to pray, and entrust our needs to God and expect God to act.
• Every miracle God ever performed started out with a problem.
• He did not do miracles to make good things better. He did miracles to make bad things good. He righted wrongs and fixed broken things.
If we do not pray, the broken things will remain broken because we are not exercising our faith in changing them.
• And we exercise our faith when we pray. Is there anything in your life that needs mending? Is there something that needs to be put right?
• Let’s keep that spirit of prayer going. As you know by now, we’re putting out prayer requests twice a week on ES CONNECT on Facebook.
• Pray. We cannot expect anything if we are not praying.
Nehemiah prayed for the simple reason that no one but God could have accomplished what was needed to be done.
• Did God showed up? Yes. Nehemiah accomplished this Herculean task in 52 days!
• We are going to look at it as we go along in this series.
Is there anything in your life that only God can do? If we feel we can, chances are we are not going to pray.
• Sometimes God needs to drive us into a corner, to a dead end, to help us understand our need of Him. I wish that don’t happen all the time.
Abraham Lincoln says, “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of those about me seemed insufficient for the day.”
• Nehemiah knows there are many things you can do AFTER you pray, but there is nothing you can really do UNTIL you pray!
• Behind every great work of God there is somewhere a kneeling figure.
(3) Be GOD’S ANSWER to the Need
1:11 “Give your servant success today by granting him favour in the presence of this man.”
• Who was ‘this man’ that Nehemiah referred to? He was the King. Nehemiah was going to see the King (chapter 2) and ask for leave of absence.
• He was prepared to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall. But to seek the King for such a personal request was a daring attempt.
• He prayed. He was trusting God to help him. He recognizes that the King is the key to the plan and that God is the key to changing the King’s heart.
• Prov 21:1 “The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; He directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.”
• Hudson Taylor: “It is possible to move men through God by prayer alone.”
Nehemiah started with weeping, and then prayer and now an action plan.
• He saw himself to be the ANSWER to the need of the moment.
• He was going to lead the people, organise the group, prepare the resources, and rebuild the wall! He was the answer to God’s call.
• It was similar to the response prophet Isaiah gave God. When the Lord asked Isaiah, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” he said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isa 6:8)
It’s amazing to note that Nehemiah did not pray for someone else to solve the problem; he sees himself as the answer.
• He was the King’s cupbearer, living in the palace and having a secured career. He was doing fine. Certainly it wasn’t his fault that his ancestors had sinned against the Lord and brought judgement to Jerusalem. But yet Nehemiah said, “Send me!”
• He was prepared to move from the palace to the desert, from a comfortable career to hard labour under the sun.
• He was offering himself to God because he was driven by a passion for God’s glory.
Usually when we say “I will pray for you” we say it without any attempt at helping because most of the time we really cannot.
• But we need to be careful not to make this into an excuse, and stop short at doing anything at all.
• There may be some things we can do. We need to take the step of faith and do the works God expect.
You see, God calls men, not things. He has things; He owns “the cattle on a thousand hills” (Ps 50:10) but He wants men to do His work.
• God calls Abraham, Moses, Gideon, Samuel, Esther, Paul and… you and me!
• Reminds me what E. M. Bounds says in his classic book, The Power of Prayer:
“Men are God's method. The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men…. What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use - men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Spirit does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men - men of prayer.”
When God wants to accomplish a work, He always prepares His workers and puts them in the right places at the right time.
• God put Nehemiah in Susa just as He had put Esther there a generation before, to save the Jewish people.
• He put Rahab in Jericho (saved the spies), Joseph in Egypt, Daniel in Babylon, and Paul in Rome.
• Today He put you in KTCC. Keep your heart open to God’s leading. You never know what God has in store.
With the help of God, Nehemiah succeeded… in 52 days!
• We will see in the coming weeks, that the walls were eventually rebuilt, the gates were restored and the people were rejoicing.
• And it all started with a man who cared about God’s glory and God’s work.
This scene can be repeated today. By faith we shall offer ourselves to serve God.
• We will pray and keep on praying; because this is the only guarantee we have of a successful life and ministry.
• We want to be moved by the things that move the heart of God!
