Most of us have seen or at least heard of the t.v. show. It begins with a house, usually it is small and in need of repair. Inside is a family that has suffered a loss or is going through some kind of a trial. Without their knowing it, hundreds of people suddenly show up and this really loud guy gets on a megaphone and yells good morning. Suddenly this family is whisked away for a dream vacation and while they are gone their entire house is torn down and transformed into a dream home with the best of everything from building materials to appliances. When they come home and they see their house for the first time, amid the screaming and the tears of joy are the testimonies about how their lives are going to be better because of this house.
It’s a great t.v. show, it’s good to see nice things happen for people in need, but then you hear the stories like the family that took in a group of brothers and sisters after their parents died, and the show came out they built them a beautiful house, they gave most of them cars, then after the camera’s left the family kicked the kids out and the kids sued the t.v. show for a new house. In life things are not always what they appear, and if it seems like a fantasy, it probably is.
As we continue to walk through to book of Nehemiah and the rebuilding of Jerusalem we come to an important transition. We began with discussing the need for revival, the need for God to renew us and for us to remember that the only agenda there is room for in this place is His agenda, that worship is putting all of our focus on Him, and if His agenda is first we won’t have time for anything else. Last week we talked about the importance of vision. Vision is the engine that carries us through the trials and into blessings.
Vision is one of the most important things that we can have as individuals and as a body of Christ. The revival in Nehemiah came when a man of God looked through God’s eyes and saw what should be instead of what was. He saw the sins and the problems of the people as his problems, and he saw not just the problems but the opportunity.
Listen it is important to dream, and as followers of Christ it is important to dream God sized dreams. Dreaming is good, but there must come a point when we stop dreaming and put those dreams into action. It was great that Nehemiah saw the problems of the people as his problems, it’s great that he thought the city could be rebuilt, and it’s great that he prayed about it, but if he had only done those things there wouldn’t be a book in the Bible about it and we wouldn’t be talking about him today. It is not enough to dream you must begin to build and you must begin to build according to what the Lord wants rather than what you may want. Psalms 127:1 says, “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” We can work toward revival, we can expend great energy on things that we use Christian language to justify the things that we do and the agenda that we won’t let go, but unless we are working to follow God and not just rituals, religion or our comfort zone in the name of God, we labor in vane.
We remember Nehemiah because of what God accomplished through him. Nehemiah became the catalyst that God used to rebuild Jerusalem. I know what your thinking a book about building a city is great if you’re about to launch a building fund, what does that have to do with us? Well remember the Old Testament is historical fact but the lessons in it are also symbolic of our lives. The same spiritual tools that Nehemiah used to rebuild the city are the same tools that we need to rebuild our lives and our church.
Let’s look at our key passage for today Nehemiah 2:11-20, “So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with Me; I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem; nor was there any animal with me, except the one on which I rode. And I went out by night through the Valley Gate to the Serpent Well and the Refuse Gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were burned with fire. Then I went up in the night by the valley, and viewed the wall; then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. And the officials did not know where I had God or what I had done; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the others who did the work. Then I said to them, “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Com and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.” And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me. So they said, “Let us raise up and build.” Then they set their hands to this good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed at us and despised us, and said, ‘What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?” So I answered them, and said to them, “the God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem.”
So let us begin to look at our list of tools, now I didn’t place them in order of importance, this is an order in which Nehemiah needed to use them. The first tool was timing. When you look at the language of the last verse in chapter one, it implies that Nehemiah was ready to go speak to the king right then about what he wanted to do. The problem is that if he had gone to speak to the king the answer probably would have been, “no.” The Persian kings were not exactly known for putting great foresight into their edicts and when you look at their personal behavior when they weren’t happy whoever made them unhappy tended to end up dead often by creative measures. So even though Nehemiah wanted to leave for Jerusalem and begin the process as quickly as possible, he made the right decision to wait for the proper timing.
This is a tool that we need to pay attention to in our own lives. We have a tendency to claim the victory in the name of God and determine since God wants it, it should happen as quickly as possible, so we do it when we want to without checking if God wants to do it now. Then we go to the Lord in prayer and we tell Him He has to make it work. God has a plan, it is precise in every detail including the timing, our job if we are His servants is to seek out that timing and stick to it. Hebrews 6:12 says that we are to, “imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” We have to wait for the Lord’s timing.
So Nehemiah chose to wait until it was the Lords time, until then he kept praying. Then look at what he did, verse one says, “I had never been sad in his presence before. Therefore the King said to me, ‘Why is your face sad, since you are not sick?” ‘There is nothing but sorrow of heart.’ So I became afraid.” Understand the picture, when Nehemiah thought it was the right time he decided to act sad in the kings presence and see if the king asked him what was wrong, if he did then this would be his opportunity to ask for permission to rebuild Jerusalem. Sounds good but this was a risky plan, remember one of the things that we know about Nehemiah that he had to be good looking. Why? Because kings in those days were picky, call them shallow, they didn’t like to be around ugly people and they didn’t like to be around sad people either. Sad people had a way of ending up away from the presence of the king and very much dead. Also if you read Ezra you find that Artaxeres had issued a decree that Jerusalem wouldn’t be built until he decided it should be built, Ezra 4:21, “Now give the command to make these men cease, that this city may not be built until the command is given by me.” This was dangerous, how do we know because when the king asks the question he had been waiting for what was Nehemiah’s response? He was afraid. This was a risk, but he knew that God was going to work at some point with the king, so even though it was dangerous, he did it any way. You should be able to figure out what the second tool is, it’s faith being willing to take a risk to do something for God even though it’s dangerous. Anything we do for God will require faith.
We’ve talked a lot about the church the past few weeks but what about you life. Is everything in your life exactly the way that you want it? The thing is if you a Christian you probably already know the things that you need to do, so what is stopping you from doing them. In America most of our challenges are with relationships, is every relationship you have what you would want it to be? If not what do you need to do to make it right? Do you need to make an apology? Then do it? The only things that could stop you are you pride, which if you realize who God is there isn’t any room for it, or fear that the other person may not receive you well. Why don’t you try doing what God would have to do and make it right.
But remember before you take that step out in faith, you pray about it first, prayer is the next tool. It’s the tool that we are to use all the time. Notice Nehemiah prayed and fasted, then he began to pray. You would think he was prayed up, but notice that when the king asks Nehemiah what is wrong, after Nehemiah tells him the problem, the king asks him, what do you want and the next things is says is, “so I prayed to the God of heaven.” We are to pray, then pray some more, then we pray until God answers and then we keep praying. Why did Nehemiah succeed where others didn’t, yes because he had a vision where he expected success but also because he spent so much time in prayer talking things over with God, he didn’t assume he knew what God wanted he kept talking to God and then listening for God’s answer. How many times do we pray for God to give us something specifically but rather than praying for the details? Nehemiah prayed for Jerusalem to be rebuilt but he didn’t try to tell God exactly how to do it. God I want to see you revive our church and this is exactly what it will look like. Nehemiah prayed for Jerusalem to be rebuilt.
The next tool is the one we’ve already mentioned, we must have vision. But understand this Nehemiah wasn’t the only one who had a vision of a rebuilt Jerusalem. Others had the same vision, they went they started, but somewhere in the business of the project they forgot to keep that vision in front of them. They started focusing on the immediate tasks and when obstacles came up beyond those they lost the strength to push through. We get caught up in the things of this world, and we forget that our ultimate vision is of a day when we stand before our Father in Heaven and He tells us well done. So things happen here and we get defeated. Oh God, Krispy Kreme’s closed this week, and I don’t know what I’m going to do. Or we get so caught up in the past that we can’t push forward to the future. Oh Lord, remember how great it was when you, let us never forget those things. But let us also understand that God is saying, ‘Yep that was all good, but I’ve got even more for you to do.” God’s vision for your life goes all the way until you are with Him, and He plans to keep you busy, don’t let your vision be about yesterday, dream about what tomorrow will be and work to make it happen today.
As you are looking there is one last tool to mention, the Bible. This book contains His covenant of what He wants to do in you, in us and in the world. Look at the words of Nehemiah, “I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs that I may rebuild it.” Nehemiah knew the history of the city, he was referencing that history, the source of his knowledge was the same source as his prayer last week. He prayed the scriptures because he knew the scriptures. If you want to know how to build for God whether it is your life, or your church you have to know your Bible, and you have to be willing to apply it correctly. This doesn’t mean you decide what you want to do and then hunt around for a verse that back you up and then you run with it, this means that you study the word of God for His will whether it agrees with what you want or not and then apply what it says to you life and task that you have at hand.
Because having the tools isn’t enough you have to build the right way. Again from Nehemiah there are several steps and I’ve listed them as they were applied. First Nehemiah gets the authority of the king. Not only did the king give him authority but he gave him lumber from his forest and an escort of captains and horsemen. The king sent Nehemiah out in style with all of his authority. But understand Nehemiah was still going out far from the king.
When he arrived in Jerusalem the really hard work was still ahead. But when he arrived it says that our Nehemiah just jumped right in and went to work right? No, that’s not what it says, it says he was there for three days before he did anything. He stopped to rest. If you want to build something correctly one of the things you have to do is take the time to rejuvenate. Do you realize that God created Sundays for rest? We all need to take a break sometimes. But there is a trap there. Sometimes we get involved in something and then we take a break for a while, then we get comfortable and we never get involved again, pretty soon we’re sitting on the pew saying, “I’ve done my time” like it’s a prison sentence. God wants to spend time with you, He has a vision for your life and those breaks that we all need aren’t supposed to be permanent they’re not supposed to become a life sentence.
The next step is to assess the task properly. Look at what Nehemiah did starting in verse 12 read it again, “Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem; nor was there any animal with me, except the one on which I rode. And I went out by night through the Valley Gate to the Serpent Well and the Refuse Gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were burned with fire.” Nehemiah is smart he knows that he has the blessing of the king and written permission to rebuild the city. He also understands that if you’re dead that permission isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. There are people who are willing to kill him and whoever else to stop this project.
So what does he do? Well until he knows exactly what he needs to do, he doesn’t let them know about anything. See as he plans how to complete this project he makes some judgment calls. The first one is that this project is dangerous. Again the Christian life was not meant to be safe, if you aren’t risking something then you missed something somewhere. I’m not saying you go out looking for danger but occasionally you life should be a little uncomfortable. God sized visions don’t get filled without risk. But remember this we are supposed to fear God, then we won’t really fear anything else. I love this verse from Hebrews, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Step two it was difficult. The walls were broken down the gates were burned with fire. Our task may be difficult. I haven’t talked to that person in a long time, they may not want to talk to me. How about this one, yeah I hurt that person, but they deserved it. Maybe, maybe not, but God is the judge not you. The next verse in Hebrews reads, “But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings.”
Do you see it, when you get a vision from God there will be a struggle to see it through, but if we will see the blessings, the path through struggle is to keep the vision in front of us, and it requires a team. Notice that Nehemiah took a few men with him. He didn’t even attempt to start this project alone he started off with a team and then worked to expand the team. You know what has me so excited about Madison Baptist Church as I look at where we are? It’s that I see God building His team. Oh there was a body before but it’s getting stronger.
We are ready to find God’s vision for what He wants in this place and then walk there together. It will be a journey. At times there will be challenges, but we will do it together. God’s got a great vision for this place, He is dreaming it even now and I am excited, I’m excited for the dream and I am excited because I see the team forming to fulfill that dream. This body is ready for God to do something special in us and through us.
So Nehemiah assessed the situation, then he worked to recruit teammates. See he started with a built in team, the people who came with him. But he didn’t want to stop there he wanted to expand it. God is an inclusive God, there is always room on His team and unlike the playground it’s virtually impossible to be the last one picked because He’s always looking for more. Once Nehemiah has examined the walls, he’s rejuvenated his spirit, he steps forward and rather than starting to build the wall he works to build the team. Verse 17 read it again, “Then I said to them, “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.” He starts by inviting everyone to be a part of the solution to their problem. Notice he says, “look at the distress that WE are in.” Nehemiah wasn’t in distress, he was welcome back at the palace. Nehemiah had a group of soldiers assigned to him as body guards. Nehemiah wasn’t in distress unless he chose to put himself there.
But he identifies with the people, and then He identifies the problem. Sometimes when we feel trapped in a situation, we decide to get as comfortable as we can until it is God’s timing to get us out. The problem is that we get too comfortable there and we stay there past God’s time. But then that person comes and says look at the mess we’re in, let’s work together to get out of it.
I was straight out of college with my accounting degree from ASU. It was at the time the worst job market for accountants in decades, I know this because the week of graduation I think they stated it on the evening news in every story that had to do with graduation. I was blessed I got a job in my field at least. I was working basically data entry in the human resources/payroll department, $7 an hour as a temp with no benefits or job security. When I first got there I was just looking to get something on my resume so I could get a better job. You know one where I could afford my student loans.
But as time went on I got comfortable, my boss liked me, my co-workers were nice, I got used to the hours. I got comfortable. Somewhere along the way it wasn’t that I forgot that I had a degree that should have meant a better job, I just stopped looking. His name was Greg Samuelson, he worked in my department for a total of less than three weeks and to be honest I think it was more like two. I was put in charge of training him. The question is who trained who, because I believe he was sent by God to move me. I was comfortable in a situation that I didn’t belong in, but my comfort became a trap. He bugged me everyday for the time that he was there to find something better to do. He even did it on his way out the door, by the way, he left because without any degree and not that much experience, he found a better job. The thing about Greg is he pushed me out of my comfort zone and made me start looking. Within three months God opened the door for me to jump over the bookkeepers, and staff accountants to be a senior staff accountant, within that same company. The thing is God had put me into the original position to give me the next one, but I had grown so comfortable where I was that if God hadn’t sent Greg to move me, I would have stayed where I was. And there are times in all of our lives where we need that push and that nudge. If you had a vision for more but somehow you’ve settled for less, then maybe today you need that nudge, whatever vision God gave you for your life can still happen, seek Him out, step out and see what happens, and look for the people that God is putting into your life to assist you.
Here is the cool thing about the way God works, Nehemiah needed these people to build the walls or he wouldn’t have been able to finish the task. The people needed Nehemiah to give them a vision. The people of God need each other which is why we have to live in grace with each other, because we can’t afford not to work together.
So after he formed a team then he spent his time building people up. Verse 18 read it again, “And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the kings words that he had spoken to me. So they said, ‘Let us rise up and build.’ Then they set their hands to this good work.’ You know what this part of the speech really said, “We can do this.” Sometimes the only thing that holds us back is our lack of belief in ourselves. But with God we can do all things. In fact that is what Paul wrote in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” If you have Christ in you, and there is a task He gives you to do you can do it.
Finally face opposition honestly. The next verse lists the opposition he faced but rather than be a politician look at what he says, “The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem.” I guess Nehemiah wasn’t feeling very ecumenical that day. Notice they charge him with an earthly crime, rebelling against the king. It is a crime he is innocent of, the king is the one gave him the authority to be there. But that isn’t the heart of the issue. The heart of the issue is would he follow God or not. In our culture the heart of the issue isn’t whether the people around us are good people. The heart of the issue is if they follow God.
The number one issue in life is are you a follower of Christ or not. If you accept Him, then He calls you His friend, He promises to be with you and to bless you, not all the time, but overall. He promises that in the times of trial in your life He will be there. But if you choose to reject Him then at the end of your life, you have no place in Heaven. Today stop resisting him, there is not other path that leads to eternal life today call on Him as Lord.
