A Monumental Task
Nehemiah 2: 9-20
Intro: In my preparation and study this week, I ran across something I would like to share with you this morning. The author of this is unknown but the words will stir your heart.
. I am a soldier in the army of my God. The Lord Jesus Christ is my commanding officer. The Holy Bible is my code of conduct; Faith, prayer and the Word are my weapons of warfare.
I have been taught by the Holy Spirit-- trained by experience, tried by adversity and tested by fire. I am a volunteer in this army, and I am enlisted for eternity.
I will either retire in this army at the rapture or die in this army; but I will not get out, sell out, be talked out, or pushed out. I am faithful, reliable, capable, and dependable.
If my God needs me, I am there. If He needs me in the Sunday school to teach the children, work with the youth, help adults or just sit and learn I’ll be there.
He can use me because I am there! I am a soldier. I am not a baby. I do not need to be pampered, petted, primed up, pumped up, picked up, or pepped up. I am a soldier.
No one has to call me, remind me, write me, visit me, entice me, or lure me. I am a soldier. I am not a wimp. I am in place saluting my King, obeying His orders, praising His name, and building His kingdom!
No one has to send me flowers, gifts, food, cards, candy or give me handouts. I do not need to be cuddled, cradled, cared for, or catered to. I am committed. I cannot have my feelings hurt bad enough to turn me around.
I cannot be discouraged enough to turn me aside. I cannot lose enough to cause me to quit. If I end up with nothing, I will still come out ahead. I will win. My God has, and will continue, to supply all of my needs.
I am more than a conqueror. I will always triumph. I can do all things through Christ. Devils cannot defeat me. People cannot disillusion me. Weather cannot weary me. Sickness cannot stop me. Battles cannot beat me. Money cannot buy me.
Governments cannot silence me and hell cannot handle me. I am a soldier. Even death cannot destroy me.
For when my Commander calls me from this battlefield, He will promote me to Captain and then allow me to rule with Him. I am a soldier in the army and I’m marching, claiming victory.
I will not give up. I will not turn around. I am a soldier marching, heaven bound.
. Being a soldier for Christ is a monumental task isn’t it?
. There is an old saying that says nothing is too big for my God.
. When you have a monumental task, God will provide.
. In our scripture this morning, Nehemiah finally comes face to face with the task that God has placed upon Him.
. It’s time to move from vision to vocation.
. From dreams to details.
. In the past two sermons on Nehemiah we saw the vision and burden that God had placed in Nehemiah’s heart to rebuild the walls that lay in ruins back in Jerusalem.
. He had taken this vision to the King and God had used the pagan king to help bring about his pleasure.
. The King had given Nehemiah a leave of absence from his job as the King’s cupbearer to go and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
. He had also insured that Nehemiah would have the necessary materials to fulfill the vision that God had given him.
. When we last left Nehemiah he was giving all the credit to God.
. His last statement in verse 8 was this:
. And the King granted these requests, because the gracious hand of God was on me.
. Nehemiah knew that he had a monumental task ahead of him but he also knew that he would be successful because the gracious hand of God was on him.
. Let’s look at our scripture. Nehemiah 2:9-20
. 9When I came to the governors of the province west of the Euphrates River, I delivered the king’s letters to them. The king, I should add, had sent along army officers and horsemen to protect me.
10But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard of my arrival, they were very displeased that someone had come to help the people of Israel.
11So I arrived in Jerusalem. Three days later,12I slipped out during the night, taking only a few others with me. I had not told anyone about the plans God had put in my heart for Jerusalem. We took no pack animals with us except the donkey I was riding.
13After dark I went out through the Valley Gate, past the Jackal’s Well, and over to the Dung Gate to inspect the broken walls and burned gates.
14Then I went to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but my donkey couldn’t get through the rubble.
15So, though it was still dark, I went up the Kidron Valley instead, inspecting the wall before I turned back and entered again at the Valley Gate.
16The city officials did not know I had been out there or what I was doing, for I had not yet said anything to anyone about my plans. I had not yet spoken to the Jewish leaders—the priests, the nobles, the officials, or anyone else in the administration.
17But now I said to them, “You know very well what trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire. Let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and end this disgrace!”
18Then I told them about how the gracious hand of God had been on me, and about my conversation with the king.They replied at once, “Yes, let’s rebuild the wall!” So they began the good work.
19But when Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab heard of our plan, they scoffed contemptuously. “What are you doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” they asked.
20I replied, “The God of heaven will help us succeed. We, his servants, will start rebuilding this wall. But you have no share, legal right, or historic claim in Jerusalem.”
. There are many points we could look at in these verses this morning but let’s look at what happened to Nehemiah as he started working toward completing this monumental task.
. There are three points to look at this morning.
. Anytime there is a monumental task for God there will be Resistance, Rubble and Reliance.
.The first thing we see here is Resistance to what God has planned.
. Look at verse 10&19:
. 10But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard of my arrival, they were very displeased that someone had come to help the people of Israel.
. 19But when Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab heard of our plan, they scoffed contemptuously. “What are you doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” they asked.
. The so called leaders and officials immediately threw up resistance to what Gods plan for the walls of Jerusalem.
. Through much prayer as we saw in our other two sermons in Nehemiah we saw that God had given this vision and task to Nehemiah.
. There has been resistance to God’s plan since the garden and fall of man.
. It seems anytime God’s agenda is put forward, there are some who give resistance to this agenda.
. Sanballat was the governor of Samaria and Nehemiah would have had to show his credentials to him as he passed through.
Tobiah may have been the governor of Ammon, and was definitely in cahoots with Sanballat.
Geshem is an Arab that likely controlled a lucrative trade route surrounding Jerusalem.
So what we have here, simply, is a power struggle.
Sanballat to the north, Tobiah to the east and Geshem to the south.
.These guys were happy just the way things were.
.All Nehemiah was going to do is change things and they didn’t like it.
.Someone once defined a Christian as someone who is completely fearless, continually cheerful, and constantly in trouble.
. You see, a Christian is commanded to go into the world and make disciples.
. We have affirmed that in our mission statement that says that we are , “To encourage and develop those we meet into committed followers of Jesus.”
. When you do that folks, you will encounter resistance. Just like Nehemiah did.
. There will always be resistance when you challenge or try to change the status quo.
. We will apply this concept to our church here in a few minutes.
. Next we see that when we set out on a monumental task there will be Rubble.
. I have read many commentaries and heard and looked at many sermons on Nehemiah’s vision and this concept of rubble is just kind of read over many times.
. We all have to contend with rubble in our lives and in our Christian walk.
. Things will get in the way.
. Look at verse 14v again: 14Then I went to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but my donkey couldn’t get through the rubble.
. As part of combat training, a group of soldiers were made to crawl on their stomachs under barbed wire while rounds were being fired above them. The training instructor continually screamed at them to “get down!” Near the end of the exercise, the training instructor shouted to one soldier, “Why aren’t you crawling lower?”
“Because,” the trainee said, “my skin keeps getting in the way!”
. Nehemiah ran into obstacles. As he was surveying the task at hand, he says that he found so much rubble that the donkey that he was riding couldn’t get through.
. This would have been a perfect time for Nehemiah to throw up his hands and say, this is too hard.
. Look at all this rubble.
. There’s too much opposition and rubble in the way. I will never get this done.
. The task is just too overwhelming.
. This is something that can’t be done.
. Look in verse 15 and see what he did.
. 15So, though it was still dark, I went up the Kidron Valley instead, inspecting the wall before I turned back and entered again at the Valley Gate.
. Something got in the way of where he wanted and needed to go so he just went another route.
. He didn’t just give up because of the rubble.
. Folk’s when we are in God’s will and traveling the path that He wants us to travel, stuff is going to happen.
. Satan will use rubble to try and get us to quit.
. When you run into these obstacles, Satan wins if you look at it and say this stuff here is just too hard to overcome.
. We must navigate around the rubble that we encounter in order to go where God wants and needs for us to go.
. Again we will apply this concept to our church in a few minutes.
. Thirdly, we see that when there is a monumental task, there must be Reliance.
. We must rely on God to help us with this monumental task.
. Look at verse 20 again:
. 20I replied, “The God of heaven will help us succeed. We, his servants, will start rebuilding this wall…
. Nehemiah said that we will rely on God to help us succeed.
. Notice Nehemiah said that the God of Heaven will help us, not do everything for us.
. This is an illustration that you may have heard before but it is applicable to this.
. There was a very devout man who lived along the river. Heavy rains came and the flood waters started to rise in the streets. Being a man who trusted God, he prayed Lord deliver me from these floods. Well when the water got up to his doorstep, a police officer drove up and asked him if he needed a ride to higher ground. He told the police officer no. my God will deliver me from the flood. Again he prayed for deliverance from the flood. When the water came into the house, he had to go up to the second floor to stay out of the water. A sheriff came by in a boat and said sir, come with us, we will take you to safety. The man told him no. He said that his God would deliver him from the flood. Again he prayed fervently to god for protection from the flood. The flood waters forced him to his roof top and the National Guard flew a helicopter over and extended a ladder to him but he wouldn’t climb up to the helicopter. All of a sudden a big wave engulfed him and when he woke he was standing before God. He looked at God and said I don’t understand, I was depending on you to save me Lord. God looked at him and said, I sent a car a boat and a helicopter. What else did you want me to do?
. The point of the story is that yes we need to rely on God to help us but we can’t sit on our laurels and expect Him to just miraculously make everything happen.
. As Nehemiah said, we can depend on God to help us but this was after Nehemiah had begun working through what God wanted him to do.
. Now how does all of this apply to us?
. Folks we have a monumental task ahead of us.
. We have surveyed the scene through our vision casting and through prayer and listening to God, we have decided on a path.
. This path will not be easy.
. Just like Nehemiah, we will experience some resistance.
. I don’t know where that resistance will come from but it always comes.
. Sometimes there will be rubble and the task will seem too monumental for us.
. We cannot turn back.
. Just like Nehemiah, we must not let things get in the way.
. We must follow the path that is available to us and move forward.
. We have decided to increase our staff with a children’s minister.
. This is a only a small step in the grand scheme of our vision but it is the first step.
. Sometimes the first step is the hardest.
. I challenge you to seek God in how He would have you participate in our fund drive to add this staff member.
. Rely on God to show you and help you remembering that He requires action from each of us.
. Perhaps you are here this morning and you can’t really rely of God to guide you because you have never placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
. I invite you to do that today.
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources:
The Holy Bible, NLT
Kingdom Building 101: Get Real / The Plan, Joe Harding, SS
