Nehemiah 6:15 So the wall was completed.... in fifty-two days.I Thought We Were Finished? It would have been very easy to think that building a wall was the remnant’s mission. All up till this point, the whole focus has been on building the wall. Building the wall was a tremendous assignment. But Nehemiah knew that it was only one part of the whole mission.
let's look back at another scene in biblical history. Think back to the time when Israel first entered into the Promised Land. They had just wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. They stood on the banks of the Jordan and God gave them a new leader.God didn’t allow Moses to enter the Promised Land, so He told him to appoint Joshua in his place.IT WAS Joshua WHO led them across the Jordan River to the place that God had promised them. No sooner had they crossed the river than they had an enemy to confront. They knew that the city of Jericho was waiting them FOR THEM. They sent spies in. They planned what they were going to do.They prepared.
And now that they crossed the river, their assignment to conquer Jericho was waiting for them. Of course we all know the story of what happened. God told them to do something that seemed impossible.He told them to march around the city once a day for six days. Then on the seventh day, march around it again. But this time, the priests would blow trumpets.And when the priests blew their trumpets,all the people were to shout at the top of their lungs.And when they did it, God accomplished the impossible through them. He leveled the city walls so they could go in and accomplish their assignment. And they did. But then what happened? Then they could just lay back and say that their work was done, right? They had accomplished a great task for the Lord. Now they were done, right? Wrong—they were just getting started. That was just the first assignment along the way. They still had a whole Promised Land to take.The problem was, they didn’t DO IT EXACTLY THE WAY GOD TOLD THEM TO.. .Sure, they went on to conquer parts of it. They went on to tackle more assignments along the way.But by the time you get to the end of Joshua’s life, they still hadn’t completed the mission. They settled down in the places they had conquered and left whole parts of the mission unaccomplished. And because they only partly obeyed the mission that God had for them, they were completely disobedient to Him. Judges 2:2 says, New International Version (NIV) ...’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? That’s a good question—why would they have done that? The same reason we get tempted to do it. Sometimes a little bit of success can be the worst thing for us, can’t it? We can accomplish a task and think that we’ve really accomplished something. We can reach a goal and think that we’ve arrived.
Has that ever happened here in the past? We got the new school built, the parking lot is being paved —we’ve really accomplished something. We have some property—now we’ve got it made. We built and—now we’re done. Those are all great things, aren’t they? But Jericho was a great thing too. It was a great assignment. And it was a great thing when that assignment was accomplished. But just because an assignment gets accomplished, doesn’t mean that the mission is accomplished. There is a huge difference. And Nehemiah knew the difference. You see, it would have been very easy to think that building a wall was the remnant’s mission. All up till this point, the whole focus has been on building the wall. Building the wall was a tremendous assignment. But Nehemiah knew that it was only one part of the whole mission.
But the mission wasn’t accomplished. It had only just begun. Just like our mission isn’t accomplished. We can have successful assignments along the way. This church has been blessed with many successful assignments. But every accomplishment we have… every victory we win… every step along the way… is just a step in accomplishing our mission of fulfilling the Great Commission.
And just like with Nehemiah and the remnant, every successful assignment should cause us to do some things things.
1. it should cause us to review the present reality. Look at how Nehemiah did that in verses 1-3.
Every time we have success, we need to review the present reality. Can you imagine what a relief it must have been to have finished the wall? Think about all of the hard work that they had done. Think of all the sacrifice. Think of all the blood and sweat that went into those 52 days. Really, it was even longer than that for Nehemiah. That wall had been the only thing on his mind for at least six months. It had been the main thrust of his prayers. It had caused him to change locations. It had caused him to change lifestyles. It had caused him to change careers. His whole life had changed because of that wall. And so had the people’s. But now they were done. The wall was built. The last thing to be accomplished was to hang the doors in the gates. And that was done. We reach a point now in the book of Nehemiah where every thing is in place. ....the construction has been finished. The wall was built, and the doors and gates have been hung. The perimeter of the city is now in place.We may fell that we are at just such a place. The building we worked so hard on is built. We are beginning to see the fruits of that labor. We are at an important time in the church’s history.
When things are accomplished and God blesses you, you have to
2.make a stand to keep the blessings that God has sent. 2 John 1:8New Living Translation (NLT) Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve. Be diligent so that you receive your full reward.
At this point in the journey, Nehemiah does a few things that tell me a lot about what we ought to do.
Nehemiah knew that if renewal was going to take place in Jerusalem, God would have to raise up godly leadership and he would have to appoint them.
One of the greatest tasks of the leader of a growing work is to
3. Raise up new leaders. Why? One cannot do it all-Moses father in law told him something important. His name was Jethro.
Exodus 18:17-18New International Version (NIV)17 Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone.
There are leadership gifts within the body.Leaders must be raised up in a place or they will not stay in a place!Notice that God had the people there already with the necessary gifts!There were:
1. Gatekeepers- those who watched the gates
2. Singers-those that led in worship-mentioned at least 18 times in Nehemiah.
3. Levites- the priests that ministered before God
Notice that Nehemiah in vs 2 says that I gave the charge of Jerusalem to my brother Hanani, and Hananiah.
Two qualities were mentioned: Note the two qualities that Nehemiah mentions —faithfulness and fear of God.
1. He was faithful- the greatest ability is dependability.
2. He feared God-
Hananaih was already proven in leadership. He was in charge of the Citadel, a fortress within the temple area. Not everyone can or should be a Nehemiah, but God calls people around other leaders to help them build the work of God.
Singers had been appointed for the celebration. The Levites were appointed to offer sacrifices of praise. But as a leader, Nehemiah knew that just because the assignment was finished, the mission wasn’t complete. He knew that the wall was just one step along the way in accomplishing the mission that God had for the remnant. And because of that, he kept his eye on the present reality of their situation. That’s tough to do. As a leader, it’s tough to pull yourself back from the excitement of accomplishment and see what needs to be done right now.
You see, the party is for what has just happened. But time moves on. And if your eyes stay focused on a past success, you will miss what the Lord has for you right now. Let’s use the School as an example. By all accounts, it is very successful. It’s great to celebrate that. It’s wonderful to rejoice in the fact that the Lord provided .
But at the same time, we’ve still got work to do. There is no time to relax.
That’s why Nehemiah didn’t stop. That’s why he kept moving. That’s why he kept his eye on the task at hand. He stepped back from the celebration and looked at the present reality. He assessed the present situation of the remnant and determined that they needed some additional godly leadership. So he gave it to them. And that leadership team immediately went into action.
They decided that the security of the city was paramount. Their enemies were still at work. So they decided to protect themselves from them by limiting the time the gates were open.
4. Nehemiah set a guard over the work.
They kept the gates closed during vulnerable times. You don’t welcome everything and everybody into your life! ILLUS: Harvard University was founded to train ministers! Look where it has come to by letting anything come in!
We need to guard our:
A. Mouths
Ps 141:33 Set a guard , O LORD, over my mouth;Keep watch over the door of my lips.
Ps 39:1I said, "I will guard my ways,Lest I sin with my tongue;I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle,While the wicked are before me."
AND WE NEED TO GUARD
B. Hearts
Prov 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence,For out of it spring the issues of life.
Matt 26:41 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
All throughout this study in Nehemiah, we’ve talked about the different burdens that God gives His people. He gives each of us a burden and He expects us to lead in accomplishing that burden. He gave Nehemiah a burden for Jerusalem. At first, that burden looked like a wall. But that was just a part of the burden. Because once the wall was complete, Nehemiah looked around and saw that something still wasn’t right. The remnant had a wall. They had a temple. They even had a city. But there weren’t many people there. The remnant was still very small. And not only was the remnant small, the buildings of the city were still in ruins. There was still a need.
5. Repopulate with faithfulness (v. 4) 4 Now the city was large and spacious, but the people in it were few, and the houses were not rebuilt. Nehemiah makes a statement here that the walls and gates have been repaired but the people are few. And Nehemiah knew two things, first that an empty city would surely be overrun (even with strong walls), and second that the faith of the One True God will perish from the earth if there are not children being born and raised in a sufficient manner to sustain it. The first command given to Adam/Eve and to Noah and family was to repopulate the earth. The family is the primary vehicle to promote faith in God and eternal life in men.
2 Timothy 2:2New Life Version (NLV)2 What you have heard me say in front of many people, you must teach to faithful men. Then they will be able to teach others also. Deuteronomy 6:14-15New Living Translation (NLT)14 “You must not worship any of the gods of neighboring nations, 15 for the LORD your God, who lives among you, is a jealous God. His anger will flare up against you, and he will wipe you from the face of the earth.
Psalm 127:3New Living Translation (NLT)3 Children are a gift from the LORD;
they are a reward from him.
Spreading the Gospel to children during School IS a wonderful thing. But there’s still a need.
If the Lord brings us 100 more NEW CHRISTIANS INTO OUR CHURCH… it will be a wonderful thing for them to hear the Gospel. But there will still be a need.
When we participate in the crusades and when we have our Revivals… if the Gospel is spread to thousands during those events, it will be wonderful. But there will still be a need.
If we feed dozens of people with our food ministry, there will still be a need. If we preach God’s Word through every means available, there will still be a need.
If the deacons visit everybody in this area, there will still be a need.
Because the need is “large and great.”
That’s why God’s burden doesn’t stop with completing a successful assignment. Once the assignment is complete, the burden doesn’t go away, because the mission isn’t complete.
Just because the wall was finished didn’t mean that the remnant was where they were supposed to be. Much more needed to be accomplished for them to be the kind of witness to the nations that God wanted them to be. Because God had given him the burden, Nehemiah could see that. He could see that the remnant needed to multiply. He could see that houses needed to be built and occupied.
He could see that city infrastructure and buildings needed to be built. Even though they had just accomplished a miraculous assignment, he knew that they had a long way to go.
Now, there are a lot of people who can look around and see all the stuff that still needs to be done. But there are two ways to deal with that. How could Nehemiah have reacted to what he still saw that needed to be done? He could have reacted like a never satisfied, never contented, gloomy gus. He could have completely ignored the wonderful work that God had accomplished through them. He could have “yeah, butted” it to death. “Yeah the wall is done, but look at the buildings.” “Yeah the people came together and worked, but there aren’t very many of them.” That’s one way that he could have reacted. And there are plenty of people who are willing to take that role. But that isn’t leadership. It’s depressing and it’s destructive. That’s not how Nehemiah reacted. Nehemiah reacted, not as a person who is never satisfied… Nehemiah reacted like a godly visionary. He saw that the need was large and great. But that didn’t cause him to discount the amazing nature of what had been accomplished.What it caused him to do was to plan for the future.
But the point is, the successful assignment of the wall didn’t cause him to quit. It caused him to see the continuing need which he used to formulate his vision for the future. Whatever burden God gives you, when you step out and lead in accomplishing that burden… it’s not going to stop with the completion of a certain task. Because you’re still going to see needs.
Nehemiah paid attention to the people.And just like with Nehemiah and the remnant, every successful assignment should cause us to do some things.
6. We need to care about people!
Their names were listed as heroes who had gone before! God knows our names, we need to remember other’s names!
B. We need to know that people are in God’s family!
Genealogy was critical to these people. Your standing in society, your ability to worship were influenced by your genealogy. 64 These sought their listing among those who were registered by genealogy, but it was not found; therefore they were excluded from the priesthood as defiled
Vs. 64 tells us that some were excluded from the priesthood because their lineage could not be traced.
(this list of names in verses 6-73 is ALMOST identical to the list of names in Ezra 2.)
There’s a reason that this list is in both places. And the context is that Nehemiah is gathering the people together according to their genealogy. And as he does that, he is listing the names of all those who originally came out of Babylon as part of the first remnant. He’s gathering the people together to remember their heritage.
Nehemiah knew that there was no way that he could be standing looking at a completed wall, if good, godly people had not done a lot of work before him. He’d only been on the scene for less than six months. None of the people who worked on the wall came over with the first remnant. None of them shouted with a great shout when the foundation of the temple was laid. None of them were there to shed a tear or to shout with joy. But their ancestors were.
There are only a handful of people in this church who have been here from the beginning. And a lot has changed since then. A lot of names and faces have passed through here. Some we remember and some we don’t. But the Lord has used each one to contribute something to where we are today. History knows absolutely nothing about Mispereth or Zattu or Hariph or Hadid or Lod. So why did God take up precious space in His Word for their names? Because each of them was important. Each of them was significant. And they were all part of the heritage that built the wall. They were all the PEOPLE that the remnant stood on to accomplish an impossible assignment.
SUNCOAST CATHEDRAL has a rich heritage. So many times people only want to dig up bad things that happened in the past. But there have been a whole lot more good things than bad things that have happened. Every time that the Lord allows us to accomplish a successful assignment, we need to remember that past heritage. We need to review the present reality. We need to recognize the future need. And we need to remember the past heritage.
ANOTHER THING WE NEED TO DO:
70 And some of the heads of the fathers’ houses gave to the work. The governor[s] gave to the treasury one thousand gold drachmas, fifty basins, and five hundred and thirty priestly garments. 71 Some of the heads of the fathers’ houses gave to the treasury of the work twenty thousand gold drachmas, and two thousand two hundred silver minas. 72 And that which the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand gold drachmas, two thousand silver minas, and sixty-seven priestly garments
7. Make GIVING a top priority (v. 70-73)
At the end of THIS CHAPTER the people make a major offering, nearly $5 million BY OUR STANDARDS. And if you remember even before appointing new leaders, Nehemiah made sure that the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers were in place. All this indicates that Nehemiah made worship into a high priority again. What we must understand is that GIVING &worship of God is a top priority.Malachi 3 New Living Translation (NLT)6 “I am the LORD, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed. 7 Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.“But you ask, ‘How can we return when we have never gone away?’....[AND GOD'S ANSWER WAS] . 9 You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! 11 Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease.[a] Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. 12 “Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
NEXT WEEK IN CH 8 WE WILL SEE HOW THE PEOPLE LISTEN TO WORD BEING READ BY EZRA.
