Sermon Brief
Date Written: March 8, 2013
Date Preached: March 10, 2013
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: Building with God
Sermon Title: Stepping Out Of Our Comfort Zone
Sermon Text: Nehemiah 10-11 [ESV]
28“The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding, 29join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God's Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes.
Introduction:
Last week we saw how the people of Jerusalem were willing to submit themselves in willing confession to God. AS a corporate body, we saw how they repented for their sins of their ancestors AND their sins as well!
These people desired God to cleanse them and for them to be able to start afresh, and be basically ‘reborn’ (so to speak) in their walk with God AND in this new life in they now had in the newly rebuilt city of Jerusalem!
We ended last week by reading about an oath the people agreed to follow… it was a written covenant of repentance and a written vow by the people that stressed repentance and obedience to God!
TODAY I want us to continue looking at this situation… I want us to recognize that the people did NOT only allow the leaders to sign this covenant BUT they had a desire to be a part of this covenant as well! SO, today as we read in v.28-29 of chp11 we can see that these people committed and vowed to God the same things!
In this passage, the people said that they wanted to “…enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God's Law…” a curse and an oath… this was a serious commitment on their part and they placed it in writing!
Now when it comes to any commitment, there is NOTHING better than to put it in writing and let others know about it to hold you accountable for your commitment!
Think about it… our society is BIG on putting things in writing! If we are entering into an agreement with someone, it is always best to put things in writing.
However, as Christians, when it comes to spiritual things and the living our lives in Christ there are MANY who feel that putting things in writing borders on LEGALISM! I believe that as believers MOST of us are simply NOT willing to put our spiritual commitments IN WRITING for others to see and know!
Here in our passage this morning we find a people who knew about the past of their people. These people had seen the results of past sins, they had experienced and lived through the ugly results of those sins… they did not want to REPEAT those sins OR the ugly result of those past sins either!
So what see that these people were willing to make an oath to God that, both, confessed their sin & pledged an oath of obedience and submission to God…
Now this morning, the focus for this sermon will be about what we, as a church, can pick up from what we see these people doing! The focus of the sermon is really simple…
First we will ask the question, “Is such a commitment necessary?”
Second we will ask, “If this is necessary, can we apply such a commitment here at Oak Park?”
Finally we will ask, “If we do apply this here at Oak Park, what will it look like OR what will it say in that commitment?”
I want you to understand that this sermon flows from my heart and where God is leading me as your pastor… and where I believe God is leading us as a fellowship! Let’s look at this first question…
Is a commitment like this really necessary?
In our passage this morning we find that the people of Jerusalem made a commitment to radically change how they were living. This was a radical commitment to serve God in a greater way than they ever had before this time…
Prior to this, the prophets had come and warned the people, but the people had not listened. However, it seems that this time God had their attention and they seem to be serious about their commitment to God!
What does this mean for us as a fellowship? When we look at what these people were willing to commit to… I believe such a commitment would be beneficial for any group of people!
I truly believe that if we were willing to make a commitment such as this to God as a fellowship… it would serve as a great anchor in holding us firm TO OUR COMMITMENT to God!
The people of Jerusalem realized where they had fallen short of serving God and wanted to change the culture… This called for an all out commitment by the the people!
This event changed their lives! God had long been working in their lives, but these people had been having trouble seeing God at work because their focus was NOT on Him. This commitment took their focus off of themselves and placed it on their God!
I believe a commitment like this is needed for believers to fully focus on God and His plan for them! This type of commitment forces believers to focus MORE on how they live rather than what they say!
As Christians, we have the tendency to ‘talk’ a great game and proclaim God as our God, and even go thru the motions of fulfilling the Law… but our actions don’t always reflect a love and obedience toward the God we SAY we serve!
Today we are a fellowship that has seen BOTH the mercy and blessing of God BUT also the hard times! As a fellowship, we have suffered greatly over the past several years in dealing with rebuilding our fellowship and the repairing of our facility!
Today we stand at a crossroads in our journey to rebuild this church with God. We stand as a fellowship SEEKING to grow and prosper, but the question for us today is, “…are we willing to make the necessary commitment TO grow and prosper in the Lord?”
We desire the blessing of growth for our church, BUT the question remains ARE we WILLING to make the necessary commitment to God to see growth happen!
The people of Jerusalem were going to use this oath to God as a testimony AGAINST themselves for any future disobedience or rebellion. This written commitment was used to keep them focused on what their obedience to God!
As we look at this oath given by the people, we can see it is not only a great idea, but I truly believe it IS necessary for any group of believers… to both grow and flourish as a body IN CHRIST!
For FAR too long we have floundered around as a fellowship doing things OUR own way. We have NOT grown here because of our unwillingness to submit to God and our stubborn prideful hearts.
Now people, I want you all to know that I am NOT pointing my finger at you without including myself! I include myself in this number as I am as guilty as any…
BUT, I truly believe the main reason we have not grown or prospered in our fellowship for the past several years is that (as a body, as a corporate fellowship) we have not made a solemn commitment to the plan of God and our service to Him.
I believe that we have often given it lip service in the past, but we have never truly and fully committed to God and then followed thru on that commitment!
As humans, we ALL [myself included] have the tendency to say we’ll do ONE thing and THEN we allow the circumstances and situations of life to lead us in a different direction and we choose to do other things [usually things more convenient for us at the time] when the time comes…
I believe if we had a commitment to God like the agreement these people in Jerusalem made with God would keep us from straying from our commitment!
Now we must understand that any written commitment or oath to God is NOT a guarantee of success. However, it IS a tool that we can use to focus our hearts and minds on HIM… and on what HE is leading us to do and when we focus on God, good things begin to happen!
Now that we can see that type of commitment IS necessary for us as a fellowship, we need to ask ourselves, how can we apply such a commitment here at Oak Park?
How Can We Apply This Commitment?
For us to answer how we can apply this commitment to our fellowship, I believe we must look to what the people of Jerusalem did to ‘apply’ their commitment to themselves!
The 1st thing we see pertaining to this commitment to God by the nation was that the leadership of the nation LED in this commitment!
Look at ch10 at the first few verses… The NLT says it like this:“…the document [oath] was ratified and sealed with the following names…”
1st was we find Nehemiah who was the governor and the leader of the people in rebuilding the wall… Nehemiah had accused many people of sinful behavior and had told them to repent…
However, what we see here is that Nehemiah completely understood that this oath of repentance and obedience was something he must do as well and so Nehemiah honored God by his submission and repentance. We find that Nehemiah’s name was the 1st name on the list…
I believe this is a vivid illustration to ME as your pastor! I have been called to LEAD Oak Park and be the leader God requires… SO anything I call our church to do, I must FIRST lead the way!
If I call on others to share their faith, I must be sharing my faith…
If I call on people to attend and invite others to church, I must be a leader in attendance AND in inviting others to come…
If I call others to give generously and faithfully, then I MUST lead the way by giving generously and faithfully!
Leaders MUST lead, & Nehemiah was being the leader God had called him to be as he submitted to this covenant to God FIRST! And leader of this church I must LEAD!
The 2nd group here were the names of 21 different priests. This represented the religious leadership of the nation… what it represents for us IS our staff here at Oak Park… those called to ministry and our church, called to serve in leadership positions… This is Ben, Ken and Wren… This is our leadership!
The 3rd set of people this mentions were the Levites… and we learned who these were last week, the Levites were the Temple workers… those who SERVED in the Temple!
This represents the workers in our church, those who have sacrificed to serve the church in some manner.
This represents our seven (7) deacons.
This represents our many SS teachers.
This represents those who serve on the many committees and ministry teams we have here at Oak Park.
This represents all those in our fellowship who sacrifice to practice and sing in the choir…
This represents our nursery workers and children’s church helpers and leaders!
This represents our ESL/ARW volunteers.
This represent those who serve in our food closet.
This represents those who serve in our midweek JoEllen Nursing Home ministry…
This represents all of those who have surrendered to serve in any form of ministry that we have here at Oak Park!
This represented the lay leadership of the nation… FOR US it represents the lay leadership of our church!
So how does this written oath or commitment apply to our fellowship? 1st thing is that LEADERS must lead!
From the leadership of YOUR pastor, to your ministry staff, to those who serve in the various ministries of your church… ALL leadership must be willing to make this commitment to God!
The 2nd thing I see about how we can apply this commitment to our fellowship is found in v28…
It simply states, “…then the REST of the people…who were old enough to understand [to what they were committing] joined their leaders and bound themselves with an oath…”
The 2nd application we can see is that where leaders lead… the people must FOLLOW! People we need to see that God is clearly leading us to become the church that HE DESIRES!
He has called ME here to lead! He has called others into other leadership positions on our ministry staff, and He has called still others take on leadership roles within our fellowship… He is now calling YOU to follow us as we seek to follow Christ!
ALL of the people MUST be on board, just like the leadership! Without people to follow, leadership is useless! God was calling ALL the people of Jerusalem to commit… I believe God is NOW calling ALL of Oak Park to commit to serving Him here in this community.
So if this is a necessary commitment for our fellowship -- initiated by our leaders & bought into by all the people… then the question is… what should this commitment say?
What Should This Commitment Say/Detail?
Let’s look at what the people of Jerusalem committed to do in their oath to God…
to observe and do all the commandment of The Lord
not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons.
we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day
we will forego the crops of the seventh year and the exaction of every debt.
take on ourselves the obligation to give… to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of The Lord
The people were willing to serve God according to HIS standard… I believe that we must also enter into a covenant to serve God according to HIS standard!
The Church Jesus established is called to reach the world…Jesus commissioned us in Matt 28:19-20 to:
19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
We are called to make disciples and that includes 2 specific tasks… Discipleship AND Evangelism! The 2 most important functions of the church are these!
When a person comes to Christ, it is the duty of the body to TEACH and GROW that new believer in Christ! To disciple them to become believers who reach out and win others to Christ!
We are also called to share Christ with all the world around us… Properly discipled believers will NOT avoid sharing their faith… So the 1st to aspects of our oath to God is to be faithful in the areas of Discipleship and Evangelism!
But God has also called the church to three other very specific areas… Fellowship, Ministry and Missions!
In the book of Acts we find where the church came together in fellowship and shared with each other and were there for one another… they broke bread together and they helped each other with needs.
They became a FELLOWSHIP and not just people who had made the same decision… they willingly and intentionally began to include their fellow believers into their lives…
We also see in that same chapter where the church began to minister to those within their fellowship, but also they began to minister to those outside the fellowship… James tells us that TRUE religion… or TRUE faith in God does NOT allow need to go unmet!
The Bible tells us that if we see a need and we can do something about that need… for us to NOT act is sin! We are called to minister to those around us… to those in our fellowship… AND to those outside of the body of Christ!
Finally we find the church is called to MISSIONS! Preacher, what is the difference between missions and evangelism. They are the same thing!
Well they are very similar but there IS a difference. Evangelism is much more than telling others about your faith… Evangelism is you living out your faith day to day, in daily situations around all the people you meet! Evangelism is about LIVING out your faith!
Missions is about telling others about Christ, but missions is more about specific and targeted ‘missions’ that we as believers undertake to share the gospel! Such as the trips I have taken with others here in our church to Haiti, we went there to share Christ…
The church is called into five specific areas of service:
Discipleship…we must teach those who come to Christ!
Evangelism…we must tell others about Christ in our day to day lives, living out what we believe!
Fellowship…the church is designed by God to be a community of believers working together and meeting one another’s needs and bearing one another’s burdens and rejoicing and worshiping with one another…
Ministry...the church cannot sit idly by when need is present. For the church to ignore need is sin! We must reach out THRU the love of Christ to meet the need of our fellow believers AS WELL AS those who do NOT know Jesus!
Missions…the church must GO FORTH… the church must have a ‘mission’ to share Christ with their community and with the world around them. It may be missions to a foreign land OR a mission to minster to the community around them, but the church must be ON MISSION at all times for Christ!
This is what our oath must say… this is what our oath must call us to do… As a fellowship I want to call ALL our believers to do something radical today… I want to call ALL our members to do something OUT of the box this morning!
I want to call you all to step OUT of your comfort zone this morning and I want you to make a public commitment of service and obedience to God!
Last week I called for a public show of confession and repentance and many of you came forward to do just that… THIS week I am calling you to take the next step! I want you to come forward this morning and SIGN an oath…
This oath will be a witness between our fellowship and God… it will detail our desire to be obedience and to serve God in the five areas of service where the church is called to serve! Discipleship! Evangelism! Fellowship! Ministry and Missions!
Are you willing to step out of your comfort zone and declare in a public manner that you are willing to be held accountable to serve God in a certain manner?
Are you willing to dedicate yourself to being discipled and to becoming a disciple?
Are you willing to dedicate yourself to sharing your faith in evangelism and becoming a soul winner for Christ?
Are you willing to dedicate yourself to the fellowship of people known as the body of Christ… loving them, bearing up their burdens, meeting their needs, even when it is inconvenient and difficult?
Are you willing to dedicate yourself to ministering to the needs of the body of Christ and to the needs of those outside of the body of Christ… Are you willing to separate yourself from your pride and meet the needs of those less fortunate and those in need of Christ?
Are you willing to dedicate yourself to the MISSION of telling the world about Jesus Christ, thru giving of your money, time and talent? Are you willing to make the sacrifices necessary to see that God’s word is proclaimed in ALL the world?
Today we don’t have 4 tables… we have ONE… and today we have BLANK sheets of paper sitting on these tables!
I am calling you to make a symbolic effort to come down and sign your name to a BLANK sheet of paper… I want you to sign your name to a spiritual BLANK check and tell GOD… YOU FILL IN THE AMOUNT!
I want us to FULLY surrender this morning… to step out of our comfort zone… to give our ALL to God today! If we want to be the church that reaches this community we have to be willing to surrender ourselves to HIS plan and purpose! Are you willing today?
The people of Jerusalem were willing to CHANGE their lives ENTIRELY and to do what was necessary to make God their priority once again… ARE WE WILLING?
Do you want to grow and prosper as a fellowship? It cannot happen if we continue to hold onto our selfish desires and focus on what WE want or what WE desire… We have to be FOCUSED on what God desires!
Are you willing to sign a blank check to God? Are you willing to say, “God here I am… use me HOWEVER and WHEREEVER You see fit…” Are you willing this morning?
As Bro Ken comes today to lead us in our hymn of Invitation I want to say this one last thing… I am asking you if you are willing to step out of your comfort zone and make this open ended commitment to God…
I want you to know that God himself had done this in the person of Jesus Christ! The Bible tells us that Jesus ‘emptied’ Himself of his glory and willingly stepped out to serve US by being what God wanted Him to be… the perfect sacrifice for our sin!
If God is willing to do this for us… we should be willing to do it for Him! Are you willing this morning? As bro ken leads us this morning I call on you to come and make your PUBLIC commitment of obedience and service to God! Come as we begin to sing!
